₦airaland Forum

Negative. Will continue teching.

airsaylongcome:
My offering sits in front of all of these guys.

I see. That means you have to build fast.
It is really incredible to learn that you left O&G to go into tech.

Tech or Oil - My Take

My background is in Mechanical Engineering (2.1) and I have ~4 years of experience in the tech industry (FinTech particularly), building payment rails for top African financial organizations. I have reaped some benefits of the tech industry and am 'okay' financially.

Prior to going into tech in 2022, I used to love being in the audience for debates on this subject. I enjoyed those debates for two reasons. One, my O&G applications were not forthcoming as I anticipated the post-graduation job market would be. Two, I needed an alternative career path that would give me a similar level of satisfaction as my primary engineering path. In retrospect, I realize that some of those debates had some form of bias due to the industry the participants were more exposed to, depriving the audience of a more balanced view. I write this article because many young people are often stuck here, searching for what they should spend most of their time on since they are out of school and the O&G they dreamt about seems like a distant dream that fades faster into the distance as they journey further in time. When young people choose career paths, we think of three main factors: financial rewards, global integration, and a long-term sense of security. This article will speak to these factors while providing a juxtaposition.

In African, a career in oil is still king. Unless you are the founder of a high-growth tech startup, a career in Oil & Gas remains the gold standard within the African continent becuase of the relative security it provides. In Tech, you are often at the mercy of rapid-fire layoffs. In O&G, especially with the majors, there is a structural stability that Tech hasn't mastered yet. This security is the edge that makes its financial rewards more tangible. It’s one thing to earn $5k a month in Tech; it’s another to have a career path where you’re almost certain of your trajectory for the next 20 years.

If your goal is to be a global citizen, Tech is the undisputed king. It offers a level of global integration that O&G rarely touches for an average engineer. Internationally, Tech salaries can dwarf O&G salaries when you factor in equity and remote work flexibility. You can work for a San Francisco firm from a beach in Lagos or relocate to London in 3 months (by the nature of tech, opportunities for these are rare these days). O&G is often tied to specific geographies - wherever the rigs are, that’s where you go. Locally, tech is localised in NGN. The infrasturcture on which the solutions are built are USD based but the markets the solutions serve are evaluated in NGN. Hence, it becomes incredible difficult for local companies, irrespective of their size, to make salaries in USD. Both tech and oil have a reputation for turning people's financial lives around over night but the location determines what you get out of tech. Oil is an absolute USD based commodity and even when localised, it is still placed on the USD scale as sales and revenue is still generated in USD. Hence, local O&G salaries are in the USD equivalent.

Many people avoid O&G because they think "the world is going green." Let’s be pragmatic: Oil isn't going anywhere. Recent global tensions (like the US-Iran friction) remind us that the world still runs on fossils. Green energy is a noble ambition, but it is currently unpragmatic for the heavy lifting of global trade and supply chains. If you enter O&G today, you aren't entering a dying industry; you’re entering the engine room of the world.

TL;DR:
1. Except you have a promising tech startup, in Africa, a career in oil is king first becuase of the long-term sense of security it provides. This reletive security is the edge that its financial rewards thrives on.
2. Globally, a career in tech is king as it is more rewarding financially and gives opportunity for more global integration than a career in oil but you have to deal with the fast and every dynamic tech landscape.
3. Globally, oil will remain relevant. US-Iran war just confirmed that. Green energy is ambitious but unpragmatic in gloabl trade and supply chain.

airsaylongcome:
The former. But it’s still very early days. Nothing firmed up yet

This is good. However, the payment landscape is changing unbelievably fast. Giants like Opay, Moniepoint, Flutterwave and co aren't sleeping because the banks are pursuing them. How do you ensure that your product is not a feature of some of these giants ecosystem?

airsaylongcome:
What stack? I’ve been tossing an idea around payment orchestration

Go, C#, .NET, MSSQL, OracleSQL, Kafka, Redis, etc
That''s a good one chief. Are you taking it as a startup or a personal project for portfolio?

airsaylongcome:
What do you do in tech?

I work as a Backend Software Engineer. I have ¬4yrs experience building payment rails for top African financial institutions.

faceoftheweb:
Applied in 2022 then but did not pass beyond the application stage. However, a friend was part of this recruitment process until the interview stage and he share his expereince with me.

As part of the AC, he said there was a scenario based questions where he was asked what decision he would make. He said they did a good job convincing him as he had to change his decision as the interviewer provided more edge cases. He got so anxious that his vocals could not introduce him because they were busy shaking. They interviewers gave me some time to cool off but the anxiety was immense. He knew he was not getting it.

I have learned that the more you know about an opportunity, particularly those well-coverted opportunities as this, the more anxious you tend to become because as your mouth is trying to talk, your brain is processing what is at stake if you say nonsense. You often end up saying nonsense or not talking at all.

