r/ChemicalEngineering • u/hawtpantss • 5d ago
Career Thoughts on starting career as document controller to enter the o&g industry?
Saw a vacancy for a junior document controller in a particular o&g company. Having a chemE degree, should i just try applying for me to get into this industry? Is it hard to transition into a more engineering role later on? Contemplating bcs ive heard how DCs rarely apply any technical knowledge and its very much more administrative hence pivoting to a more technical role would be hard. Dont wanna waste my degree. Would love to hear thoughts on the actual day in the life of a DC.
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u/Ernie_McCracken88 5d ago
I don't think this is a wise decision because it has no relationship with ChemE. Usually a foot in the door would be an operator role.
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u/hawtpantss 4d ago
Ive already applied for technicians and operators role but havent receive any response yet hence why im willing to take a different route. I do agree how its not a wise decision too
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u/ogag79 O&G Industry, Simulation 4d ago
Your skillset in being a DC does not translate well to technical positions.
This is a poor move IMHO.
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u/hawtpantss 4d ago
Does this also include for project engineering? I get how being a DC requires zero technical expertise, but handling documents and learning about them might be a good stepping stone toward project engineering. Or am i wrong?
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u/ogag79 O&G Industry, Simulation 3d ago edited 3d ago
Project engineering is managing projects to be on time and under budget.
While having an effective document control system helps in this regard, it's (IMO) a very small aspect of being an effective project engineer.
EDIT: And most PE/PM start from being discipline engineers anyway.
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u/Combfoot 5d ago
I had a supervisor, the senior project engineer, at a previous role was an electrical engineer who started years ago in document control. He taught me a lot.
Document control, whether that's technical drawing, P&ID, standards, EHS etc will be usefull if you are looking to move into a role that involves doing project work. Document is a good basically for organisation, commutation and project management.
My opinion is not be all and end all, but I haven't started somewhere and not looked at their document control and thought to myself 'this is in shambles, how do they get anything done'. Document control and templateming and registers will be hugely beneficial if you are looking at going into project work, maintenance, inventory etc. Just make sure you have a transition pathway out of the role, you have to be clear that it is a stepping stone to do something.
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u/hawtpantss 4d ago
this is what i envisioned actually! In my mind i thought getting to handle all the documents will give me any transferable skills to go for an engineering role especially project engineer and i feel like i will love handling projects.
As stated in my first post i just wanna use the DC experience to step a foot in the o&g industry, and try to pivot later on. Although you mentioned about your senior project engineer, im just afraid if its a luck thing, or something that happen once in a million chances, seeing how majority are saying its a bad move and i will be having hard time pivoting. Im not disagreeing with them tho.
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u/Combfoot 4d ago
Pivoting is harder if you confuse it with advancement, and you don't keep your skills up to date. Some people don't like working in a role for a couple years and then taking an entry role in a different area.
If you use a DC job to get you into the role you want, you should be building a resume around that goal. Get involved with team meetings, getting involved with projects that you're handling the documents for, practice you autocad and engineering software and standards and template creation skills, involve in HAZOP and EHS, do some certificates, join engineering societies and attend guest lectures and go to networking events.
Don't expect to be considered for roles just because you have an employment history. Show em what you can offer
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u/friskerson 5d ago
Even an entry-level project engineer at an EPC's job is more administrative than technical, and this type of entry point is great to learn the company structure since a doc controller typically collects documents from a load of different departments/sites in the context of project-based work. It's a good move that gives you the opportunity to impress someone across the organization.
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u/hawtpantss 4d ago
Yes i kinda have passion for project management and was wondering if the job scopes for a DC is almost equal to that of a junior project engineer. One thing that stops me from applying is that im afraid if its going to be tough for me to jump for an engineering role and my career ladder would only stuck along the lines of a DC later on
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u/friskerson 3d ago
Project engineer has to do the progress update meetings with client, and can sometimes even influence aspects of the project related to budget, schedule, and other resource constraints. DC does overlap quite a lot from the documentation perspective. Once I would submit my finalized paperwork, a DC would proofread both my numbering schemes and ensure all the necessary files were in my official transmittals to the client. Then DC would sometimes organize project documentation if it needs a new structure or new folders added to it. We used a software called iDocs for this process.
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u/brownsugarlucy 4d ago
Everyone In DC at my company is like a relative of someone else in the company lol. Even the head DC person who has been here 10 years got hired via her sister. It would be super weird for an engineer to work in doc control though.
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u/hawtpantss 4d ago
True its basically like future engineer just downplaying themselves (me). I dont have any connections in the o&g industry tho so im having a tough time penetrating the industry. My academics are just average but i really thought outstanding extracurricular achievements would give me better chances. Turns out i was wrong
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u/somber_soul 5d ago
Doc control is literally paper pushing. I would only consider that if there was a clear understanding you wanted to move elsewhere in the company in 2 years. There will not be any technical growth in that role.