Is Aramco a career backwater for expats?

If you're looking for promotions like you'd get in the U.S. up the management ladder, then no, you are not likely to get this type of promotion.

You can get salary increases and grade code increases and executive healthcare upgrade - you can make a name for yourself in the industry. You could become team leader, but that does not necessarily equate with more salary.

I've had 4 friends retire in the last 6 months, all have gone back to jobs in the states that they wanted and are enjoying.

Only you can determine if a job you apply for at Aramco and the offer you receive is good for you and your family. You can apply and receive an offer - it does not mean you have to take it.

Life here is lived at a different pace and for many, work is not the utmost priority.
There may be a few Saudis who are selected for fast track promotion but the vast majority take a long long time to progress up the grade codes. I'm not sure if expats expect more instant results, but the company policy is to concentrate on the prospects of the long term Saudis, not the expats who may come and go frequently. You can't really argue with that policy.

Coming here is not an career ending move, far from it. You will get exposure to many new things. I know one guy who says he will have to tone down his CV if he is leaving here because he has been involved in multi billion dollar projects rather than the usual millions :lol: . There's no denying that Aramco have a high level of cash & technological investment whereas many companies worldwide will not be prepared to have that level of commitment in the current global markets.

Depends what you're looking for - every one has their own individual plans.

Cheers
Buster

From a career standpoint it is my experience that this is a job, a good one, as opposed to a career.

If you have ever worked as a contractor assigned to an operating site that is exactly what it has been like working for Aramco. Like an on-site contractor we get a nice premium for what we walk in with but there is no career plan or career path or career development from that point or at least I cannot tell if there is.

As requested :wink:

There is no denying Aramco pays well and places like Dhahran, RT and Abq are nice. For some it works really well and thats great. Despite wishing I had never come my bank balance has benefitted from the career break so far :lol:

However on the balance of probabilities;

You will probably be over qualified for the job
Find the role very restricted as jobs are very compartmentalised which also makes them boring
You will have no autonomy, and i mean no autonomy with reference to supervisors for everything.
Aramco isn't doing anything cutting edge compared to other Major Oil Co's
There is the possibility you arrive and find the job you were recruited into is a different job (Chemical / electrical engineer - whats the difference!)
Peformance management and Development plans for expats are pure comedy and I say that as someone who spent several years line managing teams in different organisations.

I have met quite a few retreads (2nd /3rd timers) who stories appear to be somewhat similar - ie blew the first wad of cash they made on modern day fools gold - diving businesses, racing horses, property in Dubai / Cyprus etc - fools and their money :roll: Does make me wonder about the character of many who are drawn here.

Barlow - don't lose your sense of humor sport.

In a few years you can get one of those many, many thousands of jobs that consute passing emails about work, highlighting concerns about work, making lists of work, gathering updates about work, auditing work, issuing recommendations about work - and you will never, ever have to DO any measurable work again. THEN you can log on and go on and on about all that free time you have to spend with your family vs. when you worked here or there and were expected to get work done LOL

Right now you have to pay your dues. Every action you complete keeps 50-100 people busy writing and sending updates about it. I do not think you appreciate your own value at all......

Now please spend 3 weeks up......... me on all of your accomplishments last year so I can finish my PMP (laughing)

<grins> By golly I left stuff off and do not wish to rob Barlow of information regarding his value:

Correction to earlier post:

Right now you have to pay your dues. Every action you complete keeps 50-100 people busy writing and sending updates and attending conferences and reading articles about it. I do not think you appreciate your own value at all......

THEN you can log on and go on and on about all that free time you have to spend with your family vs. when you worked here or there and were expected to get work done

Painter I got 282 open, pending job log items - none of which involve articles and conferences. They are projects to manage, procedures to write, model/studies to complete, investigations, HAZOPs to do, and other meat and potatoes deliverables that keep the business running here or anywhere else. There is little spare time and most weekends involve callouts - some for silly things llike a quick MOC to stick a gasket between two different types of s because it worked before (answer: NO) which was yesterday's critical weekend activity of the day.

We are happy for you but nobody, none of my expat colleagues are attending conferences or doing cutting edge assignments and certainly none of them have the time to spare to idly tab through articles about what others are doing and none of them are getting even a single minute of special or updated training. The original poster wanted to know how things are and we owe that person the truth.

We know that there are many, many passing emails back and forth and that consutes looking productive and busy. Please do not imply that this is the rule as opposed to the exception for expat employees.

It is advised to the curious that for the most part we are expected to get work done as opposed to reading articles about and attending meetings about and going to conferences about work. The work you do will keep many, many people busy writing about it, reading about it, sending updates about it, making charts about it, making tables about it, making lists of it, and LOL sometimes even publishing it and/or coordinating it for you.

<grin> at one time I recall we were up......... closed / ongoing jobs on (4) different lists with (4) different list coordinators and everything had to be reported/updated on a weekly basis.

What fun.

The good news: It takes many years (I am mildly in agreement with Barlow on the 5-year thing but sadly and occasionally emailers/coordinators slip through already set to note-pass) to delude oneself that the above consutes being busy and productive but it takes no time at all to immediately and with dispatch spot/identify the deluded.

@ Painter - Enjoy the conference! Hopefully you guys will develop a way to teleport the stuff out of the ground but in the meantime I feel in a small way that we have to get stuff like that thing squared away or we can't send it anywhere. Just sayin'.....