What did you do to your NNBS GMT900 Tahoe/Yukon Today?

[Sparksalot]

A person with strong well log analysis skills and a degree in rocks could make a fine living as a wildcatter or even a consultant back in the day. I have a buddy I worked with back then who stayed with it and started a small geologic consulting firm in Casper just before oil prices jumped and the money came back into the industry. He's a multi-millionaire now.

Small world indeed. What are you doing now?

I design mechanical and electrical systems in commercial buildings, some bigger than others.

This is one i visited last week. It's kinda close to the Capitol and the governor's mansion.

 

[Sparksalot]

I design mechanical and electrical systems in commercial buildings, some bigger than others.

This is one i visited last week. It's kinda close to the Capitol and the governor's mansion.

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My first high-rise in Austin. It has grade level entries on the 1st and 6th floors. 22 stories.

 

[jared999]

For me it was all relationships. I was out there from '94-'99 when the rig counts were at historic lows and the money was awful ($300/day for a lead geologist and $75/day for a mudlogger). So much so that almost everyone got out to work for their brother-in-law, went back to ranching, driving truck, whatever. But I find that times like that are the best times to double-down and show people that you're gonna show up every day and work like hell, keep a smile on your face no matter what, and help other people out. People see it and they start helping you out - usually without you even knowing it. I knew a lot of guys who just hung around doing the minimum every day and they got stuck.

If your wife wouldn't support you in your work, it's good you got out. You dodged a bullet over the long haul. Tech can be a great career. If I could give anyone advice, it's to find some aspect of it that you love and just chase it down. And you know what that is when you find yourself thinking about it every day. For me, I just loved figuring shit out and learning to write code helped me combine what I already knew about geology and computers with solving real-world problems. I was a total hack but I got the job done by spending time in front of the screen and reading books every time I got stuck. The growth opportunities right now are in things like data science, chatbots, and AI.

I'm an industry analyst now (got tired of the rat race of running product teams in Silicon Valley and a marketing org in Germany) so I do a lot of research, writing and public speaking these days for a think tank. I'm always happy to help a brother out. PM me and we can chat if I can be of any help to you.

It really is about relationships and building your name / reputation. Once you have that set and you have a good rep, good things happen. It's about doing things the right way, not taking shortcuts and doing things the right way when people aren't watching you. Sounds like you understood that from the get-go, which is key. I also saw a lot of guys half-assing it and it rarely worked out well for those types in the long run.

What programming language were you writing in? Or perhaps, which one did you enjoy the most?

You know what is funny, I don't like programming. However, I started the degree and had to see it through. I'm figuring it will come in handy in IT if I need to write some scripts and batch files and so forth. Plus on occasion I do like to write simple else-if programs for my kids to play with. However, it's not something I would enjoy doing +50 hours a week.

You mentioned growth opportunities, a neighbor of mine told me I should think about network architecture (management). He's been in IT for +20 years and says there is a lot of room for growth in that area.

So if I am to understand things, you worked as a geologist and then at some point slid over to full time programming and or project management?

 

[jared999]

I briefly considered working in the oil industry and saw they had a need for people in places like north dakota and I saw the weather patterns for places like that and that thought went away pretty quickly.

A lot of places are remote and so forth, but you don't have to work in the dakotas. I worked in west texas and in ca for years. It was 80 degrees and breezy most days when I worked in los angeles but that is far from the normal experience.

you can make a ton of money in the oil field, its all about targeting the right job and career path and saving money for the down cycles. If I didn't have kids I would probably still be working in the patch

 

[Doubeleive]

A lot of places are remote and so forth, but you don't have to work in the dakotas. I worked in west texas and in ca for years. It was 80 degrees and breezy most days when I worked in los angeles but that is far from the normal experience.

you can make a ton of money in the oil field, its all about targeting the right job and career path and saving money for the down cycles. If I didn't have kids I would probably still be working in the patch

ya this was a consideration before I had a family, now I am hesitant to even leave this crappy state. I have lots of good resources here but hate the "atmosphere" I guess you could say.

 

[Geotrash]

So if I am to understand things, you worked as a geologist and then at some point slid over to full time programming and or project management?

It went like this: Geologist --> software implementation engineer --> sales engineer --> product manager --> director of product management --> VP marketing --> industry analyst --> dad --> still industry analyst

 

[jared999]

ya this was a consideration before I had a family, now I am hesitant to even leave this crappy state. I have lots of good resources here but hate the "atmosphere" I guess you could say.

Is your location info correct, you are in CA?

 

[jared999]

It went like this: Geologist --> software implementation engineer --> sales engineer --> product manager --> director of product management --> VP marketing --> industry analyst --> dad --> still industry analyst

Got it. That's some great work / development you did there.

btw, I did end up creating a DIY for the steering wheel removal.

 

[Geotrash]

Got it. That's some great work / development you did there.

btw, I did end up creating a DIY for the steering wheel removal.

Thank you kindly. On both points!

 

[jared999]

Todays tahoe work:

My roof AC ducting was missing and the wires were not attached to the headliner, but zip tied to the interior. I picked up ducting from a yard and a new headliner.

Sooo, Pulled out the headliner and part of dash this morning so that I can get out that old cabling. I will test / mount the DVD player and then reinstall everything.

All this velcro (and the ducting removal) must have been for all the drugs they tried to cram into the vehicle (it was seized by DEA).