Dry wells: an autobiographical account of a petroleum engineer

I was standing in the que for the varsity medical examination unaware of the future (mis) adventures and dreaming about the life ahead when suddenly my turn came and I passed the medical examination.

The next day I had to select an engineering discipline from a cluster of 17 unique departments at the NED University.

Every student aspires to get an admission in a prestigious institution, but in his obsession to get admitted to a university he/she fails to assess the value of the discipline of his choice.

I selected Petroleum Engineering as my father wished me to opt for it. It is different from other disciplines and usually unrelated to them. Here you measure reservoir permeability and porosity instead of shear force and torque (in the mechanical engineering).

It was a modest batch of 50 students (modest as compared to the batches in the other departments). We were all very excited through the first year and then dark clouds began to gather over us as the industry faced massive layoffs and restructuring and  this compelled us to realise that our honeymoon period with engineering was over. We constantly heard about the difficulties faced by the graduates in securing a job, some who were fortunate got the jobs in the department and started teaching us (So we come to know that even our teachers failed to get a job).

Soon our batch graduated and was released in an uncertain world like the newly hatched turtles without protective shells who are very vulnerable and face multiple threats from predators and the waves .

Our parents, who had high hopes with us were very disheartened with the state of our professional life as they witnessed their children being unable to get a job in an oil company.

Some of our batchmates opted to go abroad and do masters from the foreign universities, but their hopes met their waterloo when they found out that the foreign job market for petroleum engineering is also in bad state and thus they failed to get jobs even after spending a humongous amount of money. Instead of returning home, they opted to do odd jobs and trying to settle there.

Honestly speaking there is no need for a separate petroleum department at bachelors level, this is because the demand for petroleum engineers is very uncertain and also due to the fact that the culture of ‘sifarish’ and ‘source’ prevails  in some companies.

Our department, its chairman and the faculty committed dishonesty on their part by keeping us in dark about the risks associated with the Petroleum  Engineering.

A reader might be thinking that what is the point of composing this sad story?

So let's get to the point,our academia should sit back and honestly think whether they are honest to the students or are they just protecting their own interests of getting grants and aids from the government and foreign bodies?

Why are the complacent with the fact that the Petroleum Department is adding misery to the lives of the people?

I suppose it is our collective responsibility to voice our objection against the continued negligence of the fact that the Petroleum Department at the NED University is serving the interest of a few faculty members, while on the other hand it is mass producing unemployed graduates.

It is time that we should record our concern to the government, the HEC and the NED University.

You are requested to share this article with all the pre-engineering students so that they refrain from enrolling in the Petroleum Department.