I used to be an ambassador to the ChE department at my school because I loved teaching students about the degree. I still have that passion so I sometimes find myself watching videos like this one out of curiousity. I must say that being an engineering student is MUCH diffferent than being an full-time engineer for a company. One thing to consider that no-one ever mentions - chemicals smell. Good or bad, chemicals smell and you will have to work around them all day every day. Something to consider. My roommate in college interned at a meat packing facility. One of the other interns who started the same day admitted they were a vegan and couldn't work there. I'm not sure if they didn't realize or didn't think about what they were getting into but that had to be a pretty harsh realization. I graduated with B.S. in ChE in 2016 and have worked in 5 different engineering related roles: Project Engineer- I designed a $1MM batching sub-system for a $25MM expansion of a feed production facility - smelled bad, lots of meetings, lots of measurements, material balances, equipment research, logistics planning, etc. Plant Supervisor - I was incident commander of a corn milling facility- if things went wrong in any way, i was the first to know and the one resposible for addressing the issue - long hours, nights sometimes, stressful, fast paced, lots of responsibility. Research and Development - worked with a team of engineers and biochemists developing a pilot-scale fermentation process - fun, stinky, lots of troubleshooting, lots of reworking piping, wrote a lot of SOPs, difficult Manufacturing Engineer - in charge of operations in a clean room for making medical device components - boring, 90% technical writing, very little actual engineering, stressful, highly regulated, didn't stay long Process Engineer - in charge of process improvements, team development, program development, and sometimes cleaning the floor - fun, stinky, sticky, fast paced... pretty much a mix of everything i've done as an engineer up to this point but on a daily basis. I size pumps, perform trials with the R&D engineers, develop cost analysis for the plant manager, I help with hiring employees, I help maintenance fix stuff if they need a hand, iresearch and nstall safety equipment, troubleshoot boiler issues, I literally cleaned the floors yesterday because someone spilled some product and were too busy to clean it up so I picked up a hose and helped out. ChE is a ton of fun for the right person. I am not one who enjoys sitting at my desk all day looking at specs and doing calculations. I enjoy that very much but what I enjoy more is going into the plant, getting dirty, learning about systems I'm unfamiliar with, building relationship with operators who do the hard part when it comes to production, visualizing improvements, understanding how to make the operator's life easier.
WOW! Thank you for sharing so much detail from your career! I'm sure lots of people watching the video will get a ton of value from your comment so I pinned it. Dead on with the smell. I worked at a pulp and paper mill and it smelt funny, eventually I started to like the smell and it started to smell like chocolate chip cookies lol. Also know lots of other people who have worked in fertilizer industry. Not a great thing to sniff. Sounds like you got your hands dirty (in a good way)! I hope I get to have more experiences out in the field and in plants.
@@shawn.buildsI've enjoyed my most recent process engineering role the most so far. I enjoy wearing a lot of hats so to speak in that I like doing flow calculations, performing leadership duties, working with some lab equipment, managing a maintenance crew, etc. and I get to do all of that and more in this role. I'm not confined to one thing. Sometimes I feel like a mechanical engineer, chemical engineer, electrical engineer, and a construction engineer at the same time. Since I have training in electrical systems, I get to work with the electricians to plan our power requirements and electrical installations. I research equipment and need to have some mechanical aptitude to understand design limitations. I need to understand the chemistry of the process, which I learn a lot from working with R&D, to figure out what methods work best to separate our product/waste since we don't have a clearly defined process; our input varies wildly. And I need to have an understanding of construction and trade practices so make sure I get my projects built to the best practices. One aspect of engineering that I am working to develop myself in now is process controls. I’m learning this from my engineering counterpart of the facility who designed and built the control systems for the plant. Controls is really exciting for me so I look forward to learning about that every day from my fellow engineer.
I am a fourth year chemical engineering student and I can totally relate to your second year. There was a semester where I did Fluid mechanics, Thermodynamics, Mass Transfer, Process dynamics and control, Differential calculus and three other modules in one semester. It was terrible and after I made it past that semester, I knew I could handle whatever Chemeng could throw at me because that was the worst of the worst🙆🏽♂️
That is the worst semester I could ever imagine, no idea how you got through that but they might as well have gave you your degree right then and there 😂😂 Thanks for sharing, Tatenda!
Good video. I agree completely with your advice to try out internships/co-ops. I had a co-op in a TiO2 plant as a sophomore working for a P-Chem PhD doing data analysis on particle sizes of finished product and I absolutely hated it. I nearly quit ChemE because of that job. I did a separate co-op in manufacturing of HFCs later and loved the work because it was in production. Now I'm 25 years in and a plant manager and still enjoy being in a plant solving problems.
