I am 16 and a female and I’ve been looking into petroleum engineering. I love Earth Science, Chemistry, and Physics, and I do very well in school. I’m considering either Georgia Tech for some type of engineering, or University of Texas Austin for Petroleum Engineering. However, I would like some advice from an actual petroleum engineer… Will I be able to have a family life? I’ve done research, and results show that being a petroleum engineer requires a lot of travel, and I worry that I will not be able to “settle down,” get married, and have children. Are my worries rational, or do I have nothing to worry about? Thank you.
Drilling engineers are more likely to spend time on location, but reservoir engineers do most of their work from a computer in their office. There are plenty of PetE jobs that do not require much travel. I have a friend who is a PetE (reservoir engineer) for a large company and she does not travel much at all.