spectastic

that's my niche.

so what do you mean by oil and gas? the way I see it, all the production of raw materials and chemical intermediates like say polyethylene, polyurethane... all the poly's are all well established. What's more interesting is what you can produce by mixing them and doping them to give them enhanced properties. In my mind, that information is more interesting to manufacturing. If you don't agree with that, what resources would you recommend to get better informed?

yea I think networking is like a skill, almost an art. With an event type setting like that, you need to know who's there, do research about them, and try to find out what their interests might be. I'm the first to admit I'm still a newbie at this.

you know honestly, I think there probably are at least a few companies here that fits, but I really want to move out west, just because I want to live there. One of the reasons why I didn't go back to school was because the schools there didn't give me any money, and they're super expensive (I mean holy donkey balls they cost a lot of money, not to mention the living expenses). I don't really know anyone out there though, so that's one of the places where I'm stuck.

ok I have several questions

Because online applications are such low yield processes, I'm inclined to invest more time in networking, considering that's how most jobs are obtained. This is where I'm having trouble. I'm a bachelors level candidate looking for research positions, looking for jobs outside my existing network in the oil/gas industry, and only in several metro locations. So far, I've only done online apps, called a few recruiters, and cold emailed some linkedin people with similar profiles. I hope to get a position as a research associate, but would settle for a technician if there's good prospect in moving up. (There's ONE professor in the nearby university doing research in my area... I don't know if he's hiring though, and it would only be a resume filler) I would like to get out more and meet people, but this area (around Houston) is all about oil/gas, and its support services, and for that reason, I have little interest in sticking around. My background is in chemical engineering, and to my understanding, most of the research associate positions are carved out for chemistry, reason being a chemical engineer typically expect higher pay, which I don't care about too much at this point, but it could be a weed out factor, especially for positions with 100+ applications... I did apply twice for grad school, but decided to not spend my entire savings to fund the first year. I do hope to go back someday, maybe do a part time masters, but that requires me to be close to the universities, which is partially why I narrowed down the locations. Ive been told that I should spend 90% of my effort networking, but I don't know how to get away from the computer. Any advice?

I'm going backwards. I don't know what I really want to do anymore. shit!

this gives me the idea to troll the shit out of my old company's fb page, those bloodsucking, backstabbing, hypocritical bureaucrats who sell their souls to make Charles Koch the richest douchebag on the planet. but my better senses tell me otherwise

what would he say on their FB page?

noted

#'s

I don't know if I want to eat this anymore or throw it out for the stray cat.

expectation reality

also, ragu tastes like shit. which makes me wonder is prego better tasting because they put even more chemical additives in it? is there a easy way to get my pasta/parmesan sauce and still be able to get something somewhat fresh and natural?

so ironic that in a season traditionally tailored around families, you see people bitching about them. Isn't adult life great?

^^ you took the GRE while you were on chemo??? I had pretty terrible feedback when contacting professors. Most of them didn't respond at all, others said either they were retiring, really tied up with funding or changing their research directions. I even contacted a professor's former assistant, who went out of his way to contact the professor himself, who apparently claimed that he never saw the 3-4 emails I sent him over a 4 week period. the research alignment was there, but the professor didn't want to talk to me. one thing I read the other day about this, and it might not apply to you. The email game works against foreigners, because professors get bombarded with foreign students' pampering emails. they actually did a case study on this. I might have even seen it from this forum. but anyway. people seem to have different results. I can't see anything I did that was a red flag. Perhaps I just had bad luck of picking the wrong schools/departments. I've had friends who applied to other schools very successfully. These schools never made it on my list because I filtered my school list based on location before research. so after two rounds of mediocre offers, I'm at the point of deciding F* this. I'm looking for a job and indulge in a life of freedom.

I give a little shit about money, but it's a diminishing return. But our benefits are pretty standard compared to other oil/gas related companies, or even subpar. What really pisses me off is that everyone has been asked to work 72 hour weeks (6 days/week 12 hr shifts) for at least three months, due to this new thing they're bringing out that I'm not supposed to talk about or I'll get sued and have my balls chopped off. I've heard that us salary people aren't going to get any form of compensation for it, aside from the free lunch on the weekends, because that was the case in the past. On the other hand, the hourly people are getting paid enormous amounts due to overtime. I heard this one lead operator is going to pull in $240k for the year, largely from the overtime he's accumulated. On a side note, my coworker's bf pulls in $240k/yr as a entry level engineer working in the shale fields. But the work is not intellectually stimulating at all, and you're stuck working with a lot of idiots. I'd much rather get paid less to do what I like, but not on a PhD salary for 5 years.

I'm part of a unit that makes hydrogen cyanide - hydrogen-fuckin-CYANIDE. The safety/environmental restrictions are ridiculous. Nothing gets done as a result. The amount of paperwork you have to do for everything is so fucked you might as well sign a piece of paper on the stall before you take a shit, just to be safe. There are about 4-5 operators who have 30+ years of experience, and all fixing to retire in the next 5 years. There's a huge dichotomy of really old and experienced operators and really young inexperienced operators, and only a few in the middle. This is a result of the unit sucking so much at retaining its employees, firing employees, and a management system based on fear and intimidation. So in 5 years, there's going to be young inexperienced guys running this very dangerous unit. Same situation with pretty much every other part of the unit (E/I, DCS, managers, operations - on every level). The company has people who retired/fired/quit, and nobody to replace them. So instead of hiring someone new, it distributes the workload to the point where one guys gets the job of 2 or more compared to 10 years ago. I'm actually lucky because the units I mange are small and relatively maintenance free. So as a result, people are quitting because there are more lucrative offers elsewhere with easier tasks. and it's a vicious circle. On top of that, they treat employees like shit, like fucking mules who are supposed to churn out work and progress regardless of the circumstances. There's a huge disconnect between management and everyone they manage. I suppose that's true to a certain extent in every workplace. But this place really sucks at it. I've talked to a couple of my peers, and they show similar signs of impatience with this place.

what were her qualifications as an undergrad/researcher? and how come she didn't go to grad school?

let's hate our jobs together

high five

but I agree graduate school isn't about money. it's about fulfillment

how???? btw I was totally kidding about hiking up salaries - i thought you were joking. you can't cure complacency with higher salaries.