Very good video. The choices you make early in your career matter a lot. It can be very hard to transfer from one industry to another. Employers usually want someone that has similar experience in that industry. Networking can sometimes over come this (very important to keep networking, even after you land a position). For example, if you work at a steel mill, its going to be very difficult to transfer to petrochemical or food industry. The industries/rules are very different, and employers don't like to invest the time and $$ to teach all that. In my opinion, its easier to transfer from general manufacturing and petrochemical to the more specialized industries and harder to do vice versa. If you decide to work in a remote location, you can sometimes transfer within the company to a larger city after about 3 yrs, so if working in a larger city is a must-have, then you may be able to take this route (just make sure this is an option before you accept the position). For any new chemical engineers out there, it will may start off rough, but you will learn with time. All engineers have made mistakes, and it will make you better.
Thanks for providing the additional detail! That’s great advice: go from general to specialized roles so that you don’t lock yourself in early in your career. Any industries you recommend getting into going into the future?
@@shawn.builds Besides general manufacturing (not sure if I see growth in this, but I do believe it will at least maintain its status quo), I'd recommend pharmaceuticals (my #1 recommendation) or food industry, since these seem to be growing (because the need for medicine and population growth). Environmental and/or water treatment may see some growth too, because regulations are becoming more stringent.
As a fellow chemical engineer who is working remotely, if your neck is hurting you, you need what in Britain is called a DSE assessment. Invest in an ergonomic set-up- i.e. a proper ergonomic chair and stands for your laptop so you don't have to strain your neck, even get a proper 2nd screen to save your eyes. You can develop a lot of eye and spinal issues if you continue to work under strain. In Britain, your employer is legally obliged to pay for the proper equipment for you to work computationally.
I am a chemical engineer from saudi arabia it is really a difficult major but if you study very well you will love this major CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JUST FOR STRONG PERSON 💪💪
almost all students say we use 0 to 25 percent of what we learned in our jobs. The truth is what you learn in school is concept and you will apply what your job needs from that concept . if you work in pharmaceuticals it's focused in reactors and reaction Oil refineries focused in separation Power plants for example gas turbine focused in complete combustion.. etc. if you can relate the problem you are facing to one of the subjects you learned that's more than enough, and with experience you will rock as great engineer
Found that as a recommendation on youtube. So fun. Am a chemical engineer and 18 years after finishing it. I think at a certain moment in time after lets say 5 years or so. You will need to decide to take some kind of leadership role or if you re going to stay a subject matter expert. If you take a leadership role, you will start doing lot more different things. While still valuable to know how the job is done it will move away to more leading people, empower people, doing HR and budget staff etc...
@@shawn.builds After heading up the operations in a smaller company I changed to a bigger one and now doing strategy and operations in a big pharma company.
@@shawn.builds I think best is to start in a trainee program after studies or orherwise as technical SME / in engineering or in quality. Then grow from there... but there are many ways... just recently met somebody who s chemical engineer and is doing data analytics. As CI you get many valuable skills that companys want like structural problem solving, applied science thinking, good math and basic skills across the board...
2 years into chemical engineering and still didn't know what I was actually getting into omggg thank you so much for all this information. And thx for talking about the money because i know you should not do a degree for the money but a lil insight in important because money is important hahah. Thankfully my parents live in a rural area 10 minutes away from a plant (of l'oréal!) by car so now I'm sure imma shoot my shot there:)
You and me both Dany! Yep, I feel like I was definitely a little naive going into Chem E (basically just chose it cause I liked chemistry) but I'm glad you live so close to a plant! Good luck with your chem E journey!
heat integration I have used in cement plant ebfore. Now im try to brush up my Fluid Mechanics. Truly, in real life, fluid mechanics is very complicated.
Really great info man! Your videos have been a motivation for me to keep going and to realise my love for chem and that i have made the right decision taking chem e as a degree.Best wishes to u n keep guiding us!!💯🧡
love your content as an a chemical engineering student, I am learning about the chemical engineering in the field and an idea about how does the job market work and skills.
Very helpful video! : ) Full of details abt chemical engineering which couldn't be found in other chemical engineering related videos. Thanks for the video :)
When I was trying to find a job ( in the 1980's to 1990's) in Houston, Chemical Engineering was so stove-piped that if you had worked specialty chemicals for 3 years you would not get a job in any other area. Past that era, If I tried to get a job ( through the Texas Workforce Commission where at that time all of the jobs were posted), the job advisor would shake their head and say "Forget that job, they're holding it for a Vietnamese visa guy who is willing to work for half of your salary. " But, I protested, isn't that illegal?" Yes, but you can't afford enough lawyers to fix it, so go find a software job.
Now, over half of the work is sent out of the US. Most hires in US are Indian or Chinese that work for less until green card. I worked for a large engineering company, about 20% of process engineers were born in US. I was laid off at 68 due to lack of work and high salary.
