The oil & gas industry is about people. Every human being on the planet has benefited from the work this industry does. People also represent one of the industry’s biggest challenges. There is a global shortage of staff. There are not enough qualified people to fill the many open positions.
Companies are now trying to be very proactive in retaining their talent. It is one thing to find new talent but it is even more important to retain the talent you have.
Sometimes, unfortunately, circumstances are completely out of one’s control. This just happened to us at AtComedia. Our colleague and friend, James Wallace Self, passed away on July 25th after a very courageous battle with cancer.
James was an integral part of the AtComedia team having served in a variety of capacities during his 23-year tenure. Everyone who interacted with Offshore Engineer over the past 23 years had, at minimum, an indirect relationship with James.
The fact you received Offshore Engineer in a timely manner, on a monthly basis, can be directly attributed to James. James served as production manager of Offshore Engineer. This position allowed James to interact and become both professional acquaintances and personal friends with many of our advertising customers. James just had a way with people.
James also served as the publisher of our two annual directories – Gulf Coast Oil Directory and Houston/Texas Oil Directory. These two directories now serve as the backbone of our new professional development website.
James also served a stint as web director for the company. He was responsible for bringing you OilOnline – one of the very first oil and gas websites, in 1995. James didn’t know how to write code or design websites, but he learned – on his own with no formal classes or training.
James was used to taking on challenges like this. He had a can-do attitude. What you probably didn’t know is James was a brilliant and truly gifted pianist. He could make a piano soar, and yes, he was self taught – which made his talent even more extraordinary.
In honor of James, AtComedia will offer an annual music scholarship in his name to a fine arts major at Sam Houston State University (his alma mater). This will insure James’ legacy and memory will live on. James would have loved the idea of helping a young person pursue their musical aspirations. It is how he was.
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