Ep. #35 - Inside the Pipeline: The Role of a Remote Pipeline Controller with Ceola Hart

In this insightful episode, Ceola Hart, a Remote Pipeline Controller, shares her career journey from retail to the oil and gas industry, highlighting the critical role she plays in ensuring safe, efficient pipeline operations. She discusses the importance of systems, safety protocols, and clear communication with field personnel, balancing technical expertise with interpersonal skills.

Ceola also reflects on the impact of mentorship, how it shaped her growth, and the stability and work-life balance her role provides. She dives into the diverse career paths within oil and gas, emphasizing the industry’s shift toward automation, safety, and even renewable energy.

For anyone considering a career in pipeline operations, remote control systems, or oil and gas, this episode offers valuable insights, career advice, and industry trends.

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Transcript

Travis McCaughey (00:00)
Yeah, so you're like you said you worked at Modified DuPont what and you're a pipeline controller So what what are you I mean there's a lot of different products that a pipeline controller could be in charge of so What what are you moving around?

Ceola H. (00:17)
Right, so when I initially started with Shell, I was strictly crude. So I was on the crude console. And we were, at least for my console, I was moving products from Canada down to us here in Texas. And because crude is so, it's so forgiving as far as, you know, the...

the density and the product itself, it was very easy to pretty much move that product from one location to the next. And so we send it to Tank Farms and then from there they do whatever they need to do on that particular console. However, I qualified because for us, the process, especially for Shell, they are very much so

safety oriented. So our process takes anywhere from eight months to a year to actually qualify as a pipeline controller. They're very strict with certain things and you need to make sure that you go through a very hefty operational manual to be able to regurgitate the information and kind of know because you also have hands -on experience while you're going through the training. So

Once I qualified there, I was actually able to qualify on a different console, which now I do products, which is a bit different, less forgiving, because you need to make sure that you're making those cuts properly, especially when we're talking about diesel, jet fuel, gas. So we're making sure that that product is transferred to the right tank at the right time.

And then I'm also working with dry gas, which is super new to me. I've learned how to do the whole liquids and things like that. Now trying to understand the dry gas process and the compressors and DeHi units and things like that. So it's still a work in progress. But yeah, I've got a now on my, as far as my tool belt.

I'm getting a lot of different things that I'm able to speak on.

Travis McCaughey (02:09)
Yeah, so you said you're moving oil out of Canada through a pipeline down to Texas and essentially, I guess, putting it into tanks.

I mean you're not at the beginning of the pipe and you're not at the tank farm as far as I understand. So you're a remote pipeline controller right? Okay.

Ceola H. (02:26)
No, so, correct.

Yes, yes. So we're considered midstream within our department within Shell, because you've got the upstream, midstream, downstream. So we're considered midstream and we are remote. And so we're not located at an actual facility. We're located in like office buildings. And so from there, we have the capability of moving the products through the pipeline.

Travis McCaughey (02:38)
Yeah.

right and these aren't all shells products these are coming from maybe independent well independent producers or majors or something like that yeah yeah

Ceola H. (03:04)
Correct, correct. We're kind of like the middlemen. And a lot of the process that we have, especially when it deals with like dry gas and things like that, we're the middlemen to it. So we're calling the receipt side, hey, can you go ahead and send X amount of product? And then we're calling to whoever we're delivering to, hey, this is coming. Be prepared, make sure that you're open, lined up and ready.

And then our system is set up where we can then open, close valves, things like that to make sure that we've got a open path. Because that's our biggest thing is making sure that we're not blocking any lines or anything like that. And we've got a smooth path, open path from point A to point B. Once it gets to point B, then they need to make sure that they've got a smooth open path for wherever it needs to go after that.

Travis McCaughey (03:51)
right and then are you you said you're on the receipt side so I mean somebody's booking that product onto the line and someone is you know saying they're gonna take it off who's making the like

I don't know what you guys call it, we call it nominations where you're product on, you know, you have that balance of what's on the pipe, what's coming off the pipe, and then someone has to designate that, right?

Ceola H. (04:15)
enough.

Right, so for us it's a scheduler. We've got designated schedulers for each system that we operate. So one particular console can have up to five different pipelines that they operate. It's not just one specific pipeline that we're operating. We've got multiple. So on ours, it's about 10 different because we added dry gas. So we operate about 10 different lines, give or take, at any given time.

Travis McCaughey (04:20)
okay.

Ceola H. (04:46)
But because we've got the schedulers and we're able to and that's how we maneuver every day So kind of like that day in the life is is checking that schedule And if there's any type of conflicts in regards to okay this this tank that I'm supposed to be sending it to Does not have enough room for this. Okay, where else is it that you need us to put this product or You know, we can't come in on this particular line right now because somebody else is coming out on this line and so

we are able to work with the schedulers. But for the most part, they know what it is that they need to do. And they're able to see our system kind of remotely. So they're able to see as far as the tanks, if it's tanks that we're putting it to, hey, OK, this is the tank that we need to either pull the product from to ship it out, or this is a tank we need to fill, and then have it wait for it to be certified before we ship it out.

So we work hand in hand with those schedulers to make sure that everything kind of works smoothly. Sometimes there's glitches here and there where both parties doesn't catch the mistake. And then we just kind of have to backtrack and figure out what needs to happen.

Travis McCaughey (05:51)
Yeah. So are you calling like boots on the ground when you're saying products gonna come off the line? Hey, I need to go into this tank. Are you talking to the field personnel like, hey, are you lined up?

Ceola H. (06:02)
So, right, so we kind of talk to field personnel only if honestly there's an issue. Because again, a lot of our stuff is automated. So unless there's an issue to say, hey, this valve isn't opening, I need you to be out there and I need you to hand crank that bad boy open so that we can start this movement. Or hey, I started up this pump, this pump isn't working, I need you to go on out there and check it out so I can figure out.

Travis McCaughey (06:13)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (06:28)
you know, when to start or if I need to use a different pump, things like that is when we, for the most part, it's like troubleshooting is whenever we speak to the operators out in the field. A lot of the times they speak to us whenever they need to like test the tanks and things like that, because we need to have any type of heads up of any type of maintenance that's happening out in the field or anytime they're testing products or testing equipment.

because in our side, we get alarms and we get alerts. And so the worst alarm that we want to have is considered a priority one alarm. And that's where we're having to shut the system down because you forgot to let me know that you're doing workout in the field. So it's a lot of communication where we have to make sure that we have very good open communication with the field staff and us whenever different things are happening.

Travis McCaughey (07:17)
Yeah, that's what I was just gonna ask like if someone like a tank setting or some has a Tank or a pump or something now, how are they notifying you that hey this pumps locked out Now does that that show up on like your console that that pumps unavailable or something?

Ceola H. (07:33)
So it will give us an alarm, it will give us an alert to say that something's wrong with the pump. So we do get some sort of a notification that, something's going on with this pump. When they lock it out in the field, we don't necessarily get...

how they manually, because sometimes it's manually locked out in the field and we may not get that. But we need to be notified so that we don't try to start up that pump on our side because we have the ability to do it remotely. So is there where that communication comes in, hey, we're working on this pump. So then on our side, we're able to then in a sense deactivate that pump. We're able to go and say, hey, do not use this pump. It gives us like a visual indication that this pump

cannot be used at this time. And then we also make sure that we make notes in like our turnover so that everybody's aware of what's going on. And it's not just our shift. And once everything is finished on our shift, the next person doesn't know what's happening. So we make sure that, again, where that communication comes in play, that we're relaying the information over and over again, because it's a five -man rotation that we have on our console.

Travis McCaughey (08:38)
Yeah, and you said priority one alarm, so these are all like PSM, DOT, all that stuff.

