Interesting in becoming an SPE Mentor? Want to find out more? One of our Sections Mentors, Mark Brinsden, discusses below how the scheme has worked for him.

SPE International is an amazing organisation which many members fail to take full advantage of. We have our outstanding regional SPE chapters, providing great learning and networking opportunities, but SPE International also has many opportunities to become involved in our wider industry, outside your day to day work. I have the pleasure to volunteer to Chair the Energy Information Committee and to be an Associate Editor of SPE Drilling and Completions, as well as several other positions, however the most rewarding part I play in SPE is at the grass roots. I am an eMentor and I have been doing this now for two years and find that supporting the development of young professionals is truly rewarding. eMentoring is all about being a big brother/sister to a student, or early career engineer. Having someone out there that can lend an ear and provide wide ranging advice from experience is worth a lot to a young engineer and we get something back, by watching the successful development of that engineer, as they make their way in the world. The eMentoring period is for just a year and can be renewed, but most of my mentees just become informal friends and I continue to informally mentor them after the term has ended. You can accept up to 3 mentees per year. I usually invite them for lunch at work and a chat on a regular basis to keep in touch. I have also worked in support of dissertations as well.

All you need to do is go online to SPE.org and click on the Membership tab, then click on eMentoring at the right of the drop down and follow instructions from there. You will also note a volunteer tab. Please take a moment to click this as well and look at the other volunteer opportunities.

We are short of eMentors, especially in Scotland, so please think about sharing your expertise, support and friendship with a young SPE engineer today.

Mark S Brinsden SPE