Who will solve IT problems?

[Cloggie]

Question for all those who work in the Oil & Gas Industry, who solves your IT problems at your work / your projects either on land or sea, is that done by locals, your own company or is it outsourced to an external company?

I work now 15 years in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore at various industries (from hazardous waste landfills to the Hotel & Golf Industry) and I would like to move to the Oil & Gas Industry as a career change (besides financial also for technical reasons). Would appreciate it if you can share your experience here so maybe I can learn from it and know how to move to that direction. Thanks for sharing your story.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Cloggie

[NanLaew]

With regard to the seismic exploration side, the IT support for the majority of the Contractors is all handled off the vessel or field crew. Most field operations have (reasonably) high-speed Vsat communications and pretty much all software-related issues are handled remotely. All the software is on a secure server at the remote location but only the Admin-level IT support guys can access it remotely to do updates and installations. Intervention at field level is pretty much limited to plugging things in or replacing computers with dodgy hardware.

Given the Exploration & Production industry's tendency to outsource even the more esoteric skill sets directly related to their business, I would find it hard to believe that much beyond some Corporate level IT VP or Manager, they would retain any in-house staff to handle something that although strategically important, isn't directly related to their final product. Similar to them outsourcing employee travel to specialist companies that would probably have one or two staff working under contract inside the oil companies office. The smaller E&P companies would probably still have an IT man (or woman) on payroll but I think most of it would be outsourced.

[ExpatOilWorker]

We got a US hotline number direct to some guy in India!

[Cloggie]

Thanks for the response so far but what about "hands on site".

Yes you can do a lot remotely but you can't solve everything remotely, paper jams, broken hard disk, broken screen, cables that are broken and working 30 years with users I can add 1.000 more issues that you can't solve remotely, you need hands on site as well!

I worked with people that make TB 350.00 a month and are NOT able to put a 220 plug in a UPS, can't make international telephone calls and are not able to connect their laptop to the network (switch on wifi)

How doe you solve these issues remotely?

[ExpatOilWorker]

Thanks for the response so far but what about "hands on site".

Yes you can do a lot remotely but you can't solve everything remotely, paper jams, broken hard disk, broken screen, cables that are broken and working 30 years with users I can add 1.000 more issues that you can't solve remotely, you need hands on site as well!

I worked with people that make TB 350.00 a month and are NOT able to put a 220 plug in a UPS, can't make international telephone calls and are not able to connect their laptop to the network (switch on wifi)

How doe you solve these issues remotely?

Offshore crews might wear hard hats and steel toe boots, but inside we are soft, sensitive and smart individuals. We can do a lot more than the numb-nuts you have been working with. Then again, if they are paid 350 baht/month I wouldn't blame them.

Edited November 6, 2013 by ExpatOilWorker

[harrry]

Thanks for the response so far but what about "hands on site".

Yes you can do a lot remotely but you can't solve everything remotely, paper jams, broken hard disk, broken screen, cables that are broken and working 30 years with users I can add 1.000 more issues that you can't solve remotely, you need hands on site as well!

I worked with people that make TB 350.00 a month and are NOT able to put a 220 plug in a UPS, can't make international telephone calls and are not able to connect their laptop to the network (switch on wifi)

How doe you solve these issues remotely?

Those guys paid 350baht a month must be using the same tax minimisation company that Starbucks does.

[Soutpeel]

Thanks for the response so far but what about "hands on site".

Yes you can do a lot remotely but you can't solve everything remotely, paper jams, broken hard disk, broken screen, cables that are broken and working 30 years with users I can add 1.000 more issues that you can't solve remotely, you need hands on site as well!

I worked with people that make TB 350.00 a month and are NOT able to put a 220 plug in a UPS, can't make international telephone calls and are not able to connect their laptop to the network (switch on wifi)

How doe you solve these issues remotely?

In addition to having onshore IT department we have offshore communication techs who handle V-sat, & microwave com's systems and handle offshore IT stuff and are very good, if ya think you are going to get an offshore gig clearing paper jams guess again you had better have other skills as well

[tuky]

There is always a propellor head sitting at an IT Helpdesk somewhere.

But out in the field what you have is a Telecoms Tech.

(I will be hiring 4 in the next few months).

Telecom techs need to be a full bottle on:

Dual Redundant PAGA Systems

UHF Platofrm radio (TETRA/Simplex/Whatever the facility uses).

VHF Marine Radio

VHF Airband Radio

TEMPSC Radio, EPIRBs and SARTs

Meteorological System

LAN/WAN

Voice and Data

Video Conferencing Systems

Entertainment Systems IPTV nowadays

TVRO

Radar and AIS

Ship Security Alert Systems

Sat phones

VSAT (Stabilised if not a fixed facility)

LoS Microwave

GMDSS

Tropo

NDB

RACON

Fibre Networks

Structured Cabling

To name but a few of the skills required.

On top of all that you need to be EEHA trained, BOSIET trained, RadHaz etc etc.

To top it all off you need atleast 15 years experience in the industry.

[Soutpeel]

There is always a propellor head sitting at an IT Helpdesk somewhere.

But out in the field what you have is a Telecoms Tech.

(I will be hiring 4 in the next few months).

 

Telecom techs need to be a full bottle on:

Dual Redundant PAGA Systems

UHF Platofrm radio (TETRA/Simplex/Whatever the facility uses).

VHF Marine Radio

VHF Airband Radio

TEMPSC Radio, EPIRBs and SARTs

Meteorological System

LAN/WAN

Voice and Data

Video Conferencing Systems

Entertainment Systems IPTV nowadays

TVRO

Radar and AIS

Ship Security Alert Systems

Sat phones

VSAT (Stabilised if not a fixed facility)

LoS Microwave

GMDSS

Tropo

NDB

RACON

Fibre Networks

Structured Cabling

 

To name but a few of the skills required.

On top of all that you need to be EEHA trained, BOSIET trained, RadHaz etc etc.

 

To top it all off you need atleast 15 years experience in the industry.

 

No mention of paper jam removal so guess that's the OP stuffed then LOL

[Cloggie]

Thanks for the info - so it looks like no job for a certified HP paper jam remover (cum laude)