Ceola H. (08:42)
Yeah, so we've got...

We've got high -level type alarms that's like, I need to respond very quickly to figure out if I'm needing to shut down the pipeline, to figure out if I'm needing to also call somebody out in which to look to see because the last thing that we ever want to do is block a line number one, which could potentially create a rupture. The last thing that we want to do is

is overfill a tank or bring a tank down to the low. So those are typically what we consider our priority one, hey, you've got to hop on this ASAP because we're in the, one of the things that we talk about is protecting our people, assets, community, and the environment. And so we're making sure that we do everything in our power from where we are.

to do that day in and day out.

Travis McCaughey (09:40)
Yeah, I

that.

I'm gonna backtrack a little bit,

so today, Siola Hart, she's a pipeline controller working for Shell.

born in South America, Guyana and migrated to Maryland with her father and siblings at the age of five.

graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and later went on to get her master's in business administration. You say in order to get into the oil industry I had to once again go back to school to get an associate's degree in process technology when you moved to Texas.

Yeah, what's with the criminal justice?

Ceola H. (10:19)
Everybody kind of asked that and what's interesting is that, you know, from the age of five, I can remember, hey, I always wanted to be a police officer. Like they, for whatever reason, that type of job just kind of, it called my name. And so from that age, I was just determined, hey, I'm going to go to school for criminal justice. I'm going to be this police officer. I'm going to later be like an FBI agent or something like that.

And then as the years progressed and different things kind of transpired within the world, I realized that I would not be fit to actually do that particular job just because of the kind of person that I am. I often, like my wife always says, you think the best of folks before you even get to know them.

She's like the total opposite. She's like, nope, nope, I don't like you until you prove me otherwise. And so I feel as though if I was to truly get into that field, I would probably get hurt, quick, in a hurry because I'm looking to help somebody. I'm looking to just think the best of everyone until, again, you prove me otherwise. And then that might be my detriment because I'm trying to help and you had, or somebody had that

negative mindset from the jump and I'm just there to help. And so I just felt as though that was not, that was no longer my calling and that was just really after I got my degree, which was weird. And so at that time I was kind of in retail. I was in the retail space working with a fall at higher education group. their university bookstore.

Usually in the universities, it's either Follett or like Barnes and Nobles, things like that, with those high -priced books that students come on in to get. So I was a manager there for quite some time, and I actually enjoyed the customer service aspect. I enjoyed like all aspects, all parts of it. And so I figured if I went back to school and kind of got my master's, I'd be able to progress and continue, but that just didn't work out with that particular company.

Travis McCaughey (11:55)
Okay.

Ceola H. (12:17)
I still kind had that itch for some kind of law enforcement kind of deal. So I went into a TSA and I did that for a bit. So that was interesting. When I was younger, actually, I did it, but I was just a little too young to understand how this career could actually help me in the future. And so at that stage, I was more of the, I was...

the TSA agent that dealt with your bags. So you would never have seen me because I was like underneath dealing with those heavy bags that go under. And so it was cool. Like I enjoyed that. But when I came back the second time around, I dealt with passengers and that was a bit different. That was definitely a bit different. And I, know, as much as I love customer service, I tell you the dealing with, with folks that are flying or coming back from a trip or.

Travis McCaughey (12:52)
You

Ceola H. (13:03)
or having issues from a trip and missed their flights and things like that, it's a bit different. So I had enough of that and had moved to Texas. And from there I was like, man, there's a lot of plants out here. Like, you know, what is this? And my wife had kind of got me into getting into like what I need to do. She had kind of helped me into figuring out what it is I needed to do in order to get on into the field.

And here I am. I kind of did the two things where I was interviewing with Exxon and Shell at the same time when I did my internship.

Travis McCaughey (13:39)
Was that the shell and the exon, were they both for this same position, more or less?

Ceola H. (13:45)
No, interestingly enough not. the backstory then as well is like I had a full -time job. So I was like a manager for Target doing like the online. I had a team and everything like that. And I had quit that to take the internship for Shell. And it was for this particular role of pipeline controller. The P -TECH program and that degree that I was going for,

didn't really talk about what it is that we do in the control center. It talks about what folks do out in the field. So Exxon is, I was interviewing to actually be out in the field. I was interviewing to be what I actually went to school for. So, know, climb the tanks, gauge the tanks. You know, if I've got a hand crank valves, I was going to be out in the elements and things like that. However, as I was kind of going through this process of the internship and realizing

Man, the only thing I have to really deal with is having a jacket up here because it's like 90 degrees outside, but it's about 50 degrees in here. And then I'm looking at eight different monitors because we've got a lot of monitors that we've got to kind of look over. I don't necessarily, I don't have to be in the elements if it's when it's raining or if it's cold outside, if it's super hot outside, I'm in here, this one temperature.

The only downside is I'm locked in for 12 hours. So I can watch the people outside walk and enjoy the sunlight and enjoy the fresh air, but I'm locked in for 12 hours. So after some consideration and kind of sitting down and talking with my wife, after I actually got both acceptance, it was down to, okay, health -wise for me, as I'm not getting any younger,

you know, what would benefit me a little bit more. And Shell is what we decided upon, and I'm kind of happy that I did.

Travis McCaughey (15:36)
Where was your process tech? Where did you take that at? Was that college? Okay.

Ceola H. (15:40)
So that was at San Jacinto, San Jack, the central campus. So was close to the job. It was close to the target that I worked at. So once I got off of work, I went straight in because I was pretty much doing night classes. And so it was right down the street. And then from there, I just went home after classes. So it was a very good program. The unfortunate part is that I kind of went into it and I was

Travis McCaughey (15:55)
Okay.

Ceola H. (16:08)
halfway finished and then COVID hit. And so, you know, they've got one of the, they've got like a state of the art mini plant that they built on the campus so that you're able to go and see like the glycol unit and things like that and how the product moves and the different processes and things like that. So when COVID hit, you know,

we were working, we were going to school online and that was during the time where I needed to be out there kind of learning that process and I unfortunately didn't get that opportunity. So, for me, I feel as though it kind of all worked out but I can definitely say as I talk to other students from San Jack and the high schools, I kind of let them know that this, where I am,

currently working isn't something that's truly taught in school, especially the P -TECH program, because they talk about being out in the field. So like when I came in for the internship position and I looked around, I was like, what is this? Because I Googled, which is crazy too, because I had to, like no lie, I Googled the location about three, four times and then I Googled it again before my first day because

I said, there's no plant here. Like where am I supposed to be going? This looks like an office building off of the freeway. What is this? I'm not familiar with this because I'm looking to be at some sort of plants and then being in the control center. know, I... Right. So it was very interesting. And then I just, you as I...

Travis McCaughey (17:29)
You

Yeah, no guard shack or anything.

Ceola H. (17:43)
pull up and then once we get onto the floor, because it's a secure floor, you know, you have to badge in. I was like, okay. And then, then it became a little more intimidating to me because it's like, you guys look at all of these screens at the same time and you have to do what all at the same time? And what happens if you've got this conflict and that conflict? I'm like, my gosh, okay. My schooling did not train me for this. It trained me for hand cranking.

Vows to train me for going on out climbing tanks gauging it and all of that so it was it was definitely a learning curve, but Something I feel as though anybody in time because it again It's about eight months to a year anybody in time would be able to to do

Travis McCaughey (18:27)
So your process tech, you're saying it was more like oil field work or you're saying like,

Ceola H. (18:34)
Correct.

Travis McCaughey (18:36)
refinery. It wasn't refinery focused per se or did they do instrumentation or anything like that too?

