We were happy to have another great guest speaker, Nick Wan, Full Stack Software Engineer at SLB (Schlumberger), a global technology company driving energy innovation for a balanced planet.
Nick has worked at SLB on ProcessOps, collaborative digital solution for assuring uptime and optimizing performance of oil and gas production processing, for the last two years.
Nick’s first involvement in Coding/Computer Science was in the Spring of his senior year of high school in Georgia. His classmate, Sam, started a Computer Science Club and invited him to join. Nick's first meeting focused on Object Oriented Design and Arrays, which were new concepts to him. Inspired to learn more, Nick downloaded Java and created his own choose your own adventure program. And his coding journey began. . .
Nick grew up in Georgia and when it was time for college he attended Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He decided to major in Computer Science. Nick's mother is a Network System Administrator and encouraged him to explore computer science as an educational focus and a career. Nick shared that the first semester was very difficult, many new abstract concepts. To enhance his learning he spent time in Georgia Tech's library with classmates to work on software projects together.
Nick recognized after a couple years focused on his studies he needed to gain some practical experience in software development through internships. He was able to secure internships for his remaining college years at Chic-fil-A, GA Tech Research Institute, and Ultimate Software. For his Chick-fil-A internship he worked at the Technology Innovation Center and helped code related to the Heater system and build software to monitor and change settings remotely. Through his internship experience Nick found a lot of value in bringing ideas into reality. He also recognized that developing "soft skills", like communicating clearly and efficiently, was needed to be successful.
Nick learned and appreciated more and more what he could do with coding / computer science and how important programming is and will be in the world. He decided to continue his education and earn a Master's Degree. He explored staying in Academia or not. Nick decided to work in industry and decided on a career opportunity at SLB.
Nick is a Full-Stack Software Engineer (Front End [Client Software] and Back End [Server Software]). He has been working on a new project with a Back End focus. He is the Domain expert for ProcessOps web application, which helps SLB and other oil and gas companies to use the application with their own data with energy assets and processes. With a new client that wants new features, Nick also leads the development for that.
Nick's Advice:
Having a college education can help make a difference in entry level jobs. Certifications can help depending on the job. College is not required for a number of jobs, but definitely can help boost your position in the organization. There are fundamental concepts about computer science that college can help with, but may not be as easily accessible via self-taught or Coding Camps. Software is an amazingly accessible industry compared to other professions, for example, like becoming a doctor. Choosing a path of not going to college - it may be harder, so be prepared for that.
There are many success stories of people making a leap from another type of career and then going into coding via coding camps and certification programs.
There is developing digital competition in the energy industry. Traditional competitors are investing in digital, and some newer partners and start-ups can become competitors. In this new age, there are now digital "wildcatters" in the energy space.
Kiona Meade, Digital Business Manager, at SLB, also answered questions during Nick's presentation and shared about SLB's recent rebrand, logo update to reflect the carbon budget curve, focus on technology and energy innovation through other energy technologies (hydrogen, geothermal, methane reduction, etc.) in addition to oil and gas. Through their focus as a technology company, they are accelerating decarbonization through innovation and science and assist other companies around the world to do the same.
Dan McElroy, President of the WV Coding Club, shared, "Nick has given us great insights into another path to develop a career in coding and computer science. We appreciate Nick's advice to our students and helping share information about career opportunities in another industry. We also appreciate Kiona's insights into what SLB is doing and focused on globally. Thank you both!"
Keep Coding!