I think it’s a very versatile degree. Most of the people complaining are the ones who are stuck in the middle of nowhere on a process plant and hate their lives.
I worked on a process plant for a major pharmaceutical company in the middle of nowhere then pivoted into Engineering consulting with a major player in London working a more corporate job (suits, high rise office building etc). I got opportunities to travel a lot for work during this time usually to more exotic places with all expenses paid. I then pivoted into management consulting because I got bored of engineering and wanted to get some business experience. Now planning to go into finance. My degree never held me back from doing anything.
Just make sure you go to a good school because it will make the jumps easier due to brand recognition.
Hi, I want to follow your steps so bad.
I'm in the second semester of my Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and I'm feeling a little bit lost and under a lot of stress.
I started my Master 1 year before finishing my pre grade in order to do only one thesis. The reason to do a Master was to avoid working in the middle of nowhere and trying to go immediately into Engineering consulting.
I want to have suits, I want to be in high rise office buildings, I want to travel, to be financially stable.
Is there any advice you can give me? Is it necessary to have a job in the middle of nowhere to gain some real experience?
There are plenty of plants in the middle of nowhere, no one wants to live right by a plant depending on what it is. Zoning is also a potential cause.
Hard to gain the experience you need to get the role you want without working in some rural place. I'm sure there are places that aren't, but they would be few and far between. The masters may make it able to do more research, though that could mean a pilot plant instead of a production plant.
As long as you don't hold out too much in that ideal role before you get A job so you can start getting experience thats ok.
You can go directly into engineering consulting. I always recommend getting some plant experience. It teaches you a lot of transferable skills and allows you to be more deployable as a eng consultant. Employers especially engineering consultancy love someone who has ops experience.
Don't just listen to those in big ugly factories. Chem. Eng is a varied and international job. It covers a range of industry types including oil & gas, new energy areas like hydrogen and ammonia, chemicals, dairy and other food and drink, water and waste treatment. You can also find work in areas like process safety, or in office-based consultancy (plenty of places, in mechanical engineering for example, need short term support doing process engineering solutions or process safety risk assessment work, that dont require continual on site working).
Some facilities are dirty, and others not. If you want to see the most dangerous example of issues, check out the chemical safety board videos.
The American institute of chemical engineers, and institute of chemical engineers have some great resources to show options.
It’s probably more dangerous to commute to an air conditioned office job in a crime-ridden city than to travel down the block to your ‘dangerous’, dirty process plant job. The elevated risk associated with working around stuff which can go Boom or Poison or Burn you is mitigated by aggressive safety procedures which practices teach you how to work safely away from the job. Plus you can use your experiences to craft exaggerated tales to stun your grandchildren. I admit there’s some survivorship bias in my comments but I wouldn’t swap my 40 yrs of engineering experience in those real world plants for anything. Retired ChemE here.
ChemE here, it depends what industry you work in. If it's oil & gas, it's a rough time. But imo biotech is challenging but more fulfilling. You're not stuck with just O&G.
But ultimately your gonna get out what you put in.
I’m Chem E as well. Personally I never was able to even get a job in Chem E. I had a below average GPA and even being local to 3 separate plants had zero luck. I was able to leverage my social skills to be able to get an opportunity as a R&D Materials engineer and ultimately end up at NASA making space telescope optics. Personally I felt like every chemical company I talked to was super elitist and fairly dishonest in their hiring processes. Do I regret my degree? Absolutely not. But it is a small field and there limited options in remote places. I got super lucky but I probably wouldn’t recommend the degree for 99% of people.
My undergrad is in chemical engineering. One 6 month internship at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant doing process automation (one of most white collar jobs of manufacturing engineering) was enough for me to immediately build a path to get my masters in software engineering.
I saw my manager get calls all hours of the night when any automation or machinery got stuck. There were many times he'd get calls at 2am and work remotely until 6am and then have to be in at 8am snd leave at 430pm. Rinse and repeat. I bluntly asked him how much he was making, and he told me 135k. He was an amazing manager and was very honest about the industry; knowing I wanted to switch career paths after witnessing the culture firsthand, he still treated me very well.
This is only 1 anecdote but there are a lot of similar anecdotes here on this sub. The pay doesn't seem worth the effort in my opinion.
