Manga Olivier is a Chadanian engineer who completed his Master of Engineering (Industrial Automation) through the Engineering Institute of Technology. He currently works for ExxonMobil in Chad as an Instrument and Controls Engineer. His career has grown in leaps and bounds over the years, but his fascination with engineering began when he was younger.
“I was interested in engineering at a very early age. I like challenging situations in the realm of troubleshooting faulty devices, appliances, and equipment. I liked discovering new technologies from a young age too. All this led me to technical schools at college level.”
Manga started his engineering journey in school, and in 2002, he pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Electro mechanical and Industrial Computing, which he finished in 2005. In 2007, he found employment at the Chad Brewery Company, where he worked from July to September.
In September of that year, he switched companies and began to work for Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc. as an Instrumentation Technician. It would turn into an eight-year stint that would see him working indirectly for ExxonMobil. In those eight years, he would fulfill roles as an Instrumentation Technician, a Measurement Technician, a PLC Technician, and then his final role, which he is in today.
However, it was in mid-2015, Manga decided to broaden his knowledge in the engineering world once more. He began studying his master’s degree with EIT in July 2015 and graduated in October 2018. At the time of enrolling for the course, he was an Instrument Technician but knew he wanted to learn more so that he could progress his career in automation.
“When I started the course, I was working as an Instrument Technician, and when troubleshooting tricky issues related to PLC, I just got stuck and asked for help from a PLC Technician. As I progressed with the course, my troubleshooting skills were getting better and better, and finally, I was appointed as a PLC Technician.”
Right after he graduated, ExxonMobil promoted him to the role he is in today; Instrument and Controls Engineer. The daily responsibilities at his job include:
- Process engineering surveillance
- Place orders for instrument and control spare parts
- Initiate MOC for equipment when needed
- Make changes to PLC or DCS logics when required
- Tune process loops when the process variable (PV) is not following the setpoint (SP)
- Root cause analysis for equipment failures
- Manage small projects
- Edit or make changes to P&IDs
- Assessor and procedure editor
Manga is an excellent example of a dedicated worker with a hunger for knowledge. As a result, he has been internally promoted within ExxonMobil. Now, he is encouraging others to follow in his footsteps.
“I would encourage young people to pursue a job in whatever field they would feel at ease and have a good career plan because a job is one’s life. A good book to read to get started on automation is ‘Safety Instrumented Systems: Design, Analysis, and Justification’ by Paul Gruhn and Harry L. Chedie.”
He thinks that employers are already accepting the high-quality online qualifications EIT is offering. He is also highlighting the fact that the world of engineering has changed, which requires a broadened knowledge of all engineering disciplines - which traditional universities are unable to cater for.
“I cannot thank EIT enough for what lecturers gave me as knowledge during that training - I now have knowledge in almost all engineering fields. I feel like having boots on the ground when discussing engineering topics thanks to EIT.”