Schlumberger is leading a digital transformation in the oil and gas industry to enhance real-time global collaboration, operational efficiency, and the integration of data, expertise, and technology information. Their refreshing approach to information technology offers enormous opportunities to enhance efficiency and productivity in our industry.

Currently, Schlumberger has the fifth largest supercomputer infrastructure in the world, comprising of more than 65 petaflops of processing power. Keeping pace with and applying the latest digital technology trends in the oil and gas industry is the main focus of PuTC (Pune Technology Center).

Making it there

Pune Technology Center (PuTC) of Schlumberger hires interns through on-campus recruitments. The profile offered is of a Software Technical Engineer(STE). Students from CSE, ECE, EE , Geological Technology, Geophysical Technology were eligible to apply for this internship. This was the first time a software profile was opened for earth science students. The recruitment procedure consisted of 3 rounds. First was the resume shortlisting (C.G.P.A. > 7.5) followed by a group discussion round and a personal interview.

All these processes ended in one day. Around 45 students were shortlisted for the GD round from all branches. The topics of GD round revolved around the greater trends in technologies (majorly software). It is very important in the group discussion to listen and respect everyone’s views. Fighting over a topic incessantly in a group discussion often ends in loss of points.

9 students were able to make it to the last round which was a personal interview round that combined Technical+HR. The interview revolved majorly around my resume and the projects I did in the past. Also, being a software profile, basic questions on data structures and algorithms were asked. Moreover, my projects were on robotics and control, which is what I focused on. As I was from a geophysics background, they asked me basic questions about seismics.

A lot of questions were asked about my extracurriculars and responsibilities on-campus. They look for genuine people who can fit in their company, so it’s advisable to be honest in your interview. This was my mantra. If you don’t know anything, just deny politely and don’t argue.

Work

Schlumberger is leading a digital transformation in the oil and gas industry to enhance real-time global collaboration, operational efficiency, and the integration of data, expertise, and technology information. Their refreshing approach to information technology offers enormous opportunities to enhance efficiency and productivity in our industry.

The center (PuTC) is focussed on key services like cloud platforms, analytics and digital solutions, mobility solution and user experience.

Projects were given in teams of two. My project was on computer vision (on seismic images) where we used Convolutional Neural Networks(CNN) and Capsule networks (a new research in Deep Learning by Hinton in Oct 2017). Although I had no experience in Deep learning, it was a great opportunity for me to learn and explore this field.

We were allocated a mentor from the data science team, without whom this project would not have been possible. The data science team was helpful and their support made it easy for me to learn data analytics.

Data Science Team - Big Supporters

My project was on google cloud platform which was an added skillet to access the Google Virtual machines.The first week was all about setting up our virtual machines. Then we studied CNNs and some visualisation utilities for the team to improve the existing networks. In week 4 to 7 we studied and implemented capsule networks. The last week was focused on documentation and deliverables.

The best part was the people I met during my internship. The accomodation and travel was provided by Schlumberger for 2 months so all of us (interns) stayed together and had a great bonding. We learnt a lot from each other and also partied a lot. As everyone says, work hard but party harder.

Work-life balance at schlumberger is perfect as they value their people the most. We used to come to office around 9 a.m. and leave by 6:30 p.m. This was never strict from schlumberger’s side but it depended on the deadlines and assigned work. Another takeaway for me was the Table Tennis that we played for almost 1-2 hrs daily. This kept me going as sitting for long hours is simply not for me.

Talking of Pune, the weather was awesome and also there were so many places around for trekking (Vetal Tekdi, Devkund waterfalls), imagica and the nightlife of Pune. No weekend went boring for us as their was always something on our list.

My overall experience was full of learning and meeting new people. For any internship, just expect to learn something new and challenging as this would always broaden your horizon.

Anyone aiming for Schlumberger should be definitely be good with basics of coding and the technical skills you have. Because at the end it’s all about your desire to learn something.