Additional Information
Post-secondary training in mechanics, electrical work, electronics, power
engineering, chemical engineering technology, petroleum engineering technology
or mechanical engineering technology is preferred.
Grace McDougald is the manager of community relations for a pipeline company.
She says her employer looks for people with a technical background. That could
be an associate's degree from a two-year college in a technical discipline
-- hydraulics, environmental engineering or mechanical engineering.
Her company also provides extensive in-house training to its employees.
"Oil pipeline operators need to have good common sense, be able to problem
solve and they must be able to follow directions," she says.
Oil pipeline operator Lawanda Craft notes that people applying for jobs
with her company are required to take an exam. It tests applicants' math skills
as well as their mechanical abilities.
There are questions involving schematics, such as, "If Switch A is turned
on, which light bulb will burn?"
"Girls often have trouble with this because they don't study those subjects
in school," says Craft. "If you're interested in this career, be sure to take
mathematics and mechanical courses."
Brad Ashcroft says that his company provides training to its own employees
as well as to people with other companies.
A new employee will train both in the control room and outside. They learn
using online procedures, as well as practicing with computer simulations of
situations.
Most employees take six months to a year before they reach the place where
they can work alone.
Oil pipeline operators must be detail-oriented, flexible and have good
color vision. They must also be good at working with machinery and must have
good people skills, since they work on a team.