My journey to a low carbon career
Fraser Hutton, Deputy Project Director in Capital Development and Delivery at SSEN Transmission, joined in September 2023 after a 20-year career in the Oil & Gas industry.
Hear more about why he decided to switch to a low carbon career.
20 years ago, I joined one of the Oil Supermajors as an engineer before quickly moving into the Operations team. I spent most of my career there working on rotation offshore in the North Sea on various platform in the Southern and Central North Sea.
Eventually, I took on the role of Offshore Installation Manager, responsible for the safe operation of oil and gas platforms off the coast of Aberdeen.
When the first of my children arrived, I stopped working offshore and moved back into a Monday to Friday role leading the decommissioning and removal of redundant Oil and Gas facilities. This was my entry into Project Management, and I quickly found that while I needed to develop new skills, much of what I had learned in various leadership roles previously was easily transferable.
Changing Careers
While the oil and gas industry was good to me for many years, there were a number of things that were becoming clear that informed my decision to change industry. Firstly, from a practical perspective, Capital Expenditure was reducing in the North Sea. Investment was declining in line with reducing production rates and higher taxes were leading to projects being cut back or cancelled. In a declining industry, the opportunity to lead good projects diminish, and the opportunity for career growth and good opportunities also disappear with it.
I was also starting to personally struggle with the morality of the industry. While the impact of Climate Change had been theorised for a long time, the actual consequences were becoming more evident as extreme weather events were becoming a regular occurrence impacting real people’s lives. While I had justified my decision to stay in the oil and gas industry on the fact my role was focussed on decommissioning and removing polluting plant and equipment, when it was time for me to leave the industry, it came as a relief.
Transferable Skills
Probably 90% of my skills have been transferable between Oil and Gas and the Electrical Transmission Industry. While the jargon may differ, leading people, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the team and delivering challenging projects is very similar irrespective of which of these industries you work in. I've heard people in our industry voice concern that the arrival of too many people from alternative industries will dilute the culture, adversely impacting the ability to deliver projects both safely and efficiently. I have a much more optimistic view. We can enhance our industry by assimilating the best parts of the many other industries that people are joining us from. People bring best practice, new ideas and diverse experience. In the last 12 months, I've learnt what may not initially appear as a transferable skill may end up being useful in the most unexpected ways.
Taking control of your career
I believe it's up to each individual to take control of their own career path. However, it also helps if there is a bit of luck along the way! My decision to join the energy transition and proactively look for a role in a "green" company aligned well with the start of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) period. Given I was looking for a challenging role, delivering exciting projects in a green industry, the timing was ideal. Since joining SSE I have only been impressed. It confirms that I made the right decision to apply, and I feel fortunate to be working with a company with big net zero goals.
I had been extremely cautious in my Career path previously, rarely changing companies (never mind industries!) because of the security I thought it provided. If I knew then what I know now, I would have made the move sooner. The growth of the industries supporting the country's Net Zero ambitions just now is breathtaking.
