In the Houston area training will not allow you to travel, they do not allow any travel for training when you are in the Houston area. All your training will be in the Houston area, usually a long drive is required at your expense and time.
Training is quick nothing is really taught. Much of the training is a front, I am asked to pick training to take each year and then when I pick it the time is never right, or it is too long. They have a system set up for raises and progression but when the time comes to give it they give you next to nothing or nothing at all, using the excuse of market conditions.
If Weatherford or another company does better in sales or their trend line looks better Schlumberger will lay off their employees to make their bottom line better. Layoffs are based on who is your buddy or not.
In these past couple years they have been forcing vacation. They spin it off like it is saving jobs but it never does they still layoff how many they want. Vacation has to be paid no matter so it does not affect the profits over time. They force the vacation because it makes the books look good, so for example as in this November 2010 they forced vacation. This November vacation will make their profits look larger for the end of year in Dec. They hope that in the next year they will be able to absorb the opposite effect it has when everyone has already used their vacation and no one is taking it.
The employee rating system for the end of the year is based on one person your manager. So if you do not get along with your manager you get a bad rating and your career is for the most part over. It can work the other way too.
They pretend like their pay is above average but it actually is way below the average in the Houston area. Compared to other companies which use the same people to do the taxes Schlumberger Engineers are one of the most underpaid in the same industry.
They say they have core values, but remember this is a corporation they only care about money. They give the illusion they are also in it for their people and technology but that is untrue. They have been slipping in the market in their technology but most of the people are pissed off at the company and their output for new products have dwindled. These demoralised development group has resulted in the cutback of their technology investment.
Shop supplies are few and far between, no new tools are ordered and you have to use what you have on site. Everything is getting old and for the most part it is dangerous due to old equipment.
QHSE is a fraud they do not understand how any tools work or about really anything. They put fresh graduates into these HSE positions who have no machinery experience or field experience. These people run around and make decisions on things which they have no knowledge of. Their decisions usually shut down or cost the company thousands of dollars in lost time. In the event there is an actual HSE problem that is serious they tend to look the other way or hide it. They only focus on events which are controllable or look good for the company image.
It is Schlumberger's policy not to give any recommendations after you are employed there, they will only say that you have worked here. Kind of a name rank and serial or so....
If you saved or made the company millions one week you are the hero the next week they totally have forgotten about it. Managers come and go so you constantly have to prove yourself.
Overall: Get in and get out. Get some experience and move on. If you want to make some money go into the field make sure you are well outside of North America far far away from Houston. When you are in areas like this money can be made. But like I said at first get in and get out. If you are in a design centre like me you can stay and be comfortable but remember there is no job security your number could be pulled at any time. This last layoff they got rid of people that have worked for the company for years simply because they were paid more. You save money when you fire the old guy and hire some contractor from India.
Everything I have said here is true. I could go on and on but I think you will get the idea from this.