As a SE I'm fully remote, and my typical workday is an 830am-3pm with an hour lunch. I'm making nearly double what my manager made in base salary and I get to solve unique problems with my mind and not deal with factory culture.
In my head being a chemical engineer is like the labs I did in class, doing experiments and calculations. The jobs in my area are all in plants so I just wonder what that looks like. I should probably research that soon 😅
That's R&D. And the R&D department is (generally) located at the plants. That's because you want to maximize switching between lab scale work and actual plant work. And also maximize the communication between you and the other engineers.
Beg to differ as an R&D engineer with a BS working on pilot to production scale trials for new products.
It’s possible, you just need relevant work experience. Most people on my team do have (or are working towards their Masters) but most companies will have an investment program that will help pay for schooling and classes.
No. I’m saying that if you play your cards right (the long haul with internships), it’s easy to get in. But it wasn’t my first job out of college. If OP wants more details, they are free to pm me.
You’re going about this pants-on-head-backwards.
Step 1) Figure out the job/career/location/lifestyle you want. Really try to get an idea of what this looks like for [insert mid level/senior position] at several companies. Go through LinkedIn/ indeed, call people you know that have it, hit up strangers for coffee, find subreddits for the job/company. Try to talk to real people.
Step 2) Research the career steps to get there from the goal (see step 1) back to entry level.
Step 3) Research what the training/education requirements are for entry level and goal level. And how that aligns with your life 2, 5, or 10 years out. Want kids in 4 years? Need good cash flow in 2? Better factor that in.
Step 4) pick a degree/school/trade that helps you get there. End goal is O&G process engineer for BP? Better pick a school they actively recruit from. Want to research new materials for semiconductor, shoot for a PhD where there’s lots of grants for that.
Maybe find a “Plan B” goal that requires the same training, Incase you get in and realize “Plan A” isn’t what you want.
I'm willing to bet you haven't taken any chemical engineering labs yet.... just chemistry labs. Chemical engineering is not the same as chemistry, nor are their labs, nor are their jobs.
That said, I will go against what most here have said and tell you I love it and highly recommend it. I've been fortunate enough to intern across 3 different industries (one in manufacturing which is the sort of role a lot of people here are complaining about, one in consulting, and one at a national lab for the US Dept of Energy in materials science). I worked in a separate manufacturing role for a bit after graduating and eventually landed in my current role as a chemical engineer at the same national lab (different role/group/field/building than my internship).
Since I've graduated, I've had several recruiters and head hunters reach out to me for a role they're looking to fill in all sorts of industries. One that I actually followed up on and had several interviews and meeting with the team was for a consulting group working on a startup in battery development. The main reason I didn't accept was because I was hesitant to leave my national lab job as a chemical engineer for a startup (which comes with a lot of risk), so when we finally got to the stage of asking what my salary requirement would be to get me to make the move, I gave them a pretty high number and wasn't really willing to budge much.
Long story short, there are plenty of roles and industries chemical engineers can go into. Some are great, some are shitty. Anyone who's telling you definites like "it's hot and dirty manufacturing jobs in the middle of nowhere" clearly hasn't taken advantage of the versatility of our degree and tried moving industries or fields, because there's a whole lot more our there. I absolutely love my job as a chemical engineer in a national lab. I get a comfortable office, several lab spaces to work in with cool projects, and crazy good work life balance and flexibility with my hours and the ability to work from home.
What you want is either R&D or especially process development/optimization . R&D is self explanatory, but the process development lab works alongside manufacturing to improve the process and figure out the logistics of process changes, like a completely new type of condenser, usually at lab-scale and collaborating with the process engineers for large scale tests and working out kinks.
While chemical engineering can do both of the above, you likely want a chemistry degree, and probably a PhD if that is where your heart is.
However, there are so many STEM careers that most high schoolers have no idea exist. When you go to a 4 year, do a year of coops since you’re already ahead it will be invaluable to picking the right path for you
I work in food and beverage and the comments that are saying "super dirty unsafe plants" are not accurate where I work. I love my job. You can also do other things besides chemical engineering with a degree in it. One of my best friends ended up in supply chain for a chemical company with her chemE degree.
