Engineering a Career to Support the Energy Transition

Tom, an electrical engineering and mathematics graduate, had experience working with a mining company as an asset engineer and an equipment manufacturing company in a software-led role.

At university, Tom had friends who interned with Shell and consistently spoke about the company’s culture that offers growth opportunities. Convinced, he applied for the Shell Graduate Programme but for the role of a trading analyst as opposed to an engineering-based profile.

What appealed to him were immediate results of the work, fast learning, and feedback loops that he believed he would experience in a trading role. “It’s a role that suits my personality, and Shell gives engineers the opportunity to explore trading. What better place to learn the industry than one of the largest energy companies in the world?” he says.

Another reason Tom joined Shell was to work in the energy sector as he believed the way energy is produced and consumed will see a major change. “This energy transition is going to happen in my lifetime. I wanted an opportunity to be part of this growth and contribute to shaping the future of energy,” he says. He wished to be challenged at work and learn all he could to power further progress, further improvement and to make tomorrow better.

Now that he is working with Shell, Tom continues to build his knowledge of the energy sector and gain a wide range of experiences that allows him to play a role in delivering sustainable energy solutions to local communities. “Shell has a history of leading the energy sector, and after spending time in the company, I can wholeheartedly say that it is well poised to pave the way for the future of energy as well,” he says.

Observing Shell’s culture of sharing and collaboration over time made Tom confident in approaching people to learn and pick up new skills. “At Shell, you can find decades of knowledge about the entire energy value chain in one room. It’s incredible to have the opportunity to collaborate with global professionals with diverse backgrounds who bring all their experience to the table to achieve a common goal and find time to generously share their learnings,” he says.

It's this culture of collaboration and exploration that led Tom to notice a manual workstream being used for hydrocarbon accounting, a process of tracking molecules around the asset and ensuring each is accounted for. With prior experience in working with technology, he knew he could help make the process less resource-intensive and time-consuming. “Discussing this with my line manager, he was very open to the idea of transitioning to a more efficient process. We initiated a series of workshops to diagnose and tackle the challenge, and the project is now in the process of being executed,” he says.

Tom’s initiative and skills were quickly recognised, and he was tasked to other teams where he has furthered their digitisation efforts also. This, he says, reflects the culture at Shell where people, no matter how experienced, can voice their opinion without the fear of rejection. “It’s a positive environment where people work as a collective with a goal of adding value to the organisation and helping their colleagues grow.”

While Tom found recognition in playing to his strengths, his learning curve for trading was steep, he admits. But it’s also what he has enjoyed the most about his journey. “Trading is a fast-paced environment where information is constantly coming your way, which you process and make decisions based on. I have thoroughly enjoyed this workflow and getting used to new ways of working,” he says.

This culture is what keeps Tom excited to come to work every day and gives him the confidence to maximise opportunities that come his way. “Shell gives you options to explore different roles that excite you. It sees value in investing in people and presenting them with opportunities,” he says. “I have never seen a company enable growth and learning the way Shell does.”