Chemical engineering conversations with a production technologist at an Energy company (2014 set).

It was really a challenge because I had some D's and E's in some courses that made me give up in making a first class as early as my second year and third year. I think with God by my side and the support from families and friends I was able to push through. It was even in my final year first semester that I crossed into first class and I had a few friends who were on 2.2 but pushed through to 2.1.

Link to the audio conversation, below!!

Please can you introduce yourself?

My name is David Ogbonna. I am an Alumni of FUTO Chemical Engineering, finished in 2014 and currently work as a Production Technologist in Shell.

Can you please explain what you do as a Production Technologist?

Like, I mentioned I finished in 2014 and currently work as a Production Technologist in Shell, a subsidiary of Petroleum Engineering and what I do basically is to design Oil and Gas wells, to optimize their performance once they've been designed and constructed to ensure that they produce optimally. Whether it is Oil or Gas, the wells have been designed to deliver and it is a summary of what I've been doing for the past five years now.

Mass balance comes into play in the industry in optimizing wells by ensuring that the oil produced is being produced optimally.

Can you give us a relationship between any Chemical Engineering principle you learnt in school and your Job?

Interestingly, it is an Engineering role and we know there are connections between Engineering discipline in whatever way we might choose to look at it. I still practice the fundamentals of Engineering on a daily basis and to bring it home to Chemical Engineering there was a course I did in my 300level, Chemical Process Calculations that involved the practice and understanding of material balance maybe not in terms of how it's defined in Chemical Engineering but more like mass flow balance. It is a little different and not necessarily as simplistic as it was then in school but it is still the same basic principle of mass and energy balance. Mass balance comes into play in the industry in optimizing wells by ensuring that the oil produced is being produced optimally. In energy balance, we observe the temperature changes, fluid expansion and the rest of them. Another course that was particular to Chemical Engineering that I currently use in my role is Transport Phenomena, because I deal with flow, flow regimes, flow in different forms - horizontal and vertical flow, multiphase flow, flow in different phases. So, all of that are things I still use in a different form and many other courses during my undergraduate study in bits and pieces.

Before using the software you need to understand the principle guiding the use of these software for basic...

Do you do manual calculations ?

No, not necessarily, we have a couple of software that we use in doing our calculations but of course the fundamental principles still remain the same. Before using the software you need to understand the principle guiding the use of these software for basic calculations and some other forms of analysis we can use a tool as simple as Excel. And then I would imagine that in higher institutions in this 21st century, it shouldn't be far fetched to use Computers, because those computer programming related courses you do as an undergraduate like Excel still come in handy in the industry.

So what I would say really ,the preparations you get in FUTO and I'm speaking based on my experience, and I hope it is the same if not better is that you can actually stand shoulders high anywhere and it doesn't matter what you choose to pursue after school.

How best can one prepare himself/herself to become a Production Technologist? There is really nothing that is impossible to achieve ,and especially in FUTO you are prepared to handle very difficult situations and interestingly Chemical Engineering is the most flexible of all Engineering discipline i.e. you can easily switch to another discipline. This actually means that there are a lot to achieve in this Engineering discipline. So what I would say really ,the preparations you get in FUTO and I'm speaking based on my experience, and I hope it is the same if not better is that you can actually stand shoulders high anywhere and it doesn't matter what you choose to pursue after school.

............ and as a piece of advice ,when you find yourself working in the industry you may not necessarily use the software you are previously familiar with.

