Introduction
I will be extremely happy to become a computer engineer with Aramco- the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I hope to serve at the company’s headquarters in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia although the company offers an excellent working environment in each of the countries where it operates. The company operates as a fully integrated global petroleum and chemicals company with huge departments that conduct exploration, refining and distribution of oil and gas (saudiaramco.com). As I study computer engineering, I hope to acquire the skills and knowledge to help me perform to my highest levels at Aramco. In this report, I will discuss my career path with Aramco offering a brief description of the company, the opportunities therein, the challenges and demands of my desired career and finally my desired career path.
Background of the company
The exploration of oil in Saudi Arabia began in 1930 when King Abdul-Aziz invited American businessman and philanthropist Charles Crane to explore for oil, water and minerals in the kingdom. The results were positive and in 1935 Standard Oil Company of California (SOCAL) got the exclusive rights to produce oil at Dhahran for 60 years under the Californian Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC). In 1944, CASOC was renamed Arabian American Company (ARAMCO). ARAMCO has grown to become the world’s largest integrated energy company in the world. It is valued at between US$ 1.25 trillion and US$10 trillion. The company currently employs approximately 62,000 people from 77 countries (saudiaramco.com).
Opportunities at Aramco
There are numerous opportunities for varying professionals at Aramco. The company supports career development through a specialized department. Employees can get financial aid to further their studies and certificates of recognition. The company also helps employees get decent housing by giving them affordable loans through a Home Ownership program. There is also an organized system of hiring and promotions through the Job Posting program since the company wants to retain top talents. I believe that the Job Posting Program will help me to secure a place at the company’s entry levels for graduates.
Challenges and demands at Aramco
Employees at Aramco are required to perform at the utmost levels, and the company ensures this through the performance management Program. To someone who is not used to such a program and strict criteria of evaluating performance, it can be a challenge. However, I like this challenge because it offers the best-performing employees some opportunities for career growth and an open platform for transparent promotions. I believe that I can meet the demands for competency, innovativeness, use of technology, safety, communication among other vital aspects. To help the employees attain these competencies, the company organizes numerous training.
My career path at Aramco
The oil industry is one of the heaviest users of computing technology, and so they are in dire need of well-trained and dedicated computer engineers (Guo, Lyons & Ghalambor, 2007).
When I start off at ARAMCO, I will most likely be involved in system maintenance. I will be involved in the testing and identification of defects in the computer systems at ARAMCO. I will conduct routine maintenance of the servers ensuring that the hardware systems are properly coordinated and connected. I will also most likely perform regular checks to ensure that the routers and networking are properly done to minimize the chances of unnecessary and costly breakdowns.
In the course of my training, I have taken an interest in software engineering, and I believe that my supervisors will offer me a position to join the software development team. I will be mainly involved in the development, testing and evaluation of different software used at ARAMCO. I hope to be an integral part of the team that improves many softwares used to run the robotics and automated functions at the company’s refineries.
After excelling in my previous tasks, I hope to get an opportunity to serve in the team that continually evaluates GigaPOWERS, which is a computer technology used to predict the behavior of a reservoir during a future production. GigaPOWERS has been in use at ARAMCO since 2010 as a computer modeling engine that simulates the flow of water, oil and gas underground thereby helping us to predict how a particular reservoir would behave over decades of continuous production. (saudiaramco.com). It is the most advanced reservoir modeling technology in the world. Whenever we make any improvements that necessitate the training of the users, I hope to step up and train the company’s geoscientists and petroleum engineers on the technical bits of the software.
I hope to progress and obtain a position as a senior computer engineer heading a team that may work on tasks such as continually improving the software used to handle human resources issues and to manage the huge workforce. In as much as I will be offering technical support, I will find myself learning a lot about people management since our software improvements have to have positive, practical implications on the people working at the company.
Conclusion
Aramco has built a strong reputation as an excellent working place, and I would like my career to grow and develop in that company. In all, I hope to rise to a senior managerial position at ARAMCO with a bias to computer engineering and technology issues at the company such as Chief Information Officer.
References
Who we are. Retrieved 29 March 2016 from http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home/about/who- we-are.html
2014 Annual Report: Generating breakthroughs across the value chain. Retrieved 29 March 2016 from http://www.saudiaramco.com/content/dam/Publications/annual- review/2014/AR-2014-SaudiAramco-English-generatingbreakthroughs.pdf
Guo, B., Lyons, W. C., & Ghalambor, A. (2007). Petroleum production engineering: A computer-assisted approach. Burlington, MA: Gulf Professional Pub.