For you, what was the interview experience like?

This friend later applied to Seplat in 2024 and eventually got in in Feb 2025. It was unbelieveable when I saw the offer letter. Probably someone in the Deputy Manger and above cadre would earn such gross amount in the banking industry. Between then and now, this guy has changed significantly. Social network has expanded and he can now talk about having a friend in ExxonMobil. He is planning to get a brand new car soon too.

Since my 2022 applications, I became complacent about O&G applications. I was preparing for a presentation in my bank one time when Schumberger asked me to join a teams call for a Field Trainee engineer assessment but I was too 'okay' that I did not push further. Ofcourse, it turned out negative.

When my friend eventually got into Seplat, I knew that one can be 'okay' but there is 'very very very okay' out there. He became the only person in my entire lifetime that I personally know got in without knowing a single person, no connection whatsoever. Truly, someone from an unknown village in an unknown state can get in by just acing the recruitment process. That experience made me apply to NLNG this time (I didn't apply for NNPC, Seplat and co because I just didn't believe one would get in by sheer diligence only).

This NLNG application is the only and last GT O&G application I would be eligible for in my lifetime. If this doesn't come through, I will keep building my tech career - I am well expereinced in tech already - while dealing with the fast and ever-dynamic tech landscape.

Abduleeda1:
Email for filling of forms came in on the 5th of April 2023
Email for candidate invitation to AC came in on the 14th of April 2023
Assessment center exercises kicked off around 1st-3rd of May 2023 starting with the Abuja guys, can’t remember the exact date.
Assessment centre exercises were concluded on the 16th of June 2023 In PhC.

Offer letter came in on the 19th of July 2023.
Don’t know when the rest of the correspondence (PEME, Reference verification and all that) came in, only those who got in can say, but they resumed somewhere around 4th of September at LBS.

Applied in 2022 then but did not pass beyond the application stage. However, a friend was part of this recruitment process until the interview stage and he share his expereince with me.

As part of the AC, he said there was a scenario based questions where he was asked what decision he would make. He said they did a good job convincing him as he had to change his decision as the interviewer provided more edge cases. He got so anxious that his vocals could not introduce him because they were busy shaking. They interviewers gave me some time to cool off but the anxiety was immense. He knew he was not getting it.

I have learned that the more you know about an opportunity, particularly those well-coverted opportunities as this, the more anxious you tend to become because as your mouth is trying to talk, your brain is processing what is at stake if you say nonsense. You often end up saying nonsense or not talking at all.

For you, what was the interview experience like?

ovoP:
Thank you very much. I've astarted applying for GT roles. Notable EY and KPMG. Still waiting for opportunities in the engineering sector

1. I’d advise you look out for tech GT roles in some of these banks. They pay more and you’ll have some time to apply and prepare for those engineering roles when they come. Doing this also means that in a situation where engineering delays, you can still be building a reputable career in tech.
2. Consulting is more demanding and not as financially rewarding at the lower cadres like the GT and associate cadres.

Except you truly consider consulting as an alternative career path for you, those bank tech roles are better off.

Abduleeda1:
Speaking of which, why Seplat GTs dey follow us drag this one?😭 I can understand NNPC-L, Aradel and Oando, but Seplat?

1. Options.
2. It’ll be more than nice to turn down a “highly-coveted” offer. It raises one’s self esteem, in fact.

Abduleeda1:
Very understandable.

I see people on X(Twitter) who are so loud about their candidacy in the NLNG process, I just dey laugh cause I’m sure if they get in, their engagements on X will reduce drastically, and if it doesn’t, they’ll rarely say or post anything about them working for NLNG.

I know of a lady who got in the last time, was a social media socialite, was always posting stuff, even pictures of her during training school and all that, I noticed suddenly she rarely posted anything again, recently e come be like say she don go incognito.

One other guy, he blurs out anything that has to do with the company logo, in his pictures you’ll only see his face, the others who are captured won’t even be clear.

I come dey wonder, I don’t know if there’s an OT (orientation) for that during the onboarding or if it comes naturally when you join the company.

A friend got into seplat last year. He used to be a socialite who posts almost everything on his WhatsApp status. Since he got in, many things have changed about him - near-zero posts with very limited social media presence. I think it’s both security and black tax management strategy.

welcome to the week. goodluck

March 16/23 2026

around when should we expect an email from them? any one?

i think the assessments are still on and open until 11:59pm today

just completed mine and these are my observations....

1. simple but challenging... the numerical section says '10 questions' but it is actually atleast 40 questions because you have to calculate for all provided options and then move them accurately. I could not pass question 6.

2. the verify process is challenging as well. what even more challenging is keep the counts as your brain tries to catch up on other meters.

if you selected 'I always complete all my tasks successfully' but went ahead to not complete that numerical, just take your current job seriously o.

sitting for mine tomorrow.... if it comes through eventually, I will consider it