After long 4 years and 8 months, I bid adieu to Shell, atleast for next two years to pursue higher education at Kellogg School of Management. My journey with Shell spanned over 4 years, four assignments, 3 countries and 3 businesses covering Coal Gasification, LNG and GTL. Out of these, last year was probably most enriching experience as it gave me an opportunity to closely witness a 20 billion dollar plant, biggest so far in the industry and that exposed me to so many different aspects of a massive construction site. This site was so massive that every month steel equivalent to 2.5 Eiffel tower was being erected and the construction has been on for the past 4 years!
It has been a roller coaster ride full of fun, friendships and sporadic periods of frustrations but there is no second opinion that past four and a half years taught me a lot. It gave me the opportunity to meet so many people from so many countries that I shall always cherish it. While with Shell, I visited around 19 countries in 3 continents for leisure and business and enjoyed every bit of it. Even in my final farewell party at Pearl GTL, there were 11 nationalities in a total of 19 people who were there. During past four and a half years, I met few people whom I can never forget (even if I wish to) in a positive way.
Other thing I will always miss is the great work life balance Shell offers to its employees. It was only during my stint with Shell that I picked three of my most important hobbies which include Guitar, Tennis and Travelling. It's hard to believe that anyone having a full-time job could pick up hobbies like guitar and tennis from scratch in parallel and pursue them.
Barring few frustrating experiences, over all Shell has been a positive experience for me but now I really look forward to exploring a bigger and newer world outside my "shell".