@@jimw7550sorry to hear that, I hope you are doing well. I sympathize with you, since I am worried about whether people can do chem eng till they want to quit.
It has been 10 years for me. From associated degree and then now master degree, and 2 years in the industry. 😑 sometimes I want to quit and changed my major, but I stuck here. I feel bad, because I'm not good enough unlike others. 😢😢 If I'm quit and take another major for my doctoral degree. I don't know if I can mastered it too.. So I'm stuck again.... I'm not bad, but It's really like a hell sometimes. In the end, I just can't quit....
When you were just in highschool Are you really that good in like Calculus n Physics? Or do you really like doing more math in highschool? Or College really gave that knowledge for you to answer those calculus and physics things? Senior Highschool student here hehe IM jUst neRvoUs bEcaUse I wAnt To Be a ChemE yeT i ThinK I aM noT ThaT goOd at CalCulUs and PhYsIcs but i feel like i could learn everything in college
Haha I was pretty good at math, not that great at physics. I got pretty decent grades in high school but don't be surprised if your actual GPA goes down significantly in university. You'll be fine if you have good study habits. Check out my video "how to study for math and science"
having to move to the middle of nowhere where factories/mines/oil plants are located is a deal breaker for me, sadly enough i realized it after graduating...
@@shawn.builds somehow I was able to land a data analyst job and had to learn python on the go (lucky me I guess), but its good advice, I think working on a consulting firm is the most interesting chemEng job out there
@@furiousfellow1583 yeah i think it's a pretty good career path! you get to work on so many different types of projects across many industries. and congrats on getting a data analyst role! I'm taking some data analysis courses on the side rn and would love to network with you :P
@@shawn.builds I don't think learning online is going to produce an effective chemical engineer. I would have a tough time hiring an engineer to work for me if I knew they got their degree online. There is much to be gained from team projects, labs, and collaboration.
@@zenwheat i definitely agree on the labs part of it, but you can still do a lot of team projects and collab online. in the long run, i doubt it'll make a HUGE difference on your career as plenty of people are going through the same struggles of online classes right now.
@@shawn.builds I may need couple ideas from you I need to produce more of my detergent I use sapnafaction proces using oils and then I grind to powder need to figure out how to increase production been doing it in my small lab by hand. Any ideas? Greg
@@shawn.builds I don't think that's possible during this pandemic since it is still not safe. Our school is even considering us to work in our lab for our internship. Like... whyy
My crush of several years had Chem Eng as his major. I was very curious about his major, and I wanted to ask about his experience, also ask if he's fine and all (he's in 3rd year currently) but I'm too chicken to ask him directly. So thanks for this vid :))
@@shawn.builds oh wow thanks ☺ Also, I wanted to ask you about something, if it's not a bother to you, my crush bday is coming up ,and hypothetically, I wanted to give him a gift (that's useful and practical for Chem Eng.) I'm trying to be discreet as possible in giving too. So what item/s would you recommend?
@@nicolesator5900 hmm. If you want a fun gift I’d look into chemistry beaker shot glasses. For something practical, I’m not really sure id have to think about it 😅
Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm currently on my second semester 😂 I did a previous research before applying to ChemE though I'm still not quite sure which path I wanna follow. My college offers 3 different courses: Polymers, environment and instrumental analysis. What do you think it'd be the best option? 🤔 And btw I have 2 more questions, is it important as a chemE to know how to code? And do you happen to have some recommendations for calculus, chemistry, physics and thermodynamics books??
Hi Paz! I'm not entirely sure what's best between those 3 courses but polymers has always been a great industry so it's a good option. Environmental concerns is another topic that's in every single chemical plant. Instrumental analysis is something that could make you well-versed in instrumentation/controls probably. So think about what you're most interested in! They're probably all good for you. :) In some roles, especially R&D it might be more helpful to code. Typically in process engineer roles you might not be required to code right now, but that might change as our industry evolves. I don't have any recommendations for technical books other than the ones you get at school. Check out my "Chem E Resources I Use" and "Book Recommendations" videos!
I dont understand why they do what they do because I saw the negatives that can come from it before I was in kindergarten. I never got to see any good come from it ever on my life.
@@shawn.builds However you need to follow. I have two degrees in chemical engineering (BSChE & PhD), which can be extremely useful provided you do not use your knowledge to aid industry, which means you cannot allow yourself to be bought by the people who are quite frankly destroying the world. See the usual literature on environment, Peak Oil, Limits to Growth, etc. My website is at www.dematerialism.net/
Awesome video.... Lots of info. I have a question? 1.After ur UG on ChemE what better to go for higher education or a job. 2. If job what technical aspects need to be strong in general for Chem interview. Lots of support💪 for ur channel.
Awesome video ! this video gave me some idea how ChemEng works and also , can I ask technical skilss usually required in Chemical Engineer intern / work ?
