FBG Chemical Engineers (1 Viewer)

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Oldest son is a junior and thinking of this as what he wants to pursue. In my view, primarily due to really enjoying Chemistry last year. Taking AP Chem and Physics (along with Pre-Calc) this year. Just looking for some perspectives on the field, as I know it is difficult to decide what you want to do in your life at this young age. I am trying to connect him with some recent graduates with this degree, as well as those in the field a few years, as well as starting to look into schools specializing in this discipline.

Anything else I should be pursuing as a way to provide a view as to what the field is truly about? TIA

 

[Lionsfan011]

Chemical engineering grad here from the early 00's. My take...

You have him on the right path taking AP chem and physics and presumably AP calc next year. He'll definitely be ahead of the game going into college with AP credits in those 3 subjects. Not sure if it's out there but looking back I thought it would have been helpful to have a basic knowledge of mass and fluid balances going into chem engineering school. If not, no big deal as it's the first chem engineering class you take in college.

For the college years, it's a lot of work for sure. I've been told pre-med and chem engineering put in the most work and studying while in school. I know it's true from an engineering discipline perspective. We definitely put in more work than any of the other engineering students. Lots of Friday and Saturday night homework and design project work my junior and senior years. Kind of a buzz kill with less partying than the average student during the college years.

There's a lot of different fields you can get into after graduating. Chemical, pharmaceutical, oil, automotive and food industries to name some. Or at least these are the ones my group of college friends split off into.

 

[ZenMaster]

I got my undergrad ChE degree 20 years ago. I got into it because in high school I was good at chemistry and math and figured ChE was a great fit. ChE turned out to be a lot more physics than I would have liked but I stuck with it. I agree with Lionsfan011 that ChE is a ton of work - seemed like a lot more than other engineering disciplines but (1) I don't really know that for sure and (2) it's not like any engineering field is 'easy'.

I've been in the semiconductor industry since I graduated. Lots of opportunities in many fields for people with engineering degrees, and I'd like to think the analytical nature of engineers would allow for opportunity in non-engineering fields as well.

 

[joffer]

I'm electrical, but two of my college roommates were ChemE. It looked hard as ####. And they spent most of the time studying.

 

[Gamma1210]

Started as a ChE in college for the same reasons, I was good at math, chem and physics. I was always interested in the medical field so I switched to Biomedical Engineering after my sophomore year which was a nice blend of ChE, MechE and bio. For me, I knew I wanted to be somewhere in the medical/healthcare industry so it was a more focused degree, but if your son doesn't know what he wants to do, Chemical Engineering can get you a job in many industries as noted above.

 

[bakes]

ChemE, UB, class of 1985 so it's been a while, but...

It is a LOT of work; definitely on the right path with AP courses. If he finds a particular area that he is interested in, definitely take as many electives as pertain to that area. I was heading towards a concentration in materials science with an eye towards filtration media so I did a lot of MatSci and rheology of fluids coursework, but a tour of a Union Carbide plant north of Buffalo caused me to head towards the environmental end of things and an extra year in school. If he is in the northeast, I cannot recommend UB highly enough - yes it's in Buffalo, but the faculty and professors are both excellent instructors and accessible. Good research school as well.

Been doing environmental work/industrial wastewater treatment/management for much of my career (and work with a number of ChemE's who also migrated down this path), but also played around with hydrogeology and GIS development. A Chem E degree offers a lot of career options, and if he finds something he really likes, the research end of things can be a lot of fun.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

There are no women on the Internet. Likewise, there are no chemical engineers on this site.

 

[Brony]

Agree with much of what has been posted above.

Some things I wish I knew in high school about ChemE that I now know:

While there are a lot of job opps after undergrad, they are not spread out geographically. Lots of demand for ChemE in the Gulf, NJ and Calif. Less so in midwest.

Many entry level ChemE jobs are in chemical plants or R&D facilities. Takes a certain kind of breed to work in those places and, like above, they don't put those facilities in downtown NYC.

On the plus side, once you have the degree, there is a certain cache that carries on your resume the rest of your career. I'm now in pharma industry, but it's opened some doors that otherwise were shut. Also, it's easy enough for a ChemE to pick up some knowledge in other fields (e.g. finance) after school. It's not so easy for a finance major to pick up ChemEng on the side.

 

[George Jefferson Airplane]

There are no women on the Internet. Likewise, there are no chemical engineers on this site.

Emom?

