DILEMMA OF A 3RD CLASS ENGINEERING GRADUATE: PROFESSIONAL EXAMS OR MASTERS?

Hi,

I’ll like to commend you for what you are doing, this vision of yours means a lot to Nigerian youth like us who need guidance. God bless you.

I’ll like to discuss a very heart breaking issue with you. I graduated from the University last year (about to go for NYSC). I studied electrical & electronics engineering but finished with a third class degree. I’ll like to state that my result does not state my true ability academically.

I am aware that before I can be able to work with that certificate, I need to go for PGD then go for masters but I am thinking as a young engineer who has also proved himself in the field (during industrial training), instead of going for PGD and masters which take like 3 to 4 years to accomplish, can I also go for any professional exams , will that help in the Nigerian market of today?

I also have target to work in the oil and gas sector and I have my links but my result is the issue.

Will going for certifications or professional course help me realise my target or at least help get a good job? I’ll like to hear from you, what do you think I should do?

And I’ll like you to keep my details confidential

Thanks.

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Dear Confidential,

I passed your case to a member of the JarusHub Analysts Team, who is familiar with engineering in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

ABDULWASIU BALOGUN

Wasiu holds a first degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and Msc in Sub Sea Engineering from University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where he finished with Distinction. He has worked in oil and gas engineering services industry in Nigeria and abroad for more than 6 years.

Congratulations on your graduation, I believe you can still make your dream career happen even with your third class, but of course you will still have to do some extra work, upgrading, and persistent determination.
First, I am sure you are already aware that most oil and gas companies only consider first class and second class upper for their graduate entry tests and interviews, so let’s not focus on that path of breaking into the industry. Let us consider other viable alternatives:
From your mail I can tell you have more flair in hands-on and practical works than the class room academics (pardon me if am wrong), you should gracefully accept that as your strength and build on it.
So this is my candid advice:
Based on your industrial training experience you can find a non-oil and gas company (may be your former IT employers) but with a relatively similar job scope, so depending on the department you find yourself, you can start doing all the relevant certifications as you gather experience on the job, I must say from experience, after the first level of most technical certifications, the other levels require some significant years of experience, so even if you are very good to pass them you are not likely to get a befitting job until you have the required years of experience (and most certifications have an expiry date on them).

On the other hand, if it is your IT experience with Shell you want to follow, then same plan applies and relevant areas you can explore with certifications like NACE CP (cathodic protection) this is very relevant to electrical engineering and very lucrative in the O&G. Other relevant fields you might want to consider are; instrumentation and Controls, QA/QC, and even HSE with certification.

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