Ceola H. (18:41)
So there's an instrumentation part of it that's part of the P -TECH program. So it deals with being out in an actual plant, an actual facility. And so that's what the P -TECH degree kind of gears you towards. Working out in an actual plant that brings in the crude product and refines it to your gas, your diesel, your jet.

So that's where a lot of the focus kind of was on. They also have an instrumentation side of it where you can get your instrumentation tech degree. There was a class that kind of touched on instrumentation, but I wasn't big on the instrumentation part. But they do have both at San Jack. But for the most part,

the P -TECH was like a holistic, we're going to kind of touch on a little bit of everything. And when you're able to actually go out to the small mock plant, then you're able to get a little bit more hands -on feel, touch of, okay, this is the unit, and then this is how it gets refined, it goes up the tower, and how the products are then separated and things like that.

Travis McCaughey (19:53)
Yeah, so just give you a basic overview in a certain sense if you've never been in the oil field or anything like that. So do you think that... Right. So was that... You think that was valuable, of course, I imagine. Yeah.

Ceola H. (20:00)
Correct. Correct. Yeah, cause this is all brand new. For me.

Yes, for sure. Because it honestly, it set me up to have those two offers. And I could have gone either way. Because my degree and getting that associate's degree would have definitely been more beneficial at Exxon than it was for Shell. However, just...

Travis McCaughey (20:31)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (20:32)
the overall atmosphere and just the things that I kind of learned during the three months internship that I had. I said, hey, this is something that I can do. I'm not necessarily an outdoorsy person anyway, so this is gonna work just fine.

Travis McCaughey (20:46)
Yeah, and imagine you're leaning more on the business side of your degree doing the pipeline controller as far as ledgers, like accounting type focus more.

Ceola H. (20:53)
Right.

So not too much right now. The main thing that I am kind of leveraging is a bit of my leadership skills in my past careers. The degree part hasn't quite hit there yet. I feel as though once I get to the next level, so right after here, wherever I go next, I feel as though would be able to

to utilize some of those skills. But for us, it's pretty straightforward. You have a schedule, you follow that schedule, and we've got pretty much our operations. So everything is in our console. So there's no guess to it. However, there's a bit of complacency that one would have, especially after doing this job for X amount of years, that you're like, yeah, no, I know this movement, I know this setup.

I know what I need to do, things like that. However, in our console, we've got the procedure manual in regards to, to start up this line, you need to do X, Y, and Z. To shut down this line, you need to do X, Y, and Z. If you're doing a batch change, you need to do X, and Z. So everything is in there for us that we can sit down and look at. But as you start to become more familiar and you get more time in, you kind of go off of memory and...

and you're just kind of like doing it and so a lot of sometimes that's where those slip ups happen and for me it definitely had happened and I was like okay I need to sit back I need to I need to regroup and I need to pull on out this daggone manual over here by me and I need to take it back a little slower when I would first started and I felt more I was more cautious in my movements I need to kind of go back to that and not

be so complacent and figuring, I know what to do with these movements, because you start to get into that type of routine and then you're doing multiple things at once, and that's where different slip -ups kind of happen.

Travis McCaughey (22:47)
Yeah, yeah, when you got a divided focus for sure, you know, you're filling, filling a tank and doing something else over here and yeah, I get it. Yeah, I definitely feel for you guys. I mean, we have a couple, we have controllers not in

our process,

I see those controllers.

doing their thing over there and I'm like, man, it's just stuck in there. Just stuck inside the office all

Yeah.

Ceola H. (23:12)
move, correct. 24 -7 somebody has to be in that chair. It's not one of those where it's like, no, I can step away. And we've got everything that's within a walking distance of the same floor. So the bathroom is probably about 30 feet away. The kitchen where you're microwaving or you've got your vending machines is probably 10 to

20 feet away. And so it's just like, yeah, you're there. That's the only way because you can't leave the floor. And you've got to manage where you can say, OK, I don't have anything for the next 30 minutes. Let me go use the bathroom now. Or, hey, I don't have anything for the next hour. It's about 11 o 'clock. Let me go ahead and heat up my food so I can bring it back to my console so I can eat and so I can pay attention to everything else that's happening.

Travis McCaughey (24:05)
Now are there

occupancy alarms or something like that? know, like how do they kind of regulate that? I mean, you're in the seat. Do they know that you're in the seat or? Yeah.

Ceola H. (24:16)
Yeah, they know that we're in the seat. it's one of those things, well, outside of our supervisors being up there, especially during the day shift, we don't have them on night shift. But we have something where it's like, you've got to be able to respond because it's flashing. So you've got to acknowledge that alarm. So any alarms that come in, you've got to acknowledge it or else you're going to have a page full of alarms that aren't acknowledged number one.

Travis McCaughey (24:24)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Ceola H. (24:41)
And then like every hour on the hour we've got also a kind of like a check and a balance where we kind of go through the system and it happens every hour on the hour. It's a check and balance. You're going through the system, you're checking and then you've got to acknowledge that alarm once you finish checking and everything like that. So they put different things in place to ensure that yes, you're in that seat.

Travis McCaughey (25:04)
gosh. That's cool.

Ceola H. (25:04)
Yeah, they've had, I've heard of course different stories of before, before they started really getting a little more strict with it. folks, cause even some control centers, they're able to leave and go get lunch because the person next door to them are able to kind of look and man their console as well. They're able to see what's happening and do like a bit of multitasking.

but on ours, the way our system works, it's the one controller who is authorized to work that console at that time.

Travis McCaughey (25:37)
Yeah, I'm just assuming that regulation has played a big part in that, you know. And I don't know if that same thing came out of Texas City and everything, but that would be my guess. You know, with that refinery explosion down there. Yeah. Kind of spawned PSM and everything, so.

Ceola H. (25:53)
Right.

Travis McCaughey (25:57)
So you say a personal achievement is buying your first home with your wife and kids. So that is a big thing I think people don't understand as far as, like you said, there's such a diversity as far as jobs and there's drilling, there's accounting, there's pipeline controllers.

Ceola H. (26:04)
Yes.

Travis McCaughey (26:22)
and this

maybe something you didn't think about as a job that you would like or available, but it's obviously providing, it's providing a good life for you, right?

Ceola H. (26:33)
That is correct. That is very much correct. Because again, before all of this, I was in retail. And I was busting my butt in retail, day in and day out. And it just wasn't beneficial. I just wasn't seeing the true rewards when it came financially. And I've been doing it for years. And so, and then from being a manager where I didn't have that work -life balance.

Everything was being taken home because again, you're the manager You've got to do X Y & Z to make sure that your your staff Are properly equipped your staff are there, you know all the call -ins and trying to get somebody in things like that So yeah, it I was not truly seeing the the benefits of the years that I put in In retail, I just wasn't seeing it and then all of a sudden I realized that

you know, my two degrees that I had before, I go back for an associate's degree and the associate's degree is the one that's paying off for me. I said, my gosh, like, how did I not know this sooner? But you know, was raised up North, I was raised in Maryland and this wasn't really something that was so profound, like that was like, hey, we have this available for you type deal. Of course, if I was raised down here,

man, this would have been a no -brainer. As soon as I'm out of high school, I go on in, I get my two -year degree, and I'm out here. And so that's where, especially when I talk and I talk to the young girls out there, it's like, these opportunities are here. You don't have to necessarily be out in the field hand cranking anything or climbing tanks that are high up. You can be in an office space. You can be, there's...

the customer service part of it as well that we deal with as far as the lubricants and like Jiffy Lube. We're all part of that too. The storefronts for Shell, like all of that is part of the company. Like all of that you were able to kind of get into, even scheduling. It's kind of a 24 -7 job. However, you don't have to physically be in the office, but two days out the week.