What software are peculiar to Chemical Engineering? There are couple of software and I'm sure you already know the ones that are very already popular. ASPEN HYSYS,UNISIM AND AUTOCAD for plant design, simulations and piping and instrumentation diagrams. I don't really work as a Process Engineer so I won't be able to tell you categorically what software and as a piece of advice ,when you find yourself working in the industry you may not necessarily use the software you are previously familiar with. Companies nowadays tend to have their own propriety software and also train their staffs to utilize the software. However, what is important than learning the software is understanding the principles behind these software. Why did you choose to study Chemical Engineering ? (Laughs) I think I've hinted on it a little bit, for me it was a choice between Engineering and Medicine and somehow, I came from a background of medical doctors but I didn't like Biology. With the love I had for Mathematics and Further Mathematics, for me to continue in the love of these subjects I just have to do Engineering. To select a particular discipline in Engineering to study I had a couple of thoughts, I didn't want to do Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering because there were just too common in my opinion. I felt I needed something that was going to distinguish me and then Chemical Engineering came in well recommended plus I also liked chemistry and thought I was going to do a lot of Chemistry in Chemical Engineering ,I don't know how true this is (Laughs) and then the choice of the university was more like happenstance because I didn't choose to study Chemical Engineering in FUTO, my dad did on my behalf and looking back in time it wasn't really a bad choice as I'll consider it the best choice I've made. That's how I got to study Chemical Engineering in FUTO. Did stay off-campus or in the Hostel while in School? I stayed off campus all through my five years in FUTO. Interestingly, I stayed beyond the seven seas and rivers of Eziobodo, I was staying close to the market square. The road to Eziobodo was really bad then that if I had reason to stay back at my lodge and not go for lectures it was actually valid. It wasn't really easy but what is really important is understanding why you were sent to school. It also helped me pattern my lifestyle and stayed focus because I understood the reason why I was in FUTO and then avoided unnecessary distractions. Were you a triangular student ? I basically lived a triangular lifestyle, if that is what you call it. I barely know what the third part of the triangle typically is but for me it was church. So it was more like my lodge, church and school. I wasn't really too extra-curricular outside of this triangle because of the way FUTO was. I don't know if it has changed but back then it wasn't a very social university. Do you think that played a role in how you performed academically ? I would recommend that everybody should understand themselves. For me what was really important was making a first class from the onset, for some other persons it was just a 2.1 or 2.2. There were also some other persons that had some engagements and businesses they were running which actually took their time and seem valid. In terms of advice, my advice would be for any student to understand why he/she is in FUTO, why you've dedicated five years of your life which of course is to graduate with a good degree. There are some other things that existed before you came to FUTO and would continue to exist when you graduate from FUTO, hence it is very important for any student to keep that focus, stay sharp and focus on the objective.

I usually advice student to not compromise on what priority they've made for themselves and what ever skill they've chosen to acquire should be relevant in whatever they've chosen to pursue.

What do you have to say about learning a skill while in school ? You shouldn't just square your mind on academics and your grades you desire to graduate with. It is important to take advantage of the environment and of course the university present a whole lot of opportunities either directly or indirectly. I learnt some of the programming languages I know today from a couple of friends who were doing wonderful stuffs and exploring their interest while in school. There is nothing really wrong with extra-curricular activities but then it is important for students to prioritize, know where they are coming from and where they are going to, so you don't compare yourself wrongly. I usually advice student to not compromise on what priority they've made for themselves and what ever skill they've chosen to acquire should be relevant in whatever they've chosen to pursue. What role did your CGPA play in your career path? CGPA for me doesn't really come to bare, the only thing that matters is your class of degree. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what CGPA you graduated with , what will reflect on your certificate is your class of degree. I think the only time your CGPA might play a major role is in your transcript and usually you'll need your transcript when you want to further your education but for Job application and employment what usually counts is your class of degree. Did you explore other Career path or do you have plans on exploring other Career path? For me not really, except for the fact that obviously what I'm doing currently is Petroleum Engineering. So I've been able to explore some other aspects of Chemical Engineering which were not necessarily taught as Chemical Engineering courses. Apart from that, for me my career has been aligned from the get go to what I'm currently doing so I haven't really explored some other career options. But obviously there are several other career options that one can explore and it depends on personal interest. What is it, that you felt gave you a competitive edge in your career path ? For me, like I've previously mentioned your class of degree is important . I think I had some advantage because of the class of degree I graduated with compared to some other people but it doesn't take away the fact that other applicants were considered. It is also important that that students start building their CV as an undergraduate and interestingly FUTO gives its student a very good opportunity to do that in terms of the 200level,300level and 400level SIWES. As students are privileged to have had industrial experience which they could include in their CV, although it is much more that including it on your CV ,it should include what you did and how you did what you did, for you to show typically that you understood what really happened. Some other skill like presentation skill and computer programming skill is also very important and having a good grip on Excel as a Chemical Engineer would really give you an advantage over others.

