Hisham (26) works at bp as a Well Completion Engineer and is the North Sea Graduate Committee Lead. He’s passionate about making sustainable changes to the way energy is produced – and making sure people from a variety of backgrounds have the opportunity to play a part.

One of the best things about my job is the places it has brought me. I’m a well completion engineer with bp which sees me based in the north of Scotland but I’ve had the chance to visit countries around the world to develop my expertise.

After completing A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths & Critical Thinking, a career in either medicine or engineering awaited and I went on to read Chemical Engineering with Sustainability at Newcastle University. There’s a lot of industrial history in the north of England where I grew up, which definitely influenced my decision. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to university, so it was always something they had hoped for their children.

I loved my time at university, and quickly realised that internships were the way to securing a graduate role. After completing an internship in pharmaceuticals, I took a summer internship with bp in 2016 up in Aberdeen as a well integrity intern. I was offered a placement on the graduate programme, on the condition that I completed my Masters. After doing so, I came back to bp in 2017 on the graduate programme and haven’t looked back.

A career in oil & gas was definitely influenced by a combination of things, including my upbringing and my wife Ariana, who is from Trinidad - a country which has benefitted massively from the energy industry. She was also a big factor in encouraging me to give something else a go outside of the pharmaceutical industry.

Through my job I’ve met a wide range of diverse people from all walks of life and have been fortunate enough to make friends from places I never would have otherwise, such as Azerbaijan, Oman, Turkey & Ecuador to name a few.

I’m lucky enough to have a fulfilling career as a well completion engineer. Put simply, myself and the team work on the best ways to locate, extract and produce hydrocarbons to utilise as sources of energy, so we can help power the world and create many other important products used in day to day life, such as plastics, lubricants and fuels.

At bp we’re working hard to meet the world’s demands for energy, while addressing the need to drastically reduce carbon emissions – and I’m proud to be a part of that. We are all more conscious than ever that our world is on an unsustainable path.

At the same time, we have a growing population with specific energy demands, which means we need to continue to do what we have been doing for decades, but in a much more efficient and cleaner way. We need to advance technology and digital techniques to help us get there.

I’m also really passionate about improving social mobility, diversity and inclusion in oil and gas.

As an industry, and in wider society, we’re only just starting to shed light on some of the inequalities that have held people back. I want to use my own personal experiences to help shape a fair and equal society where education and opportunity is a level playing field for everyone.

Employing people with different perspectives and experiences brings a lot of value to the workplace, and I’m positive about the strides being made in the oil & gas industry. This is something I’m incredibly passionate about and I like to be proactive in the early careers space to make sure the next generation can access these opportunities.

Education and the energy industry have changed my life from a social mobility perspective and allowed me to do things I couldn’t have dreamt of growing up.  I hope my experiences will help inspire others.