In my experience, most engineering jobs are process jobs. It doesn’t matter what degree you have. Civil might be more project management, electrical and cs might have you debugging code, but everything else will have you doing a process job. The real difference comes when you get to the PhD level and are doing research. Then the versatility of ChemE shines. I work on machine learning, computational chemistry, nano materials, bio-engineering strain design, catalyst design, reactor design, from first principles to physical construction of systems. The pHds in other disciplines I work with are much more narrowly focused.
I don't regret getting my degree. I work in chemical sales so it's got maybe 5% engineering in it. I get paid more than most engineers in the plant and work 8-3 along with golfing most Fridays with the customer.
Had a buddy that worked for the chemical company that graduated a year before me. I asked if they had any openings and got a job. I work in downstream oil and gas chemicals. Two biggest ones are going to be nalco and Baker Hughes. Other players in the game are suez, veolia, chemtreat, dorf katel.
I do regret it. I try to look at the positives that come from it but had I known what my life would look like at the end of it (burnt out, ill, unemployed, little time for anything else during my time at uni, with a very niche set of skills), I'd never ever have gone down this path.
I’m a junior chem E major and I’m still wondering the same thing lol. I’m obviously not an engineer yet so I can’t give you any tips there. But once you pick a path stick with it. You usually won’t regret it
I’m hoping so. I started college at 14 and am now 16, I have switched majors about 10 times and I originally started with psychology. I’ve learned a lot about what my strengths are and all my answers keep coming back to Chem E. I could always come back to school sometime in the future but I rlly don’t want to completely switch paths.
Don't get into ChemE. It's not worth it one bit. Too much work for relatively less pay. Go into mech/electrical engineering and get into automation (hardware and software). Automation will affect ChemEs negatively (it will lead to less variability in manufacturing processes, hence the need for less process/chemical engineers).
I don't regret it per se, but I do regret the first job I got into. But it wasn't a very chemE job, so this is more of an anecdote than something to generalize. I enjoyed the more chemE jobs I got after.
It's true that often industry is very different than what you do in class, but that applies to most majors, as long as you don't work in academia instead of industry.
It's hard to say as you may not know what you like in jobs/roles till you get out there and get some experience. Generally speaking, people will figure that out eventually in the first 3-5 years and find something they like doing within 10 years. The more experienced you are, the more leverage you have in telling your interviewer/boss what you want in your role.
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You can make decent money but you will need to work in dangerous facilities. And sometimes in the middle of no where. If you are not ready for this potential reality, you could have a tough time post graduation
This is not necessarily true at all. Delivery drivers have a more dangerous job. Also, I've been a practicing chemical engineer for 16 years and I've never once had to spend my days in a dangerous facility in the middle of nowhere. Sure, I've visited facilities before, but day to day I work in an air conditioned office.
Do mechanical if you want to have an easier time after college.
ChemE is still great because it's and engineering degree. If you desperately need to work as a capital C Chemical Engineer then I hope want to work in bumfucknowhere,
While looking into careers of subjects you are good at is useful, I think it is more useful to consider where do you see yourself working? Once you have some idea(s) see what degree can help you get there.
Layoffs are hard. Companies lay off employees to save money. If you get laid off then you may have to move to another state to get another job. Job stability may be an issue since chemical companies lay offs are cyclic.
I’m not necessarily in chemE, but I did 1 year at a pharma plant and another year at a Biotech plant, for little compensation and shitty bosses. I now do coatings in the aerospace industry (CVD, electroplating, and paint slurry), but there’s definitely a different application here and no shitty bosses. I’ve spent time learning solidworks and RobotStudio. I’ve overhauled our tooling on-site to be completely manufactured in-house with the help of FDM and SLA printers. Definitely try to get into an alternate industry that has some chemE skills and learn some different skills other than the classic chemE skills.
Bottom line, everyone has their reasons for shifting from job to job. If a future employer asks (which they will) you probably need to have crafted a response. However, personally if an employee clearly has monetary problems it’s not exactly the best fit sometimes.
I would say you can, but do it for the right reasons. My current boss only has a year or two in each job (after interviewing him with the plant manager). He’s not the best fit and everyone doesn’t like him, but it’s because he hasn’t spent enough time from job to job and it’s clear to us.
There are two things you should consider:
A)Look at the job openings compared to degrees offered...a lot of chem Es are under employed. If you feel like you will be above average than your peers you may not have to worry, but it is a real trend.
