Trainee wars episode 2 : the engineer 1 or eng-1 "School"

Readers,

3:40 a.m. alone in the unit, time drilling. almost nothing to do.

I had a click. why don't I write the second chapter of the SLB field engineer in this trainee life.

Here we go!

the previous phase is quiet similar fro all the segments. unfortunately, the school is specific to each of them. If you are not from D&M this post is not for you.

The school phase does not start from the day 1 in the training center. It starts earlier. Lets say 2 weeks before as average.
2 weeks before school, you will do the "entrance exam". this is not much than a online test supposed to cover all the knowledge you should have learnt during your first months in the company. The pass mark is 75 %, if you fail it, you have a second chance to pass it, but this time the pass mark increase to 80%. if you fail it one more time, you are simply dumped by the company.

Quiet brutal isn't it?

well, it is understandable. if you are not able to get the mark to this exam, you will probably fail the school. the school expenses are taken by your location. Pretty normal then that they will not be motivate to put further money on you if you fail the entrance exam.

Don't be scared, if you went normally through the learning process, it will be easy for you. I noticed that also people tends to put useless pressure on themselves for this test... especially ladies.
Officially any kind of cheat during this test is strongly prohibited and can result to disciplinary action.
To be honest, if you do it during the same time another trainee is taking it, you can communicate. You can even ask to an engineer to help you if you don't know. Your manager is enough busy to keep watching you for one hour.

After passing this easy step, you need to review with your manager. Basically it is just a mean for him to check that you did not cheat (too much) during the entrance exam, and you understand at least the basics. He will also validate your fu****g control cards, your quest records and then you are ready to finally go to the school.

The school is a learning process which is during 9 weeks ( previously 10 ) which encompass both theoretical and practical knowledges.
for doing so, you will go to one of the schlumberger training center. for D&M there are 2 centers. SLC ( sugar land learning center) is located in Houston Texas and is mainly for trainee based in north and south america, some european trainee, and some african trainee. MLC ( midlle east learning center) is located in Abu dhabi Emirates. Trainee based in middle east, asia, and some of europe, africa go to this one.
there is a third learning center which was opening recently. STC ( siberian training center) is in russia and mainly dedicated for russian trainees. In the past, a lot of failures during the school were observed for russian trainees. the reason was english language problems, for this purpose they built , a russian training center which where lessons are lectured in russian.

You will arrive on day before the beginning of the class. You will be accomodate in two bedrooms flat shared with one of your classmate. Usually they group people under their nationality if possible, french guy with french guy, nigerian girl with nigerian girl and so on. Of course the flat is not mixed. there is no chance to share with a lady if you are a guy.

First day is an induction day, first contacts with instructor, classmates, learning center facility.

the typical week is : a lot of presentations for the 2 first days, practical sessions for the two following days and exam for the last day of the week. at the end, it is up to the instructor, he can modify the schedule for any reasons.

Following my experience, school can be splited into 2 parts. the first 4 weeks and the last 5 weeks.

the first 4 weeks are quite easy, exams are ok, presentations pretty simple to undertand and record, practical basics.
During this time, you will have time to enjoy every night with your classmates.
the last 5 weeks are very tough, rythm is increasing. More presentations, more knowledge and also more concepts "to understand". the peak is during the last 2 weeks. you will end up to work overnight and come also during the week end.

if you fail one exam during the school ( less then 75 % ) you will get a warning letter, if you fail another time, you will get a new warning letter and will be sent back to your location. most likely you will be fired.
this makes the school more complicated, especially if you fail one exam at the beginning. you will have a constant pressure on you. Just nightmares.

at the end of the school you will get your overall mark ( average is around 90% ). it looks simple but believe me, it is not.
After that, time to say goodbye to your classmates. Maybe the most difficult time during the school. Spending 2 months closely to other people can build very strong links. I am not surprised that a lot of couple are formed during school.
The last one who leave the accomodation may drop the maximum of tears as he will see everyone leaving.

Despite the difficulty and the pressure put on you. the school is the best time in the company. If you have a nice instructor, it will really be a unforgivable time. Especially when you know what you will endure after the school .....


4:23 a.m. still alone in the unit. still time drilling, still almost nothing to do.

Raf-Senpai

PS: I forget to mention that you will receive money each two weeks to "have" fun. it is not huge but it is enough to eat everynight at the restaurant, or playing bowling ...