Everything else can be done remotely. There's so much opportunity that's out there that it's like, hey, come check us out. You don't have to truly bust your butt to start off at about 80, 85 ,000 a year. You don't.

Travis McCaughey (28:56)
Yeah, yeah, I think there's this kind of what you touched on. There's like I said, just just the diversity of people as well, because we're all not built the same. And so when you're talking about someone that wants to be on the elements and open and close a valve, somebody that wants to be in the office, there's a lot of the guys that are in the field.

Ceola H. (29:15)
Guess.

Travis McCaughey (29:23)
They don't necessarily want to be in the office. They don't want to do paperwork. They don't want to, you know, so you need, you know, yeah, right. Yeah.

Ceola H. (29:28)
Yeah, yeah, you need those type of phone. Yeah, definitely Because I had we had we had some interns come in because just like how you know, I kind of Started it with the the company that we use now and so we had some interns come in and there was you know a young kid that came in that I kind of had to talk to because you know, he was I said hey I said one of the things that I truly kind of make sure that they understand is like look when you're here you're here You're here for 12 hours. You you can look out the window

But you're here for 12 hours. So whatever's happening outside, there's nothing that you can do. said, but if you are truly an outdoorsy person and you like nature and you like being out in the elements and things like this, I said, this would not be the job for you. I said, because you would come in day in and day out and you would be miserable. And so unless, you know, if that's truly your calling, then you need to look for something, you know, that's out there, that's an operator type position.

Travis McCaughey (29:57)
You

Ceola H. (30:22)
but that's what you need to kind of gear yourself towards. he was doing the same thing that I did, which was he had like two different opportunities and one of the opportunities was going to be out in the field. And I believe that he kind of went out in the field because he loved nature, he enjoyed nature and so he was fine with it. But you've got to figure out what you'd be comfortable doing, especially for the next three to four years, because you're going to have to be locked in.

especially for this type of job, for at least four.

Travis McCaughey (30:51)
Yeah. Yeah, that's not to say that each, like a field hand and someone in the office aren't going to have their own.

I don't want to say boredom, like routine and thing that's going to get old that you have to do every day. You know, I think what what's entertaining probably on both sides are those times where it's like, I always tell people that we get paid for being consistent, you know, showing up every day, getting, you know, doing our business accurately, routinely and being consistent. And then

Ceola H. (31:04)
Right, right.

Right.

Travis McCaughey (31:25)
when there's an emergency, being able to respond properly, making correct decisions. So both of them are going to have their same routine, but like I said, just depends on if you want to be out in the field or you want to be in the office, you know.

Ceola H. (31:39)
Mm -hmm. Right. Because just like you said, some folks that are out in the field, they're like, yep, nope, couldn't do it. You guys in the office just sitting there, and I got to keep moving. And that was, you know, and that's the other part of that, you know. I never really thought that I'd be back in the office because I was one of those that I need to keep moving. Like, I want to keep moving. I need to be active. My first true office job is when I worked at AT &T and I was in a cubicle.

And I said, my gosh, I don't know how folks do this every day. You're just sitting in here and you can't do anything and it's just here and that's it. And I told myself I'd never be in another cubicle again type deal or another office space ever again. And here I am doing it. But it's definitely enjoyable, especially when you think of we work half the year. When you put it all together, we work half the year and we make pretty good money.

Travis McCaughey (32:28)
Yeah, for sure.

well i'm going to jump into some of these questions

the one i think is kind of interesting and it's not to like say that you're like not doing your job well the eighty twenty rule and the twenty percent so like

what part of like doing your job is like this is what I do really good, this is what's keeping me here, this is something that other people can maybe like depend on me for. Yeah, so like what do you feel is like something you have on your job that you're doing really well?

Ceola H. (32:59)
That's honestly being able to say that, I'm willing to learn and I'm willing to do the extra. So for my council, again, it's pretty routine. It's pretty straightforward. I want to be able to make it a lot easier for the next person that comes in. So when it comes to our procedures and things like that, we've got a book that's got sticky notes in it.

And it's like, OK, yeah, so this is a procedure. However, we do it this way because this is a lot more simpler and things like that. And certain things aren't updated in the system. And so when the next person comes in, it's like, OK, so what is it that we're using? Are we using this or are we using this other paper that it is that you have? And it's just kind of finding ways to, for me, I'm trying to find ways in which to simplify things and make it a lot better for the next person that's going to come behind me. And so I work.

with my supervisor pretty much like hand in hand saying, hey, I'd like to update this. What is it that I need to do in order to continue with this process? Kind of also being that team player of when your supervisor calls and it's like, hey, I really need, even though it's like your day off or something like that, I really need you in because of X, Y, and Z. Because again, we're a 24 -hour operation. So somebody's got to be in that seat.

at all times. I feel as though for me it's the interpersonal interactions, the being a team player, knowing that I can be counted on, and just kind of doing the little extras. Because once you learn the console, once you're able to just have that procedure manual with you and kind of go through it, now it's like, what else are you doing that's going to benefit

everybody else as a whole and hopefully also benefit you so that they can see that and you know when that next time comes where it's like okay you've you've satisfied your time all right so this person's good you know we've got X amount of people that can give you some good recommendations to move you on to the next level but folks have to be willing to to

do that extra, I find like a lot of folks that come in, it's just like, I'm coming in to do my job and I'm rolling out. And I get it. I've had employees like that as well. I get it, 100%. But if this is what you're looking to do for 15, 20 plus years, hey, by all means. However, this is not something that I'm looking to do for that long. I'm looking to continue to progress. And they, as far as...

Travis McCaughey (35:13)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (35:31)
know, the supervisors that interviewed me in the beginning, I made sure that they were aware of that.

Travis McCaughey (35:35)
So is this, just generally speaking, is this a job that you're kind of not pigeonholed in, like this could be,

is this the only job there or is this like a track to something else or like how do you view that or what is the kind of structure of the job?

Ceola H. (35:55)
So, well, before, so years ago, this was the type of job that once you've worked out in the field and you're ready to retire, you pretty much came on into this position and you sat in this position until it was time for you to retire. That is how this job, I guess, was initially designed because it's like, hey, you're in here for life. Like you're a lifer is what I used to hear.

Travis McCaughey (36:09)
Hmm.

Ceola H. (36:18)
when it came to the control center. However, obviously over the years it has definitely changed, especially when you start to get younger people on into the control center that are fresh out of college, things like that. And they're like, yeah, no, this isn't something that I'm looking to, I'm not looking to be a lifer. Where can I progress from here? And so at least within the last, I'd say six years or so,

Travis McCaughey (36:37)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (36:42)
They have worked on getting a progression plan because from where I am right now, your next level up is either being a supervisor, which we only have five of them, is being a supervisor. If those people move up to a different position and there's something available, within the last three years, we've had...

I believe it's been four supervisor positions open. And so they kind of progressed to something else. But outside from here, it's then scheduling. So you work hand in hand with your scheduler. They're a next step up for you to understand how they put together the schedules in order to give it to us for us to then execute. So that would be one of those progression plans.

Scheduling also kind of works hand in hand with our traders as well. So they've got schedulers that are in trading, which a lot of the controllers that have been here at the control center within the last three to four years, that's where they have gone from here. And then from there, you just kind of can go anywhere within the company.

I, however...

Travis McCaughey (37:51)
so it's staying basically in a marketing avenue. And when you say trading, mean, you're talking about like, like stock exchange, that type of thing. Trading, is that correct?