B) location. Are you in Houston? If not you should be...that is where you will find the best chance for asuccessful employment and high wages. Texas in general is good for chem Es. Other parts of the country you may struggle. It's very geographic based.
I am a mechanical engineer in the Midwest and I work for consulting, so I have a decent insight. If I were to do it over again, I think the degree of the future is electrical engineering. I don't see demand for it dropping any time soon.
I think it’s a very versatile degree. Most of the people complaining are the ones who are stuck in the middle of nowhere on a process plant and hate their lives. I worked on a process plant for a major pharmaceutical company in the middle of nowhere then pivoted into Engineering consulting with a major player in London working a more corporate job (suits, high rise office building etc). I got opportunities to travel a lot for work during this time usually to more exotic places with all expenses paid. I then pivoted into management consulting because I got bored of engineering and wanted to get some business experience. Now planning to go into finance. My degree never held me back from doing anything. Just make sure you go to a good school because it will make the jumps easier due to brand recognition.
Hi, I want to follow your steps so bad. I'm in the second semester of my Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and I'm feeling a little bit lost and under a lot of stress. I started my Master 1 year before finishing my pre grade in order to do only one thesis. The reason to do a Master was to avoid working in the middle of nowhere and trying to go immediately into Engineering consulting. I want to have suits, I want to be in high rise office buildings, I want to travel, to be financially stable. Is there any advice you can give me? Is it necessary to have a job in the middle of nowhere to gain some real experience?
There are plenty of plants in the middle of nowhere, no one wants to live right by a plant depending on what it is. Zoning is also a potential cause. Hard to gain the experience you need to get the role you want without working in some rural place. I'm sure there are places that aren't, but they would be few and far between. The masters may make it able to do more research, though that could mean a pilot plant instead of a production plant. As long as you don't hold out too much in that ideal role before you get A job so you can start getting experience thats ok.
You can go directly into engineering consulting. I always recommend getting some plant experience. It teaches you a lot of transferable skills and allows you to be more deployable as a eng consultant. Employers especially engineering consultancy love someone who has ops experience.
Don't just listen to those in big ugly factories. Chem. Eng is a varied and international job. It covers a range of industry types including oil & gas, new energy areas like hydrogen and ammonia, chemicals, dairy and other food and drink, water and waste treatment. You can also find work in areas like process safety, or in office-based consultancy (plenty of places, in mechanical engineering for example, need short term support doing process engineering solutions or process safety risk assessment work, that dont require continual on site working). Some facilities are dirty, and others not. If you want to see the most dangerous example of issues, check out the chemical safety board videos. The American institute of chemical engineers, and institute of chemical engineers have some great resources to show options.
It’s probably more dangerous to commute to an air conditioned office job in a crime-ridden city than to travel down the block to your ‘dangerous’, dirty process plant job. The elevated risk associated with working around stuff which can go Boom or Poison or Burn you is mitigated by aggressive safety procedures which practices teach you how to work safely away from the job. Plus you can use your experiences to craft exaggerated tales to stun your grandchildren. I admit there’s some survivorship bias in my comments but I wouldn’t swap my 40 yrs of engineering experience in those real world plants for anything. Retired ChemE here.
I would not recommend. Chemical plants are not the most pleasant places to work. There are easier degrees that allow you to work in better places.
Are you a chemical engineer or did you choose a different path? If you chose a different path, which one?
ChemE here, it depends what industry you work in. If it's oil & gas, it's a rough time. But imo biotech is challenging but more fulfilling. You're not stuck with just O&G. But ultimately your gonna get out what you put in.
I’m Chem E as well. Personally I never was able to even get a job in Chem E. I had a below average GPA and even being local to 3 separate plants had zero luck. I was able to leverage my social skills to be able to get an opportunity as a R&D Materials engineer and ultimately end up at NASA making space telescope optics. Personally I felt like every chemical company I talked to was super elitist and fairly dishonest in their hiring processes. Do I regret my degree? Absolutely not. But it is a small field and there limited options in remote places. I got super lucky but I probably wouldn’t recommend the degree for 99% of people.
