Employment arena

Eric works for ExxonMobil in Houston, Texas. He works for the Upstream Research Corporation which means: 1) He is in Research and Development, 2) You have to have a PhD to work there (Good or bad, everyone has to have a PhD in something technical. No MBAs unless Exxon specifically sends you out to take Executive classes from Kellogg at Northwestern or elsewhere). Basically, this part of the company, the “Upstream” side of the company hires lots of engineers and geophysicists to find and “suck out” quantities of oil in places all over the world. Since we have already discovered and “sucked out” most of the oil in the easy places (Texas, Oklahoma, Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, etc.) they are working on the more difficult areas of the world yet to be explored (and exploited ☺). Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Congo are obviously difficult because of political unrest and lack of infrastructure. Sakhalin Islands, Nova Scotia, and the North Sea are difficult because of temperature and adverse weather conditions. Qatar, Saudia Arabia are well, the Middle East in all of its tumult.

Eric gets new assignments about every 2 years and with it comes a new skills set either technically or managerially. For the past year, he has been “pegged” as managerially tracked (science track versus management track) and has been pushing a project to get drilling software out to facilities around the world. It seems that he has been on a number of highly visible projects and Exxon tends to put him into positions where two groups are feuding. He appears to play the Colin Powell role. His job seems to be to ameliorate the customers and the engineers while keeping the upper echelons of the company happy. One of his favorite lines is, “Engineers have feeling too,” which of course makes everyone either crack up or roll their eyes. Although I fondly refer to him as a “nerd” he claims he is the “touchy-feely” of the group. Apparently, if you have technical as well as soft skills, one can go far.


There are always possibilities that we might have an overseas assignment. Our good friends (and former Bishop and family) left for Qatar for a 3 year assignment. Qatar is bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. They are having a great time seeing the world and enjoying many luxuries on “the Tiger’s dime. Other friends have left for Australia, the Netherlands, and Alaska respectively. If we were willing, we would be sent to Nigeria in a New York minute. However, the idea of living in a compound and sending my kids to school with bodyguards by way of armored car is not my idea of a good time. I am usually one for adventure but this is taking it too far. Call me overprotective.☺