Ceola H. (38:05)
Correct. Correct. Trading as far as making sure that you're purchasing X amount of barrels at this price and then you're trying to sell it to this person at that price and you're kind of bringing it in. I have yet to actually go on over to kind of shadow and see what that area even looks like because I hear a lot about it but I really don't know much about that side of the company. But I do know it's one of those just

I guess just like you would think, it's a cutthroat type area where you're in this big open area and folks are just yelling back and forth and trying to sell this and purchase this and do X, Y, and Z to make money as quick as possible. You can make a lot of money being in that area, but it's a high stress, high reward type of job.

So, but for me, I'm not looking for the high stress, high reward. I'm looking for, know, what can definitely challenge me a bit, but also give me that work -life balance that I appreciate being in this particular position. Because once I leave, once I clock out, once the next person comes on shift, I'm done. I'm not thinking anything about what just happened. I am now...

off the clock now dealing with my personal life and vice versa. When it's time for me to hop in there, I'm then dealing with that. But I have what I consider a great work -life balance that I didn't have with the different jobs that I've had before this.

Travis McCaughey (39:34)
So I'm sure people with industry experience would wonder if you have any sleep hacks.

Ceola H. (39:43)
Man, I wish I did. my gosh. I've tried even from the folks that have, because again, I'm new to this whole industry and new to everything. And so I tried to listen to when I first got in, try to listen to some of the old heads in regards to, yeah, know, when, especially when you transition from our 313. So that's the biggest one. So you've, you just finished your day shift on Wednesday.

On Thursday, you're off and then you swap over to night shift on Friday. So they're like, yep, know, once I get on home, I, you know, go to sleep regular time come Thursday, you sleep and, then you try to keep yourself up as long as you can so that you can then try to transition yourself into that night shift. And so you're going to be up until about like six o 'clock, give or take, and then go to sleep.

because our shifts are from five to five. So five a to five p or five p to five a And so then you can go to sleep and then when you wake up at, you know, whatever time to get ready for your five o 'clock shift on Friday, hey, you're gonna be good to go because your body's in that routine. yeah, no, I tried that probably for the first week and I was like, I don't know how y 'all can stay up. My eyes were burning. I was trying my best. I was like, yeah, no, this isn't gonna happen.

Travis McCaughey (40:52)
You

Ceola H. (40:57)
So for me, anytime that I have that, like I feel as though that is the best sleep that I usually get when I'm transitioning from day to night because I sleep a whole lot. I go to bed when everybody else goes to bed. Once I wake up, I get everybody out the house. I go then back to sleep in the morning and then I wake up at about 2 .30 that afternoon and then I get ready for my shift for five o 'clock. So I get like as much sleep as possible whenever I do that transition.

Travis McCaughey (41:15)
You

Ceola H. (41:25)
It's a little harder for me when I have to do the day shifts because I typically wake up at about 2 .30 in the morning to get myself ready for my five o 'clock shift. It's about without traffic, it's about a 30 minute drive with traffic. I'm looking at about an hour or so, but early in the morning is no traffic, but I just have a routine that I kind of stick with. And I try to make sure that I'm there at least 15 minutes before shift so that that person can leave out.

on time type deal. But as far as sleep hacks, no, I just get as much sleep as possible when I'm transitioning. The days when I don't and I get home, it's like, I'm home. I usually don't, so I have like a protein shake on my way home because I figured I'm not gonna be even up enough to eat dinner.

Travis McCaughey (42:00)
You

Ceola H. (42:15)
So I try my best to be in bed no later than about 7 -8 o 'clock because of course they try to say, you need to get at least 8 hours of sleep every day. Man, ain't nobody knows shift work. To everybody that works shift work knows that you're not about to get that. You're going to be lucky if you get about 5. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 7 is awesome. 6, yes, yes. That's always been my marker. 6, 6 and a half? I'm like, alright, I'm good. Especially on dayside.

Travis McCaughey (42:23)
Yeah. No. To get seven. Yeah. Usually about six or six and a half. Yeah.

Yeah

Ceola H. (42:42)
But yeah, folks just don't understand when it comes to shift work. It's just, it's very hard to get the necessary sleep you get in. You kind of have to get that sleep during your time off. That's when you kind of recoup and rejuvenate and you're like, all right, I'm ready for it because that's exactly what I've been doing for this week right here because then I start back my rotation come Monday.

Travis McCaughey (43:04)
Is that your normal do you feel like that's your normal?

Like, what do you, are you like a morning person or a night owl or?

Ceola H. (43:11)
Once I'm up in the morning for the most part and I have things that I need to do, I usually try to keep myself a bit busy. So once I've got a plan of, this is what needs to get done, and I'm up in the morning, I'm going to be up in the morning, knock stuff out. Because I need to get stuff knocked out as early as possible so that I can then relax. But as far as night owl, staying up.

no, that's not me. That's honestly my wife. We're the polar opposites. Because in the morning time, she'd probably lay in, sleep in, things like that. Me, I'm up. Let's just get stuff done and then relax.

Travis McCaughey (43:33)
You

So is that a motivation for you? know a lot of these supervisor jobs and stuff are like days only. Is that like a motivation for you or how's the sh -

Ceola H. (43:52)
Right.

So, in a sense, I definitely want to get back to a more normal schedule. don't know, know, kudos to, and I say this very often, especially to some of the guys that are on, within our area, there's a controller that's done this for 10 plus years. Like, they're still in there and they're just like, okay, great.

I'm like kudos to you for doing this for this long because I wouldn't be able to last because I am struggling Right now and it's I'm three years in so it's like yeah I don't know how you swap back and forth so I am looking to get back to a more nine to five kind of kind of job for sure that is my my goal at least within the next year so by you know next

Travis McCaughey (44:39)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (44:46)
the end of next year, I am looking to get into something that is a more nine to five routine where I'm not having to swap back and forth from nights to days. And it's not a constant, I know there are times where I may have to work 12 hours depending on what area I'm working in, but it's not a consistent, a 12 hour shift and things like that.

Travis McCaughey (45:06)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (45:10)
I am definitely looking for my body to get back into that type of routine because this becomes hard on your body after some time and your sleep schedule, your sleep routine just changes up. I used to be a person that can just sit down and fall asleep. But when it comes to especially my day shifts, for whatever reason, I sleep like two hours and then I'm up and I'm like, why the heck are you up?

Travis McCaughey (45:13)
You

Ceola H. (45:33)
And it's like, go back to sleep. And so I gotta push myself to get back to sleep. So it's hard when I'm on rotation to get the quality sleep that I need to get.

Travis McCaughey (45:34)
Right.

Yeah, yeah, I think it I don't know if it's easier my perception is that it is, you know, doing a week in a week, you know, actually having seven days, but that on and off and days and nights. That's like. Yeah, like said, kudos to you.

Ceola H. (45:49)
Yeah, right.

Travis McCaughey (45:59)
So is there high turnover there?

Ceola H. (46:03)
There truly, in a sense there isn't. Just simply because of the only time that we would have a high turnover is when folks are ready to post out. But there are certain criteria in which you need to follow and be under in which to post out. You've got to, once again, we are a five -man rotation.

So there's got to be at least that flexible sixth person that's training to come onto your console for somebody to then be able to kind of leave out. And so that's the way that they're trying to manage it now. In the past, there was a bit of turnover because people realized that they weren't going to be able to get out of the control center. So it was like, hey, I've got to do what I've got to do because this isn't working out for me anymore.

once they started to see that, hey, we need to have like a rotating door in order to give people the opportunity to post out and find something better, we're on a way better track now in ensuring that with the turnover that we have, it's known and we've got backfill already there and we've got folks that are there so that we can stay on this five man rotation because that allows people to.

take the necessary time that they need to take when they need to take it.

Travis McCaughey (47:15)
Yeah. so also for vacation and stuff. That's what you're talking about. Yeah, right.