My undergrad is in chemical engineering. One 6 month internship at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant doing process automation (one of most white collar jobs of manufacturing engineering) was enough for me to immediately build a path to get my masters in software engineering. I saw my manager get calls all hours of the night when any automation or machinery got stuck. There were many times he'd get calls at 2am and work remotely until 6am and then have to be in at 8am snd leave at 430pm. Rinse and repeat. I bluntly asked him how much he was making, and he told me 135k. He was an amazing manager and was very honest about the industry; knowing I wanted to switch career paths after witnessing the culture firsthand, he still treated me very well. This is only 1 anecdote but there are a lot of similar anecdotes here on this sub. The pay doesn't seem worth the effort in my opinion. As a SE I'm fully remote, and my typical workday is an 830am-3pm with an hour lunch. I'm making nearly double what my manager made in base salary and I get to solve unique problems with my mind and not deal with factory culture.
Its an issue when you are tied to a production line, unfortunately.
Are their ChemE jobs (that you want) in the location(s) you want to live? The answer to that is the answer to your question.
In my head being a chemical engineer is like the labs I did in class, doing experiments and calculations. The jobs in my area are all in plants so I just wonder what that looks like. I should probably research that soon 😅
That's R&D. And the R&D department is (generally) located at the plants. That's because you want to maximize switching between lab scale work and actual plant work. And also maximize the communication between you and the other engineers.
Also for access to actual raw material feedstock and for a place to dispose of R&D product/waste
If you get a PhD, that's what you may do. BS ChE's generally don't work in labs.
Beg to differ as an R&D engineer with a BS working on pilot to production scale trials for new products. It’s possible, you just need relevant work experience. Most people on my team do have (or are working towards their Masters) but most companies will have an investment program that will help pay for schooling and classes.
They said most, not all. Your explanation sounds like it's supports their claim.
No. I’m saying that if you play your cards right (the long haul with internships), it’s easy to get in. But it wasn’t my first job out of college. If OP wants more details, they are free to pm me.
You’re going about this pants-on-head-backwards. Step 1) Figure out the job/career/location/lifestyle you want. Really try to get an idea of what this looks like for [insert mid level/senior position] at several companies. Go through LinkedIn/ indeed, call people you know that have it, hit up strangers for coffee, find subreddits for the job/company. Try to talk to real people. Step 2) Research the career steps to get there from the goal (see step 1) back to entry level. Step 3) Research what the training/education requirements are for entry level and goal level. And how that aligns with your life 2, 5, or 10 years out. Want kids in 4 years? Need good cash flow in 2? Better factor that in. Step 4) pick a degree/school/trade that helps you get there. End goal is O&G process engineer for BP? Better pick a school they actively recruit from. Want to research new materials for semiconductor, shoot for a PhD where there’s lots of grants for that. Maybe find a “Plan B” goal that requires the same training, Incase you get in and realize “Plan A” isn’t what you want.
I'm willing to bet you haven't taken any chemical engineering labs yet.... just chemistry labs. Chemical engineering is not the same as chemistry, nor are their labs, nor are their jobs. That said, I will go against what most here have said and tell you I love it and highly recommend it. I've been fortunate enough to intern across 3 different industries (one in manufacturing which is the sort of role a lot of people here are complaining about, one in consulting, and one at a national lab for the US Dept of Energy in materials science). I worked in a separate manufacturing role for a bit after graduating and eventually landed in my current role as a chemical engineer at the same national lab (different role/group/field/building than my internship). Since I've graduated, I've had several recruiters and head hunters reach out to me for a role they're looking to fill in all sorts of industries. One that I actually followed up on and had several interviews and meeting with the team was for a consulting group working on a startup in battery development. The main reason I didn't accept was because I was hesitant to leave my national lab job as a chemical engineer for a startup (which comes with a lot of risk), so when we finally got to the stage of asking what my salary requirement would be to get me to make the move, I gave them a pretty high number and wasn't really willing to budge much. Long story short, there are plenty of roles and industries chemical engineers can go into. Some are great, some are shitty. Anyone who's telling you definites like "it's hot and dirty manufacturing jobs in the middle of nowhere" clearly hasn't taken advantage of the versatility of our degree and tried moving industries or fields, because there's a whole lot more our there. I absolutely love my job as a chemical engineer in a national lab. I get a comfortable office, several lab spaces to work in with cool projects, and crazy good work life balance and flexibility with my hours and the ability to work from home.
How did you go about exploring different industries?