 

[GroveDiesel]

I have a buddy that is a ChemE. It's definitely a tough degree, but has tons of nice paying job ops. If he can get an internship during college, that will help him a ton.

My buddy worked for GE for a while on a project developing new batteries and now works for a major oil company.

 

[Mister CIA]

There are no women on the Internet. Likewise, there are no chemical engineers on this site.

Also referred to as the singlearity.

 

[culdeus]

Agree that the world is more open for chem E than perhaps any other engineering field.

Not to mention that ChemE can fairly easily pivot into a M.D. without having to take a ton of extra coursework.

My suggestion would be the path you are taking and also to take some non-credit chem and math classes over the summer. Many pre-med BioE would take organic and stuff like that at lower institutions and then re-rack for reals in the fall. Some of those courses that are the traditional weed out courses are no joke.

 

[bakes]

Agree that the world is more open for chem E than perhaps any other engineering field.

Not to mention that ChemE can fairly easily pivot into a M.D. without having to take a ton of extra coursework.

My suggestion would be the path you are taking and also to take some non-credit chem and math classes over the summer. Many pre-med BioE would take organic and stuff like that at lower institutions and then re-rack for reals in the fall. Some of those courses that are the traditional weed out courses are no joke.

OChem 1 or 2 are big weed out courses. Once you get past those, the last hurdle is usually momentum, heat and/or mass transfer. Derive the Navier-Stokes equation in spherical coordinates...

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Thanks for all the info so far...keep it coming! One thing that is clear (and that I have shared with him from my limited knowledge of the space) is that this is a heavy lift. Frankly, one of my concerns is the rude awakening he will be in for as he does not currently have to put in a heavy effort to achieve solid grades. Of course, what do I know, right?

So, I'd rather have him hear from others about this so he knows it is not just me.

 

[johnnycakes]

Thanks for all the info so far...keep it coming! One thing that is clear (and that I have shared with him from my limited knowledge of the space) is that this is a heavy lift. Frankly, one of my concerns is the rude awakening he will be in for as he does not currently have to put in a heavy effort to achieve solid grades. Of course, what do I know, right?

So, I'd rather have him hear from others about this so he knows it is not just me.

Don't let him watch Breaking Bad.

 

[kface]

I'm a civil

Chems and Mechanicals are very limited in where they can work, especially with less manufacturing. Not too say there aren't any jobs because there are still lots of high paying jobs out there but if he were a civil or electrical or computer you could really just pick the place you want to move and find a job there.

 

[wilked]

Chem Eng here... Some points and clarifications:

-Those saying a ChemEng is limited in areas he/she can live are wrong in my opinion. Name me a Top 100 city in the country and I can give a handful of companies that use ChemEng. I have worked in New Mexico, Louisiana, Boston, Wisconsin, and have turned down offers in NH, CT, NY, Utah, California, and Chicago. I am certain that there is no state where fairly easy employment can't be found (Hawaii possible exception).

-He should know that ChemEng is 80% math/20% chemistry. The chemistry is not the emphasis for ChemEng, and his love should be with math first really if he is to survive.

-As others noted, ChemEng requires extremely high work ethic so he should have some 'grit'

To encourage him in the right direction AP classes are nice, but see if you can stoke his engineering spirit with projects, whether woodworking, automotive, robotics, programming, experimentation, etc. Watch some of those Engineering Marvels and / or Engineering Disasters shows together, that stuff is like crack for engineers and I would assume engineers-to-be. Play a game now and again of 'how do you think they made that', especially for seemingly simple things such as a pencil. How would you go about designing a process to make pencils? How does it end up with six sides, what equipment might you use to get there? Later google and learn the real process, and discuss the design decisions the engineers might have made along the way.

Lastly, I encourage a job-shadow in his junior year. If you give me a city I can recommend local companies that would have ChemEng's working there to spend a few hours with him.

 

[ZenMaster]

I'm a civil

Chems and Mechanicals are very limited in where they can work, especially with less manufacturing. Not too say there aren't any jobs because there are still lots of high paying jobs out there but if he were a civil or electrical or computer you could really just pick the place you want to move and find a job there.

Wanna know the difference between a civil engineer and a mechanical engineer?

Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.

 

[Brony]

Chem Eng here... Some points and clarifications:

-Those saying a ChemEng is limited in areas he/she can live are wrong in my opinion. Name me a Top 100 city in the country and I can give a handful of companies that use ChemEng. I have worked in New Mexico, Louisiana, Boston, Wisconsin, and have turned down offers in NH, CT, NY, Utah, California, and Chicago. I am certain that there is no state where fairly easy employment can't be found (Hawaii possible exception).

