brian schettler

Well, I’ve been at it a week now interning for ConocoPhillips in Bartlesville, OK. So far it’s been a very positive experience. I’m working in the “Commercial Unix Services” group—it’s my understanding that we’ll be working on security and maintenance scripts for the hundreds of servers they have here. I hope I can get up to speed and contribute something of value by the time the summer is over. Next week I get to go to Houston to meet with some other members of the team working on this project, so I’m excited about that.

The office environment is quite different from school. I really see how that it’s not what you know that’s important, but how you know and learn it that is important. Especially starting out, the past week has been so mentally taxing, trying to get up to speed on all the systems and software.

It’s definitely difficult being so far away from home, however. I was able to go home over Memorial Day weekend, but the drive back was horrible because I ran into some very heavy storms. It’s odd having free time in the evenings after work…I almost don’t know what to do. Luckily, I made a todo list. Unluckily, GTA4 needs to be beaten. We’ll see how that plays out.

I will say that one of my favorite things is playing jokes on people since I’m working in the oil industry. So far these have been my running jokes with various effects:

1. We get employee discounts on gas and we only pay cost: $1.15/gal (it’s currently $3.75/gal).
2. Dick Cheney welcomed us to the oil industry in our orientation. He ensured us several times that we “will be taken care of.”
3. There is a strong motivation to vote Republican. Some of my Democratic friends had more taxes taken out of their paycheck than my Republican friends…coincidence?
4. Employees can get full use of the company’s fleet of Rolls-Royces any time we please.
5. When oil got over $100/barrel, they gold plated the toilet seats. They said if oil got over $150/barrel, they’d give us gold plated keyboards and mice.
6. The office is not the typical white walls and cubicals. Everything is very lavish with Victorian decorations and crown molding, etc. There’s even a butler to give you warm towels to relieve stress from typing.

It’s amazing how many people would fall for this.

Tags: bartlesville, conocophillips, internship, summer