If you enjoy mechanical, a lot of Process Engineer roles can be filled by Mechanical or Chemical engineers. Mechanical engineering is probably one of the most versatile engineering degrees out there!
2 years ago Took chemical engineering very excitedly but because of this lockdown things are getting tougher to understand .M in 2nd year and still doesn't know how actually core subjects gonna help in future and also it's not easy to study online as we all know who study online's ...lol suggest something to handle this
what else do you want to see? I've made a video called Is Chemical Engineering Worth It which covers pretty much everything you need to know about the degree itself
I'm a chemical engineering in.. tamilnadu..and I'm now studying..2 nd year and now I'm having the subject of chemical engineering thermodynamics....and...that's wast topics are their....Smith book .....
I did Chemical engineering at uni long ago. I was really good at maths, physics and chemistry at school yet I struggled with the degree and never really had a proper career in industry, I’m now doing something else. I don’t know where it went wrong for me !
Working in any other field is easier than chemical industry. Smell really sucks. Not a white collar job. Night shift sucks 🥱. Nobody mentions that you will never use MATLAB & those lengthy equations. It's like you learn alot but hardly any use.
Don't change Ur madam... Actually chemical engineering is beautiful subject , if ur atleast good at one theory in it like ...Fluid Mechanics , Heat Transfer or Proces Dynamics control.
Lets say if we study for exam only, then after exam in college of course we will forget about what we learn, so when we go to industry does it really will affected our performance?
It's not like in industry you'll be tested rigorously to remember everything. You just need to understand concepts at high level to communicate with people. If you forget it, you can always brush up on it later, and once you've learned it once, you can always relearn it quicker.
Hi Paul! First year - C, AutoCAD Second Year - MATLAB Third Year - SolidWorks (very briefly), lots of Python, Aspen Plus Fourth Year - Python, MATLAB Simulink, Aspen Plus, Aspen HYSYS Hope that helps! I'll be releasing a video within the next couple of weeks on Skills Required For Chem E! Stay tuned!
Hey Yusuf! Glad to have you here! I took 5 years in total: I did 2 years of school, 1 year of work experience then another 2 years of school. I have another video diving into my degree: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rm2OCbEcVKI.html
I get a Ph.D. degree, 2021, in environmental engineering, in china, especially in Heterojunction photocatalysis for wastewater treatment. But I don't have job experience in the industry. But I am a lecturer at the University in Burma. But I want to apply for the job as a researcher at University or Industry in Canada. Please suggest to me can I get a job in Canada as a researcher or some relevant job and how to prepare to come to Canada.
theres a decent amount of math (calculus, integral calc, multivariable calc, linear algebra, differential equations) and physics (dynamics, statics, phys chem, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics). theres only like 3 dedicated chem courses
If you ever encountered these names: 1.Fogler /Levenspiel 2.McCabe Thiele 3.Couganhow 4.Smith Vaness/ Y.A Cengel 5.Perry 6.Himmeblau/Richard Felder 7.Crowl 8.Mackenzie 9.Towler You my friend are a chemical engineer.
you can take internships during the summer, or you can take a break from school to do internships. generally the summer ones are more competitive to get.
Hey hii..just came across ur channel ..I am in 3rd year currently..I have just one issue that I am not able not able to understand what my preferences should be ..like only core subjects, or something else
I'll say no, ironcally I landed a job as Data analyst as a Chemical engineer out of pure luck, for what i've seen AI and machine learning jobs are more tailored towards comuter related degrees
I would say that the job process would be similar, it's just that you might be only applying to O&G companies rather than a wide range of chemical industries. Get some work experience and join a student team!
To be honest I don’t know what industrial engineers really do so I can’t comment too much on that! I did recently upload a video on the pros and cons of Chem E though! Hope that helps :)
@@jaylie1662 there was one guy in my grad class who played on the UBC football team while in his undergrad, so it's definitely possible! it'll just come down to your time management and discipline, and you might have to take a reduced course load since you'll be so busy as an athlete!
@@jaylie1662 idk if you already committed to D1 but its really difficult because of the time commitment. And I don't just mean studying. At my school Chem engineering student had the most credits of all majors. So you might have to miss practices to go to class every evening or vice versa
Hmm it’s good for oil and gas but will be less diverse in terms of the industries you can work in! It’s good if you have a lot of O&G demand in your desired work location.
I wouldn’t say I was the best at calculus but there are lots of math oriented courses in Chem E that might draw on calculus principles, so it’s always good to have a good foundational knowledge in it.
@Francine Norvic Pailagao good luck! It’s a skill that will pay off in the future as calculus extends to your logic, reasoning and problem solving skills, which are all important as an engineer.
@@shawn.builds Thank you so much! I hope you can post more tips and information about chemical engineering. And any past experiences when your still a student hehe. Thank you and God bless you!!