Ceola H. (47:19)
Correct, correct. Yep. Because we've got like designated slots where it's like, okay, if you go ahead and take your vacation here and you put in your 36 hours here, you get your two weeks off and nobody's going to be calling you, nobody's going to be messing with you or anything like that. And it's just easy because we've got that rotation that's able to pick it on up. So it works out.

Travis McCaughey (47:41)
And that's something that you didn't necessarily have before was that extra guy to cover.

Ceola H. (47:48)
Correct. On some consoles did not have that. Some consoles at one stage was, you know, what was on fur and which was sad, you know, for like at least a month, there were like two man rotation, especially during COVID. COVID was a bad time from what I heard. But sometimes it's, you know, two man, three man rotation. Once you get on a four man, it kind of eliminates that extra flex week that you're able to have. You're able to get your seven, but it kind of eliminates that extra flex week when you're on a four man rotation.

And there's a lot of overtime that obviously people get once you start making these kind of, you know, once you start losing folks like that because there's people that now have to pick up the slack. And again, there's only a certain number of folks that are qualified on that console that can work that console. So you've to kind of stick with the people that are qualified on it.

Travis McCaughey (48:39)
Yeah, I know it can be pretty tough when you don't have backfill. Like you said, you end up just working all the time for sure. Yeah.

Ceola H. (48:46)
Yep. And so they kind of heard, you know, they've listened to what had been said. You know, we used to have a lot of meetings where we're carrying our concerns up and things like that. And then they finally put, you know, a plan in place. And we're in a good space. We've been in a good space for at least a good year and a half, two years now, where it's like, okay, we've got some backfill. We've got some new folks in here that's going to learn.

It takes again eight months to about a year for them to fully understand and get qualified and then they can hop right on into the console and allow somebody else to come off and then that person goes on to what we consider like special assignment type stuff where they're helping out on the console and they're also kind of developing themselves to to find the next position.

Travis McCaughey (49:32)
Hmm. Yeah, that's good. That's good. They took your concerns seriously and everything.

Ceola H. (49:38)
yeah, they definitely work with us for sure because it's one of those operations that you're not going to shut down.

Travis McCaughey (49:45)
Right. Yeah.

one of the other things I'm thinking about is critical feedback or and mentors like have you, did you have any good mentors? How would you find one kind of that question directed at a younger person or maybe a person kind of mid career that

is looking for more guidance, guess. What have mentors, have you had any mentors? And then their feedback and what the impact was on you.

Ceola H. (50:07)
Yeah!

Right, so my first, I guess, true mentor was when I had worked at AT &T. that's where I kind of learned, at least that's where I had gotten that feedback in regards to when you start a job, kind of like what you should be looking for, especially if you're looking to progress. You're looking to be within that job. The first 18 months is where you're in it and you're learning, you're new.

So you're learning as much as you can within those first 18 months. The next 18 months, you're kind of cruising, you know what you need to do. You're then trying to become that subject matter expert. You're kind of doing a little bit extra within the next 18 months. And then the last 18 months, you're looking to figure out, what's your next step? And, you know, from that person, I've kind of moved that along with everything else that I kind of do.

And in this particular job that I have now, I've got two very strong mentors that I speak to at least once a month. they kind of came about, you know, I wasn't necessarily looking for them, which is interesting because I, before I never really had any true mentors for me to say, hey, you know, this person has helped me and has guided me throughout the years.

I realized when I came in and where I'm trying to go, I am going to need some mentors, somebody that's kind of been through it for some years because I'm brand new to this. I'm not starting off young, so I need some guidance. And they had what's called a reverse mentorship. And I was a little intimidated by even saying, that's something that I want to do because that's a Google.

How am I going to be the mentor and this person that's a manager that's been here for 15 plus years, they're going to be my mentee? Like how is that going even work? But I had to kind of step out there. in some instances, you've got to kind of step out of your comfort zone. Not a lot of people like to do it and I get it because it's scary.

but you've got to be able to step out of your comfort zone. And within the first year, I think it was actually within the first six months of me being qualified, they brought the program out and I was like, man, I don't know, I don't know, I have to think about it. And then I finally had signed myself up and the person that had put it together, he actually became my mentor after speaking to him. Cause I was like, you know what, you seem as though you know what it is that you're doing. You've done this for a while.

Travis McCaughey (52:37)
You

Ceola H. (52:50)
And he just talking to them, I got the vibe that he was a pretty cool guy and he really is. And so I forgot if it was like our second conversation and I was like, hey, so you're going to be my mentor and I need some guidance in how to do this. But a lot of times the people that are in a higher position, they know kind of the struggle.

And they're open in order to kind of assist and guide you. it's again, kind of stepping out of that comfort zone. But that's how I initially started out with getting my mentor. The second mentor I got was interestingly enough is I did a speaking engagement at my old college at San Jack and he was actually there.

He was doing a see he was kind of a speaker as well at the same event and we just started chatting and then from there That's that's just kind of where it kind of exchanged numbers. Hey, you know, he lives in Louisiana so stayed away and It's like okay sure and we just kept chatting and communicating and he just kind of ended up being a mentor as well I was like, alright, let's go ahead with it So, you know, I've come across some that weren't as as as open

And that's gonna happen. You just kind of, you just move along with the punches. Cause I've had at least two that weren't open where it's like you go ahead and you send out invites of, I'd like to do like a one -on -one. Just kind of introducing myself, seeing who you are. And they were somebody that was suggested to me. And so was like, yeah, sure, no problem. You know, put it on the calendar. And when they didn't, you know, I'm waiting for the meeting and they didn't show up. I said, well, you know what? Maybe it's just not meant to be. And so.

Travis McCaughey (54:05)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (54:30)
I've just kind of moved on from there and just continue to do what it is that I need to do and I feel as though I need to do in order to progress. But it is a very, very good idea for somebody to find a mentor when you're within a company and you're wanting to have that guidance to figure out,

you know, what could potentially be my next step, what is it that I need to look for. They'll be able to give you some good feedback later on down the road in regards to some of your weaknesses and things like that.

Travis McCaughey (54:57)
Yeah, I think that if you're miles ahead if you're already going out and looking for it, right?

Ceola H. (55:05)
Correct. for those type of folks, it's kind of like, OK, so what are you trying to do from here? Where are you trying to go? Like I said, are some people, just like in any job, there are people that just want to be in retail. I've had folks that just want to be a cashier. That's it. I'm going to come in. I'm just going to be cashier for the rest of my life until I leave. OK, no problem. You're going to be the best cashier then. And then we're going to move with it.

Travis McCaughey (55:14)
Yeah.

You

We're going to build the team around you. Yeah.

Ceola H. (55:32)
around right right right you know and there's some companies just like no we're looking to to to progress and get folks in and out but they've got to understand that there's there's people that just want to be in that position and they're gonna they're gonna do the best that they can in that position now you just got to find somebody else that's okay willing to go beyond that position and then you know but everybody's got to understand what it is that they want to do and how far it is that they want to go and if where they are now is all that they want to do

And if the company is fine with it, then great, retire where you are. But if you're not that person that wants to stay in that same position, you've got to step out of your comfort zone. You've got to go ahead and get that feedback, that raw feedback, and look for somebody that is in a position that you may even want to be

or just a higher position than you to

me talk to you and see how you got to where you got to and see if we can connect. And hopefully I'll be able to get some guidance from you before you retire, before you go somewhere else.

Travis McCaughey (56:33)
You're right. Yeah.

Yeah.

