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Dwarakanath Muralidharan - Operating Engineer
What Shell offered me was not just a 9 to 5 job but a career spanning the globe, I came here as a student and am confident that in a couple of years, I will be a professional ready to take on the world.
I was first recruited to join Shell as a Developmental Co-op student in my third year mechanical engineering program at the University of Ottawa. My first Co-op placement was at the Waterton Gas plant as an Operating Engineer. It was a very interesting experience and I had an opportunity to work on six projects. One of the projects that I worked on was to troubleshoot an anomaly in a 5000E3M3 Rolls Royce gas turbine. It was an amazing experience and helped me learn a lot about the downstream side of the business.
The next co-op placement I wanted to learn more about subsurface technology which to be honest I was previously unaware of. I joined the Foothills Well Delivery team as a developmental student.
The project that I worked on was optimizing rock bit life based on bearing failure criteria. The project’s economic impact was significant and was very challenging.
I had to consult technical managers of various suppliers and senior drilling engineers within Shell. The part I enjoyed the most was working with people with thirty years experience in their respective fields, for a fourth year engineering student it was a very humbling experience.
My biggest challenge after graduation was selecting between the upstream and downstream side of the business for my full time work opportunity. I pondered over it and after putting a lot of thought into it decide to join well delivery team as a drilling engineer. The position is very challenging, requires me to travel extensively across the globe and also requires me to be trained in Holland to become proficient in my job.
The recruitment process was very efficient and informative. From the first time I met with the HR representative there was very clear understanding of what is to be expected at Shell and what Shell expects of me.
I moved all my stuff from Ottawa to Calgary and Shell reimbursed all my expenses and also arranged for a relocation expert to help me find a place to live in Calgary.
I am now settled down in Calgary and am ready to call it my home! Calgary is a vibrant city with great access to the outdoors. It is a young city with a young population and great diversity. Calgary has been voted as the cleanest city in the world and it truly is.