In our third YP interview, we introduce Elizabeth Muir who is a Performance, Planning and Cost Engineer for the Wells Department in Shell UK. Elizabeth is responsible for the departments’ business planning and tracking performance initiatives across Drilling, Completions, Abandonments and well intervention. Part of her role also involves contract management for OCTG materials and services.
“Since starting as a Graduate in 2015 I have carried out a variety of rolls including offshore drilling engineer, offshore well services supervisor, completion design engineer and latterly performance and planning engineer. This has given me exposure to a wide variety of offshore operations as well as technical planning whilst developing my commercial and leadership skills.”
“The favourite aspect of my job has to be that I love working with people. I also like the challenges that come with working in the wells department- no two problems are the same however I enjoy working with people to come up with the best solution.”
We asked Elizabeth how she got into the industry.
“At school I was always interested in Physics and Maths - these were my strongest subjects. After school I went on to study Mechanical Engineering with Financial management at Strathclyde. I started on Shell’s graduate program in 2015 after a 12 week long internship the previous year.”
Elizabeth shared her biggest lesson learnt so far in her career.
“It’s ok not to know all the answers. I have learned to know who to ask and when to ask for expertise/help.”
“I’d recommend that University/ College students get as much work experience as possible in summer holidays - I didn’t know what I wanted to do after university. I worked for a few weeks each summer in a different industry (medical engineering, Oil and Gas, Machine Shops etc). This helped me figure out what I liked and what I didn’t like and helped when it came to apply for Jobs at the end of University.”
Elizabeth shared the importance of ICoTA.
“Being an ICoTA young member, I have attended many lunch and learns which has helped me to learn about the industry in my early career. Being a member of the ICoTA young professionals committee has expanded my network and gives me the opportunity to connect with people outside Shell at a similar stage in their career.”
If you are interested in joining the ICoTA Europe YP Committee, contact the Committee Chair. Don’t forget, ICoTA Europe offers Young Engineers (aged 30 and under) free membership. Contact us to find out more.
6 July 2020