It is tough to compete with the scholars after you sign on. Your local 1st class honours will never be as good as someone with a similar degree from an overseas prestigious college. Sad but true.

I'm from the O&G industry, and what I can say is that the pay packages are competitive. I don't know exactly how much signed-on officers earn but I would think the O&G industry pays better. If you perform well, the sky's the limit in MNCs.