Ceola H. (56:36)
So yeah, it's hard. Trust and believe. I'm more, which is crazy, I'm definitely an introvert in some ways, but other ways where I'm truly passionate about educating and getting people to understand that these jobs are available. I will step on out there and I will have those type of conversations and it kind of helps.

especially, know, AT &T, would say, even though I was there for a year, it helped me a lot to understand different things. And it got me onto that Toastmasters, where you're kind of speaking, that public speaking, because that's just, that's scary in itself. And even as I'm talking now, I'm listening to myself with the ums and...

Travis McCaughey (57:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Ceola H. (57:20)
And I'm like, man, I mean, it doesn't even sound like if I ever did any type of toast masters before, but that was years ago. And I was definitely looking for other areas here and was just trying to get into it, but it's just the timing. tell you, it's timing.

Travis McCaughey (57:36)
It's hard to, like you said, think the, at least for me personally, when you said you're an introvert, unless it comes to something you're passionate about, is accurate for me too. Like I said, I would anticipate that we're both in the industry, so that passion is going to come through, and then the fear of

Ceola H. (57:59)
Right?

Travis McCaughey (58:02)
what we're talking about is gonna go away because in a certain sense, like, we're experts, so we know what we're talking about, we're passionate about it, you know? If you're not prepared or you kinda don't know what you're talking about, that's probably where it's gonna get a little bit more anxiety, right? So, I totally get it. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna have to be well prepared and all the rest, but.

Ceola H. (58:12)
Right.

Yeah, you're gonna stumble a lot.

True, true, true, true. Yeah, because it's, I know like one of those things even kind of going back to my Toastmasters, know, public speaking for anybody has got to be nerve -wrecking unless it's just like you just love to talk. You can just keep going and going and going. I just remember my first Toastmasters experience where I'm sitting and it's a small group. Like what I'm saying about five people in there, but I've got to have my speech.

Travis McCaughey (58:32)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (58:58)
and I'm sitting and, or I shouldn't say I'm sitting, I'm standing in front of everybody and I feel like I had an outer body experience where I'm looking at myself, have the conversation to everybody else and I'm talking and I just feel like I'm floating above but my mouth keeps moving and I know I'm speaking but it was, man, it was something. That was my first time where I was just like, my gosh.

Travis McCaughey (59:14)
Hahaha

Ceola H. (59:20)
And it's just a handful of people. It's folks that I don't know, but it's that fear of just talking to people. It gets to you for sure. And I know it definitely got to me the first time.

Travis McCaughey (59:29)
yeah yeah public and it's the more you do it the you know you get better at it i guess and that's

Ceola H. (59:36)
Right, and one would hope it becomes easier.

Travis McCaughey (59:40)
Yeah, I mean, I think people misconstrue like for myself.

they would probably say I'm an extrovert in a certain sense, but I'm at work where it's like, like you said, I'm the subject matter expert. Like I'm in control,

Ceola H. (59:50)
Okay.

comfortable

Travis McCaughey (59:58)
not the supervisor, but I have some sort of authority there. And then everyone that comes in, it's like they're coming into my domain, you know?

Ceola H. (1:00:06)
You're exactly, exactly.

Travis McCaughey (1:00:08)
And so, those are two, that's kinda hard to, you can't compare those two different things, because if I go to someone else's turf, I'm not gonna be near as comfortable as I am, you know, at work. Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:00:19)
You're not going to be as confident when you're not knowing what it is that you're supposed to kind of know. You're just going to then kind of look for everybody else. But yeah, 100%. 100%, yes.

Travis McCaughey (1:00:29)
I'm gonna feel myself floating away.

Yeah, so like if there's young people out there or however you want to progress your career, getting in front of people or, you know, I've even found positioning myself in the room, you know, just moving from somewhere where people can't see you or you're farther back from the speaker, moving toward them where you're like more in their line of sight to where you have to be engaged with them.

they might call on you, those types of things. Even those small steps can be a big benefit to public speaking in the end.

Ceola H. (1:01:12)
definitely, definitely. Again though, it's for, cause normal, normal every, like most normal folks when you're going into a room, you know, you're not sitting all the way up front. You're not going to be that person that's like, I'm walking, I'm walking right up front and I'm going to sit right up front.

No, you're looking at like the middle to the back and that's where you're looking to sit because that's part of your comfortability. And so that just kind of goes back to, you you've got to step out of your comfort zone. If you're looking to progress, if you're looking to change, you're looking to develop more, you've got to find ways in which to step out of your comfort zone and, you know, just kind of do

Travis McCaughey (1:01:31)
Yeah.

Yeah.

yes so i thought i would touch on

like hobbies what you're interested in those types of things are you a movie person are you a book person are you

Ceola H. (1:01:58)
So that type of stuff. so hobbies, would definitely say, know, years ago it was basketball. I love basketball. Playing it, I haven't played it in a while. I've actually got a court out here that every once in a while I'd play with my kids.

And then when I lived in Jacksonville, I had kind of picked up golf. So I love that. I'm still a beginner, but I need to actually get some clubs while I'm here in Texas and try to kind of get out every once in a while. And so I would say, you know, those two as far as active, I am starting to work back out again. I did CrossFit for a little while and I enjoyed it. But

Travis McCaughey (1:02:23)
Well there you go.

Ceola H. (1:02:42)
I did something with my shoulder that I'm just like, okay, let's just get back to, you know, just the basic workouts and not all the crossfit of kippening and all this extra and all of that. I said, okay, okay, yeah, let's bring it back a little bit. But I love audio books. My wife and I have the subscription for audio, Audible. So I love listening to nonfiction.

Travis McCaughey (1:02:50)
It's a little intense.

Ceola H. (1:03:06)
your autobiographies, your self -help books. I love listening to that on the way into work when I'm just kind of relaxing. I find as I've gotten older, less noise is what I'm looking to get. So I don't necessarily blast a lot of like music and things like that. I listen to a lot of different

genres I'll be doing a 5k here on Saturday and You know within my playlist. I've got some metal. I've got some workout type R &B just so that it can get me through this this run So that's you know music wise I I can listen to anything and and be be vibing with it

I tend to not listen to as much music like folks normally do when they're in the car. I'm more of a silent driver. I like to kind of be in my head, which is kind of weird. But if there's something that comes on, you know, hey, I'd listen to it. If I've got other people in the car, music will be on for the most part. My favorite movie, I would, you know, I've got to kind of go back old school. I love G .I. Jane.

Travis McCaughey (1:03:55)
Ha ha ha.

Ceola H. (1:04:11)
It's one of those type of movies where it's the adversity that she dealt with and just kind of sticking to it all the way to the end. feel as though it's one of those type of powerful movies that a lot of young girls, I feel as though should be able to watch and kind of get out of it. don't, no matter what's put in front of you and they say that you can't do it, hey, you can do it.

So I love that movie and that will forever be my favorite movie for sure. I don't necessarily have like a favorite book at this stage. I just, again, I just like, especially with the audio books. I used to have more of the paperback, but as technology grew, it's like, okay, you you got to shuffle and you got to dust them off. And I know I've got like a bin in my attic of different books.

And I'm just like, yeah, the audios are there, the audibles are there, and I can listen to it whenever I've got a couple of... I've got two different library, digital library cards where I can check out some audio books as well through that as well. that's been about it. And then right now with kids, I've got...

Travis McCaughey (1:04:59)
You

Ceola H. (1:05:22)
two boys that play football. So it's practicing with them every now and then, especially with my middle schooler, kind of throwing the ball with him and then kind of watching them grow within the sport.

Travis McCaughey (1:05:35)
Cool. Yeah, so we won't pan we won't pan over to this side of the room where the big bookcase is or anything. Yeah, I got You're like I got all my books and my Kindle, you know

Ceola H. (1:05:44)
I had peeped that one.

And how many are on the Kindle this year?

