Some kinds of engineering get all the glory and some kinds provide secure employment for life. Oil field engineer might be the same as electrical engineer or mechanical engineer or civil engineer, but if you want to stay in one place and make a decent living take your degree to the power company or the local highway dep’t. No glory, no muss, no fuss.
Best job I never took was a job at Exxon for a few hundred under $30k, back in ‘82, which was a princely sum for a fresh graduate in those days.
I went to grad school instead to get my MS. Had I gone to Houston, I’d have been laid-off 6-9 months later.
I keep trying to convince Ben Jr. to study civil engineering and work with Caltrans. Thirty years of steady (if somewhat underpaid) employment and then retirement in his late fifties with full medical — still plenty young to do other things.
But my sensitive ‘Hamlet’ wants to major in English and be a teacher!