I’ve noticed a troubling trend – college athletes are dropping out of college to pursue
professional sports careers before finishing their degrees. I know most of my readers are not falling into this trap because engineers, programmers and scientists already know the value of education.

But to those of you who know someone considering this option, my advice is get your degree! You have to have something to fall back on in case it doesn’t work out. And the
odds are it won’t.

The chances of making it in men’s basketball is 0.03% and a woman’s chance of a pro career is even worse at 0.02%. You can more than double your odds at a pro football career, where 0.08% will make it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, your overall chances of making it in any pro sport (i.e., basketball, football, soccer, golf, tennis, equestrian, marathon running, etc.) is just 0.00565%*.

Graduation is more than a symbolic finish line of your formal education. It is the starting line of lifelong learning in a larger university called “the real world.” To borrow a concept from our software engineers, colleges “input” data into their grads and companies receive the “output.”

School of fish somewhere in the South Pacific

In drilling software, the quality of the output also relies heavily on the quality of the input, and on the algorithms and models used to create the software. We must constantly search for new ways to do things smarter, faster and better by using new tools, drilling methods and being open to changing industry trends.

A drilling software company that won’t expand their horizons is soon left behind. PVI’s goal is to continually learn from cutting-edge research, from our competitors’ best practices and from our customers’ comments and feedback.

Our innovation mindset means drilling software training, like our TADPRO training (Torque and Drag program), doesn’t just teach students how to operate the software, it also puts them backin the classroom to train them on basic pipe mechanics too. You learn friction factor, buckling, torque and more, and we use case studies that put you right into field operation conditions. TADPRO provides the bridge between field operations and classroom theories.

Both newcomers and seasoned drilling engineers benefit from TADPRO training. You can either knock it out in one day or spread it over two days based on your specific training needs.

So stay up-to-date or your friends will be telling you: “Don’t be a fool, stay in school.”

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* Statistics courtesy of: www.thesportdigest.com and www.collegetimes.tv