About the author: Hi everyone. My name is Mark and I joined Williams right after college and have been with the company for over three years. I’m from Pittsburgh, Pa., went to Penn State University, and I now live in Houston, Texas.
One of the major things I focused on when choosing where to start my career was finding a company and industry that are growing. We are in the midst of a natural gas super cycle – Google it if you need some stats! This means there are a lot of opportunities for Williams and our employees.
One of the main factors that differentiates Williams from other energy companies is the learning opportunities that provide a great foundation for the rest of your career.
Williams has a structured rotational program, we encourage trips to the field to see our assets. Also, there are plenty of formal training classes that you can choose to be a part of, and most importantly, our seasoned and experienced employees do not hesitate to teach and pass on what they know.
To touch on one of those points specifically, I was a member of our business rotational program, and gained experience in corporate finance, operations, and then both the regulated and non-regulated commercial sides of the business. If that all sounds Greek to you – it’s ok! The main point is that each rotation provided a great learning opportunity that builds on itself.
For example, each of my previous rotations helped prepare me for my current position, which is a customer-facing role in one of our commercial groups. I gained a strong financial foundation during my first year while creating and working with economic models for large capital projects. Running the numbers on these projects forced me to understand the project economics and our business drivers, which is ultimately what determines our company’s financial health.
I then gained hands-on experience in the field as part of an operations crew. This experience was invaluable as I’ve personally interacted with much of the equipment that I speak to our customers about every day. Finally, I learned about our customer’s business needs and their drivers during my commercial rotations.
We have a great mix of experience and curiosity at Williams, and there’s never a shortage of things to learn. I really think you can be in this industry your whole career and still be learning. This fact really helps to put your career development into your own hands.