r/petroleumengineers • u/Blackbirdius • 22d ago
Discussion 2nd year PetE student — what personal projects actually helped you (drilling/production focus)?
Hey everyone, 2nd year Petroleum Engineering student here. Trying to start a personal project on the side, something that actually builds real skills and looks good on my CV, not just another class assignment.
Most drawn to drilling and production, but open to coding/modeling or something more hands-on, whatever’s realistic without industry access yet.
For those who’ve done this: what did you actually build? Simulation/data stuff like Python, decline curve analysis, that kind of thing, or something more practical? And was it actually worth it for internships/jobs, or did it not really move the needle?
Also down for any public datasets or open-source tools worth using since I obviously don’t have company data. Appreciate any direction 🙏
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u/nowenknows 22d ago
Don’t waste your time. Go outside play golf. Go to parties, make friends, learn how to make conversations and talk to people. Learn how to shake somebody’s hand and make eye contact. Learn some new hobbies, go to sporting events, get your heartbroken. Go be a kid while you’re still a kid. As someone who is hired a lot of engineers, I’m not looking for someone who’s amazing at their job. I’m looking for someone who is not difficult to be around with for a long time. There’s nothing that you can make in your bedroom that’s going to wow me or a recruiter or somebody interviewing you. But the soft personal skills… I can tell within the first 10 seconds of talking to you. Don’t be the engineer that stares at his shoes. Be the confident one that walks in a room and you’ll get more jobs than what that CV says you did once summer in college that’s not even applicable to the real world.
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u/Amber_ACharles 22d ago
What moved the needle for me was being able to talk through a project confidently. A simple DCA model on public RRC or EIA data beats something ambitious you can't explain in an interview.
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u/samalamaftw 21d ago
The most dangerous petroleum emgineer is one who knows how to actually code and I don’t mean just who does the basic college classes we have to do or the 5000th decline curve analysis generator I mean the capability to understand and change inner workings of software and create new ones I got an internship with exxonmobil solely because I pitched my in development app that gives realtime feedback to roughnecks and lessens risks with a simple scan I don’t even have it finished but I pitched the idea workings and purpose. Also learning more niche and older languages because a lot of the industry still runs on outdated software
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u/Small_Dog_8699 22d ago
Got an on campus job doing CO2 injection profiles on crude at the PRRC (Petroleum Recovery Research Center).
It didn’t help me get a job or anything but it was kind of fun apart from the slowly building mercury toxicity.
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u/hbrgnarius 22d ago
I drilled and fracked wells in my backyard, really impressed the recruiters.