Career family
Energy, Mining & Natural Resources
Finding, producing and distributing energy and natural resources, including oil and gas, power and renewables.
- Mainly Making & Fixing
- Also Investigating & Solving
- Also Organising & Managing Detail
What the work involves
A closer look.
Work often happens on sites, plants or offshore, with strict safety rules and rotations. Office roles cover planning, trading, regulation and health and safety.
Typical roles
- Petroleum or process engineer
- Geologist or geophysicist
- Power systems engineer
- Renewable energy technician
- Health, safety and environment (HSE) officer
- Plant operator
Entry routes in Nigeria
- Science subjects at SSCE (Maths, Physics and Chemistry)
- Degrees in petroleum, chemical, electrical or mining engineering, geology or physics
- Technician training, HSE certifications and industry programmes
- Professional registration with COREN for engineers
Requirements change. Always verify with the official body, JAMB or the institution.
Skills that matter
- Maths and science
- Safety discipline
- Working in remote or demanding settings
- Technical reporting
- Teamwork
By life stage
Where you could start.
Secondary school
Often-linked SSCE stream: Science. Check with your school.
Undergraduate
Petroleum, chemical, electrical and mining engineering, geology, physics. Internships: SIWES with energy firms and power companies.
Fresh graduate
Graduate trainee, field or plant technician, HSE assistant, junior engineer.
Young professional
Engineers and technicians move in from other industries, increasingly into renewables.
Vocational routes, entrepreneurship, public service and further study are all valid paths. We don’t show salaries or employment rates without a dated, verified source.
Ask a practitioner
Questions to ask.
Use these in a 15–20 minute conversation with someone who works in this family.
- What does a normal week look like for you?
- What do you enjoy most about the work, and what is hardest?
- How did you get into this field? Were there other routes you could have taken?
- Which subjects, courses or qualifications really matter, and which matter less than people think?
- What skills do you use every day that school didn’t teach you?
- What do people misunderstand about your job?
- If you were starting today, what would you do first?
- Who else should I talk to?
Test it
Ways to check if it suits you
Informational conversation
Talk to one person who does the work, using the questions on this page.
Job description review
Read three real adverts for roles in this family and list the requirements that keep coming up.
Small project
Try a small piece of the work yourself, then reflect on whether you enjoyed it.
Short course
Take a free or low-cost introductory course to test your interest before committing.
Job shadow or workplace visit
Spend a few hours watching the work happen. CPI arranges visits for participants.
Mentor conversation
Discuss what you have found with a mentor or coach.
Official qualification research
Check requirements with the professional body, JAMB, the institution or the employer directly.
Related
You might also explore.
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Building software and digital products, keeping systems secure and running, and turning data into decisions.
ExploreScience & Research
Asking questions about the natural world and testing answers carefully, in labs, the field, universities, industry and government.
ExploreWant to know if this fits you?
Take the self-assessment, then use your roadmap to test this direction.