Telling the story of the energy services sector and delivering workforce insights to our member companies are central to EWTC’s work. Through an ongoing series of conversations with students, interns and early-career professionals, we are gaining an understanding of how the next generation sees our industry, what draws them to energy careers and what they discover once they get inside the business.
Evolution Well Services | Data Engineer Intern
University of Arkansas | Senior, Computer Science
Hometown: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Family Connection to Energy: Yes
What has surprised you most about working in the energy industry?
Since my dad has worked in the energy industry all my life, I feel I’ve had a good understanding of it, but through this internship I gained a greater appreciation for the complexity of it all. I think I previously imagined that, at least in the oil and gas space, companies were more vertically integrated. However, I realized how many companies truly are involved in the supply chain of oil and gas. What I learned the most about, however, was not about the industry, but more what it takes to facilitate the daily operations of a large company in the energy sector. What I found to be the most interesting was the sheer amount of data that is needed to run a large, modern company. I realized this not only while working on my various projects related to data governance but also learning about the other projects going on in the company. There was demand to get data from just about every data point possible, ultimately, for greater visibility and to find ways to improve efficiency. It was inspiring to see BEUSA’s desire for improvement and innovation in this way. I also enjoyed learning how to increase productivity with CI/CD techniques. Another thing I learned about the operations of an energy company is the commonly used software. Although I did not directly work with this software, I heard about, and then investigated, Canary and Ignition SCADA. There were also a number of data engineering tools I worked with and investigated, however none of those were very specific to the industry. Overall, it was insightful experience into the behind-the-scenes operations of a company in the energy industry, that I had not thought much about, such as the specific software tools or the insights gained from some clever data transformations.
What attracted you to this internship opportunity?
I knew that BEUSA was a pioneer in electric fracking and I wanted to know what it felt like to work for an innovative company.
What’s one thing you wish more people understood about the energy industry?
I think more people need to appreciate how complex the energy industry is from generation to transmission.
If you could ask an industry leader one question, what would it be?
Over the next decade, what do you see to be the biggest threat to the energy industry and what do you see to be the biggest boon to the industry?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I would hope to have completed graduate school and working to develop safe and trusted AI solutions.
Complete the Sentence-
Before this internship, I thought the energy industry was… more vertically integrated.
My friends would be shocked to learn… that fracking is often contracted out to service companies.
If I were CEO of an energy company for a day…. I would sell my stocks and retire.
Click here to subscribe to the Energy Workforce newsletter, which highlights sector-specific issues, best practices, activities and more.