Thought I couched it pretty well that jobs are more plentiful in certain parts of the country than others, it's not an all or none thing. I'm a ChemE in Chicago so obviously it's possible, but the range of careers I could have had in NJ is much broader than that available to me in Chicago. So, yes, you hypothetically can find employment anywhere, but, if you work in the chemical industry, jobs are concentrated in certain geographies.

I work in pharma now and hypothetically, I could work in Oregon New Mexico or Alaska, but the reality is that most jobs are in NJ, SF, Boston, Chicago and LA.

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Chem Eng here... Some points and clarifications:

-Those saying a ChemEng is limited in areas he/she can live are wrong in my opinion. Name me a Top 100 city in the country and I can give a handful of companies that use ChemEng. I have worked in New Mexico, Louisiana, Boston, Wisconsin, and have turned down offers in NH, CT, NY, Utah, California, and Chicago. I am certain that there is no state where fairly easy employment can't be found (Hawaii possible exception).

Thought I couched it pretty well that jobs are more plentiful in certain parts of the country than others, it's not an all or none thing. I'm a ChemE in Chicago so obviously it's possible, but the range of careers I could have had in NJ is much broader than that available to me in Chicago. So, yes, you hypothetically can find employment anywhere, but, if you work in the chemical industry, jobs are concentrated in certain geographies.

I work in pharma now and hypothetically, I could work in Oregon New Mexico or Alaska, but the reality is that most jobs are in NJ, SF, Boston, Chicago and LA.

FWIW, I am NJ based. Not sure where he wants to go, but sounds like the options exist here.

 

[Brony]

Lastly, I encourage a job-shadow in his junior year. If you give me a city I can recommend local companies that would have ChemEng's working there to spend a few hours with him.

This is really good idea. If possible, see a range of options. To a high schooler, almost all corporate gigs are going to look tremendously boring. Seeing a range of jobs would allow someone to not just judge the work environment.

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Lastly, I encourage a job-shadow in his junior year. If you give me a city I can recommend local companies that would have ChemEng's working there to spend a few hours with him.

This is really good idea. If possible, see a range of options. To a high schooler, almost all corporate gigs are going to look tremendously boring. Seeing a range of jobs would allow someone to not just judge the work environment.

Guess I misread the original entry not thinking this was a high school timeframe endeavor. If so, I am in Monmouth County...not sure if that gives you a range of towns to work from?

 

[wilked]

Go for BASF in NJ. Tons of chemical engineers there. I almost did a co-op for them in Germany

Here's a chemeng to start with

https://mobile.twitter.com/charlenewallwar

It should be easy to find more, took me 45 seconds. Explain our sons interest and interest in speaking with chemical engineering professionals for an hour or two and I bet they are very receptive

 

[The Z Machine]

I think most engineering schools give admission to students generally, allowing them to declare a major in their first two years. Many of the classes are shared during that time (math, physics, chem) before they get more specialized.

I'm an ME by training, and I generally disliked chemistry, but really enjoyed materials science.

Final note is that if he does go into engineering and wants to make a career out of engineering of any sort, getting a master's degree right away it's probably beneficial long term. If you do it right, you can get that degree for free (e.g. by doing academic research).

 

[Tick]

I'm an EE married to a ChemE. School was roughly equally hard for us, though they had more long-term projects than we did in addition to the heavy daily/weekly workloads. I've also worked in chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and water treatment industries, so around a lot of ChemEs. Some notes on schools:

• Look for a school that has a co-op program, like Purdue or Kettering. It usually means 5 years for a degree, but they make money at the co-op programs, learn actual job skills, and find out earlier if they love/hate the actual job. Also, those kids come out without facing the typical problem that all engineering jobs require 2 years of experience minimum.
• Universities and job fairs are somewhat regional. I was at University of Oklahoma, and both the curriculum and job offers were almost exclusively in petroleum... that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's worth knowing. As others have mentioned, NJ has a lot of diversity with pharma, cosmetics, manufacturing, and chemical plants.
• I've done a fair amount of interviewing and hiring, and my experience has been that there is little-to-no value to the name of a school when it comes to hiring. IMO as long as the school is accredited, a kid should choose based on other factors, not the cache of the school name. I haven't seen it matter in hiring, though of course I've only seen a small slice of industries and companies.

 

[Big Blue Wrecking Crew]

Quick bump for any additional perspectives. Thanks to all participants!

