SPE eMentoring Stories

Fábio Terzini, PhD Student, Mentee

 

I joined the SPE eMentoring program as a mentee because I was looking for advice and guidance on how to make the transition from the academia back to the oil and gas industry.

Coincidentally, my mentor Kai Eberspaecher and I live in the same city. I did not know this when I chose him as my mentor. Because of this, we were able to catch up over coffee many times during my time with the program. Most of our communication was done in person, but we also connected via email. We discussed the industry in general, my goals, and shared professional experiences.

A good mentoring connection, from my perspective, is achieved when both sides are willing to share experiences and set goals, and when the mentee puts the advice into practice.

Kai gave me valuable advice and suggested that, in conjunction with my PhD project in reservoir engineering, I learn about other focus areas such as economics to expand my understanding of the entire oil and gas business.

I took his advice and attended a petroleum economics course at the university, which was a major step towards comprehending the decision-making process and how my technical knowledge can be useful to any oil and gas project evaluation.

My advice to other mentees is to choose your mentor based on your career goals, and more importantly, someone who shares the same professional interests.

I found the eMentoring program extremely important for me. It was my first time using this tool, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. I’m very happy with the outcome and strongly recommend the SPE eMentoring program to all young professionals and university students.

Biography

Fabio Terzini Soares is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland in Australia. Prior to starting his PhD studies in reservoir engineering, he worked as a process engineer on major greenfield projects within the oil and gas, chemical, and mining industries.