Travis McCaughey (1:05:53)
Well that's what some of my relatives, I'm like, I just like paper, you know, I like listening to it, I like reading to it, you know. He's like, I got all my books on my Kindle, you know. I'm like, whatever, okay, okay. Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:05:57)
Okay.

Gotcha.

I gotcha. Yeah, I had like, man, when I was a couple years ago, I had a bookshelf and it was just filled and it's like, you know, when you move, it's like, my gosh, and then you're packing and then you're in. So after a certain amount of time, they started to dwindle down and dwindle down. then, you know, I've got, like I said, I've got a couple that's on a bookshelf. I've got a couple that are up in like in a container.

Travis McCaughey (1:06:19)
That is very true.

Ceola H. (1:06:32)
know, every once in a while I do kind of go and get like one or two that I'd get like at half. We've got like a half price books, which is pretty cool. Where if it's something that I wanted to kind of have the paperback version of just because I will definitely go and get that.

Travis McCaughey (1:06:47)
Yeah.

Right. Yeah, you go to your storage unit when you move and it's like, I don't have his books in here when I'm paying, you know, 100 bucks a month or something for all these books. I could have bought them five times by now.

Ceola H. (1:06:58)
You're right. yeah. Definitely.

Travis McCaughey (1:07:06)
Yeah.

yeah, was going to circle back to, I mean, you don't, your family members or your relatives are in those types of things. They're not in oil and gas or anything like that downstream.

Ceola H. (1:07:17)
No, no, I knew no one that was in this industry prior to coming down. again, so as far as my background, born in South America, Guyana, but raised in Maryland. So my brothers, were military. My parents were military back in my country in Guyana. so, and my dad was

He's like a building type engineer. so my stepmom, I was raised with my stepmom and she's a physical therapist. So, you know, those are the type of backgrounds where it's like, okay, you know, that's where I was like, yeah, police officer are good. You know, you're, you know, you're doing stuff for the community, things like that. So no plants or anything like that, that I was aware of that's in Maryland. I'm pretty sure, you know, towards the coastline, there probably is some stuff that's there.

but nothing that I was aware of. again, not until coming to Texas, it's like, man, it's everywhere. Like you cross the bridge and you see you got Exxon on this side, got Chevron on that side, you've got, know, Lyandell over here, it's just everywhere. And it's like, okay, well, and then it's like, okay, yeah, they could make some good money. haven't, it's been...

Travis McCaughey (1:08:04)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:08:24)
a while since I've had that type of income coming in and they've got good benefits and technically you only work half a year? sign me up Chuck. Like, this is a no -brainer. Like what is it that I need to do? And when I heard beforehand, you know, years ago you didn't necessarily have to have that degree in which to get in, I was like, man, if only I was here years ago.

Travis McCaughey (1:08:33)
Right

Ceola H. (1:08:46)
But it is what it is, let me go ahead and do what I need to do in order to get on into the field. And then from there, I've told myself that I'm looking to retire from Shell. And that's what I definitely looking to do. I'm gonna do what I need to do in order to make that a reality, for sure.

Travis McCaughey (1:09:03)
Yeah, I think the process tech has done the industry well as far as like providing just a common ground for education, right? The more we can have that baseline, the better off the industry is. It's definitely still possible, of course, without a doubt for people to start at the bottom and work their way up. But you can shave some time off of.

Ceola H. (1:09:24)
Correct.

Travis McCaughey (1:09:28)
building that experience and everything by going through Process Tech. yeah.

Ceola H. (1:09:32)
Right, right, yep. And so it's a, you know, hey, it's a very good program no matter where you kind of take it. And a lot of the professors and stuff obviously have been in the industry. So they're able to provide you some good guidance. that was definitely beneficial for me when I was coming through San Jack was kind of talking to the professors and.

Travis McCaughey (1:09:46)
Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:09:55)
and listening to their stories and finding out offshore is awesome, is excellent. They pay well, but you've definitely got to pass that helicopter test that they've got.

Travis McCaughey (1:10:07)
is it? Yeah, we did. worked offshore and it was the Hewitt helicopter underwater escape training. Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:10:14)
yeah so when I googled I had to kinda google that because I almost had an opportunity to do that as well so I was like I'm sorry what? so when I googled it and I saw it I said okay alright

Travis McCaughey (1:10:24)
Yeah, right.

This what we gotta do. Yeah.

Ceola H. (1:10:31)
But you know when I when I looked though and I saw the amenities because it's a lot easier I feel as though working offshore. It's like you everything is there Once you're finished you're able to go eat and you have some good food You've got most likely a workout area I know your living space is a bit cramped because you know, it's a small area But it's like your your commute time from work to home is like that

Travis McCaughey (1:10:56)
Yeah, that is one of the benefits, you know, I think. If you're... You eat, you sleep, you wake up, you go to work, you know. Like you said, your commute time is really short. It's just, you're at work, right? So, unless you want to sleep at work, and eat at work, and do all those things at work, then yeah, it's a great place. But I totally get it, because, you know, I work onshore now.

Ceola H. (1:11:11)
Right.

Hehehehe

Do

Travis McCaughey (1:11:22)
And it's not a big deal by any means, but when you got a 30 minute commute, 30 minutes back, you you got all the family stuff, engagements after work, just all the other life stuff is in there where it's not offshore. So definitely, you know, pros and cons to each their own, I guess. So, yeah.

Ceola H. (1:11:30)
Huh? When you double that sometimes.

Right.

Right. Yeah, because he actually had one of the guys too this past year. He went offshore. He had moved from the control center and now he's working offshore. Yeah.

Travis McCaughey (1:11:59)
really? Is he flying out of Louisiana?

Ceola H. (1:12:02)
I believe so.

Travis McCaughey (1:12:03)
Yeah, I would imagine.

else you want to share as far as your job or who you are or how people can find you or, you know, those types of things.

Ceola H. (1:12:13)
yeah. Well, I must say I'm not too big on social media like that. So I'm on social media and Facebook, however. Providing that the name and all of that I don't have at the top of my head. Usually I have to look it on up, unfortunately. But...

Travis McCaughey (1:12:31)
Right, right.

Ceola H. (1:12:32)
I definitely enjoyed this conversation and this being the first podcast ever that I've ever done. So this has definitely been exciting. Loved kind of talking about the control center and Shell and the opportunities that they have and that they're just trying to grow and definitely be a more diverse company. And they continue to work.

on that and have different opportunities for a variety of different people. So, you know, I feel as though it's a great company in which to work for. I definitely, definitely am grateful that my wife had turned me on to this.

because without her suggestion and saying, this is what's available and this is what they, I would do it if I wasn't in the education field and things like that. I was like, okay, great. So I was kind of glad that she has suggested that. And like I had said earlier, one of my greatest accomplishments is being able to, for us to be able to provide a home for our four kids. And so it's been amazing, an amazing journey.

one that I'm truly grateful for. And I definitely hope to be able to, I guess, do more of these and different type of engagements where we're able to inform people of what's out there, the potential that the oil and gas industry has, because no matter what, we're not going anywhere. These products.

that come from the crude products and once it becomes refined and things like that. Yes, there's going to be electric cars and stuff out there. We'll probably have flying cars soon as well. But we're truly not going anywhere. And folks really think that we are. just going to expand into other areas. The windmill, as far as those type of energy spaces, there's just a plethora of opportunity that's out there.

that would be beneficial for everybody.

Travis McCaughey (1:14:23)
Awesome, I completely agree with you. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you coming on and with that, I'll stop the recording.

Ceola H. (1:14:33)
Alright, no problem. Well, you so very much for having me, Travis.

Travis McCaughey (1:14:35)
Yeah.