But if you've chosen to look at it from the perspective of going to the university to just acquire a certificate then school by all means would be scam.

What's your take on the popular saying that school is scam ? Well, I don't know if I've ever heard that school is scam and it is interesting that it is a popular saying. You can already tell on my take that school is obviously not scam. The idea of school or the university is to educate you and not necessarily to help you get a Job, not necessarily to make you wealthy in the future. The essence of going to the university is to educate you, to open your mind learning and if you are the kind of person who wants to gain knowledge that will be useful to you and your world once you're done with your university studies, irrespective of whatever career path you've chosen then by all means school cannot be scam. But if you've chosen to look at it from the perspective of going to the university to just acquire a certificate then school by all means would be scam. When you graduate from FUTO’s chemical Engineering department, can you engage in chemical Engineering conversations with your peer from other schools, however we may not have been taught as much as we expect but as students it present to us the responsibility to ensure that we are developed by virtue of personal study. In conclusion, school whether or not being scam all boils down to the individual at the end of the day and also in all fairness anybody who doesn't have an interest in going to the university shouldn't bother instead he/she could spend the five years in whatever picks his/her interest. What Chemical Engineering resource or textbooks do you find yourself going back to in order to help you out in your Job? I think for me I learnt quite a lot while in school and most of what I use today are engrained in my subconscious. It's already in my head and I don't really need to start calling up my notes, even if I have to I can still recall most of the textbooks we used then in school and I could easily get them either in hardcopy or softcopy over the internet for reference. If you are to start all over again what career path would you have chosen ? I would choose Chemical Engineering over and over again because this is pretty much what I've always wanted to do. But if I'm to choose another one aside Chemical Engineering I'll look in the direction of Computer Engineering. What do you know now about Chemical Engineering that you wish you had known as an undergraduate ? I'll be fair to myself that most of what I understood in Chemical Engineering was in my final year. As far I'm concerned, in my second and third year we weren't doing much of Chemical Engineering related course, so I think it is a gradual process and I'm still learning a lot about the discipline. Another important thing I've learnt is they there are lot of imperfections in Engineering as compared to the ideal scenario that we have painted in the classroom. There are multiple solutions to whatever Chemical Engineering problems, so it our duty as Chemical Engineers to choose which is the most probable solution. What challenge did you face in school and how did you overcome it ? I encountered a lot of challenges and I don't think I'll have the time to say all of it here. Something that I encountered really was about the system and I hope they've improved on that, because sometimes you get to see grades that you really wonder where the grades come from. It was really a challenge because I had some D's and E's in some courses that made me gave up in making a first class as early as my second year and third year. I think with God by my side and the support from families and friends I was able to push through. It was even in my final year first semester that I crossed into first class and I had a few friends who were on 2.2 but pushed through to 2.1. Another thing that really helped me was the mindset that the least grade I should have in any course should be A which I developed in my 400level first semester, and by the grace of God It was just A's and one or two B's all through till I graduated. The shortest route to success is hard work and then God being a just God will definitely reward hard work with success. Never have you skipped lectures while in school? I skipped a couple maybe like a very small fraction Never have you had a crush on a course mate ? No, never. Never have you soaked Otto (garri) while in school ? (Laughs) Yeah, definitely I soaked garri, it was a thing. Never have you gone for night class while in school ? Interestingly, I never went for night classes.

You can connect with Mr David Ogbonna on Linkedin. Here Listen to the more detailed conversation in audio !!