 

[The Z Machine]

The quality (ranking really) matters for two things: 1) Grad school, and 2) First job. After that, you gotta make it yourself.

 

[heckmanm]

A bit off-topic (but hey, it's the FFA) - wasn't there a big rant or iFight or something a few years back that referenced Chemical Engineering? I wanted to find it and quote it for a laugh but my search skills failed me.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

LET'S TALK CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

 

[wilked]

A bit off-topic (but hey, it's the FFA) - wasn't there a big rant or iFight or something a few years back that referenced Chemical Engineering? I wanted to find it and quote it for a laugh but my search skills failed me.

one can only imagine the hilarity...

 

[wilked]

LET'S TALK CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

My ChemEng tasks of the week:

-Spec out and begin reaching out for quotes on a new 1000 ton chiller
-Become an expert on rouge in prep of an upcoming audit
-Solve an HVAC problem, where we have a cold spot within a controlled-temperature warm room

Doesn't get more exciting than that I imagine...

 

[heckmanm]

LET'S TALK CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

My ChemEng tasks of the week:

-Spec out and begin reaching out for quotes on a new 1000 ton chiller
-Become an expert on rouge in prep of an upcoming audit
-Solve an HVAC problem, where we have a cold spot within a controlled-temperature warm room

Doesn't get more exciting than that I imagine...

Good idea. Don't want to look like a whore in front of the auditors.

 

[bakes]

LET'S TALK CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

My ChemEng tasks of the week:

-Spec out and begin reaching out for quotes on a new 1000 ton chiller
-Become an expert on rouge in prep of an upcoming audit
-Solve an HVAC problem, where we have a cold spot within a controlled-temperature warm room

Doesn't get more exciting than that I imagine...

You could rip up and redo $10,000 worth of ducting or judiciously locate a couple of $100 fans... :-D

 

[jabarony]

LET'S TALK CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

My ChemEng tasks of the week:-Spec out and begin reaching out for quotes on a new 1000 ton chiller

-Become an expert on rouge in prep of an upcoming audit

-Solve an HVAC problem, where we have a cold spot within a controlled-temperature warm room

Doesn't get more exciting than that I imagine...

You could rip up and redo $10,000 worth of ducting or judiciously locate a couple of $100 fans... :-D

Go with the former. Flex a little bit.

 

[Sand]

Thanks for all the info so far...keep it coming! One thing that is clear (and that I have shared with him from my limited knowledge of the space) is that this is a heavy lift. Frankly, one of my concerns is the rude awakening he will be in for as he does not currently have to put in a heavy effort to achieve solid grades. Of course, what do I know, right?

So, I'd rather have him hear from others about this so he knows it is not just me.

Most kids that are smart enough to do a heavy engineering degree probably have an easier time in high school. He'll adapt.

I'm a materials engineer, which is pretty close brother and was right up there in workload. ChemE, EE, and Materials tended to be the hard ones at my school; civils and industrials were a little easier. Materials stuff is pretty hot these days, so a ChemE degree with a few good classes in the materials area may be a good thing. Lots of ways to go here.

 

[lumpy19]

Oldest son is a junior and thinking of this as what he wants to pursue. In my view, primarily due to really enjoying Chemistry last year. Taking AP Chem and Physics (along with Pre-Calc) this year. Just looking for some perspectives on the field, as I know it is difficult to decide what you want to do in your life at this young age. I am trying to connect him with some recent graduates with this degree, as well as those in the field a few years, as well as starting to look into schools specializing in this discipline.

Anything else I should be pursuing as a way to provide a view as to what the field is truly about? TIA

I can't speak to Chemical Engineering, I hated Chemistry...but I'm a mechanical engineer who floated thru high school with what I recall was minimal effort and average grades. My senior year of high school I had 4 study halls in a row in the middle of the day and played cards and caused trouble.

While engineering was difficult in college it wasn't THAT bad, my 2nd semester I got my ### kicked and that woke me up and no problems from then on. Lots of good engineering jobs out there in all fields and engineering degrees really open things up. My school required co-ops as part of the degree and I had 4 different job experiences and none of them were even close to the same. HVAC, quality testing, machine design and technical research.

I currently work with lots of chemical engineers who are in the technical development dept trying to develop new formulations which they pass on to me to design process equipment to make the new product.

Engineering in general is an awesome career which avoids the monotony lots of other careers provide. I'm never doing the same thing twice and constantly solving new puzzles, it's awesome.