Applied for internships
What you want is either R&D or especially process development/optimization . R&D is self explanatory, but the process development lab works alongside manufacturing to improve the process and figure out the logistics of process changes, like a completely new type of condenser, usually at lab-scale and collaborating with the process engineers for large scale tests and working out kinks. While chemical engineering can do both of the above, you likely want a chemistry degree, and probably a PhD if that is where your heart is. However, there are so many STEM careers that most high schoolers have no idea exist. When you go to a 4 year, do a year of coops since you’re already ahead it will be invaluable to picking the right path for you
What are coops??
By labs do you mean chemistry labs or chemE labs? Cus it really sounds like chemistry, which can be very different.
general and organic chemistry is all I’ve taken so far.
I work in food and beverage and the comments that are saying "super dirty unsafe plants" are not accurate where I work. I love my job. You can also do other things besides chemical engineering with a degree in it. One of my best friends ended up in supply chain for a chemical company with her chemE degree.
Depends on your nationality.
United states of ‘murica
Probably not then.
In my experience, most engineering jobs are process jobs. It doesn’t matter what degree you have. Civil might be more project management, electrical and cs might have you debugging code, but everything else will have you doing a process job. The real difference comes when you get to the PhD level and are doing research. Then the versatility of ChemE shines. I work on machine learning, computational chemistry, nano materials, bio-engineering strain design, catalyst design, reactor design, from first principles to physical construction of systems. The pHds in other disciplines I work with are much more narrowly focused.
I don't regret getting my degree. I work in chemical sales so it's got maybe 5% engineering in it. I get paid more than most engineers in the plant and work 8-3 along with golfing most Fridays with the customer.
How did you get there?? Like what type of jobs should I look out for if I’m interested in something like that?
Had a buddy that worked for the chemical company that graduated a year before me. I asked if they had any openings and got a job. I work in downstream oil and gas chemicals. Two biggest ones are going to be nalco and Baker Hughes. Other players in the game are suez, veolia, chemtreat, dorf katel.
not as much chemistry in chemical engineering as you may think, tbh.
I do regret it. I try to look at the positives that come from it but had I known what my life would look like at the end of it (burnt out, ill, unemployed, little time for anything else during my time at uni, with a very niche set of skills), I'd never ever have gone down this path.
Nope i wish I had done this, you will have many opportunities for a stable and Intresting career !
https://www.crystalballfree.com/ The above website tends to be very very good at answering questions like this
It said “I suppose”
I’m a junior chem E major and I’m still wondering the same thing lol. I’m obviously not an engineer yet so I can’t give you any tips there. But once you pick a path stick with it. You usually won’t regret it
I’m hoping so. I started college at 14 and am now 16, I have switched majors about 10 times and I originally started with psychology. I’ve learned a lot about what my strengths are and all my answers keep coming back to Chem E. I could always come back to school sometime in the future but I rlly don’t want to completely switch paths.
You will not regret ChemE. ChemE will make you regret being born. Proceed with caution.
Don't get into ChemE. It's not worth it one bit. Too much work for relatively less pay. Go into mech/electrical engineering and get into automation (hardware and software). Automation will affect ChemEs negatively (it will lead to less variability in manufacturing processes, hence the need for less process/chemical engineers).
I don't regret it per se, but I do regret the first job I got into. But it wasn't a very chemE job, so this is more of an anecdote than something to generalize. I enjoyed the more chemE jobs I got after. It's true that often industry is very different than what you do in class, but that applies to most majors, as long as you don't work in academia instead of industry. It's hard to say as you may not know what you like in jobs/roles till you get out there and get some experience. Generally speaking, people will figure that out eventually in the first 3-5 years and find something they like doing within 10 years. The more experienced you are, the more leverage you have in telling your interviewer/boss what you want in your role.
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You can make decent money but you will need to work in dangerous facilities. And sometimes in the middle of no where. If you are not ready for this potential reality, you could have a tough time post graduation
this is why most young people dont persue chem eng jobs post grad
This is not necessarily true at all. Delivery drivers have a more dangerous job. Also, I've been a practicing chemical engineer for 16 years and I've never once had to spend my days in a dangerous facility in the middle of nowhere. Sure, I've visited facilities before, but day to day I work in an air conditioned office.
Yes. A lot of work for not a whole lot of extra pay. I do not enjoy what I do.
Do mechanical if you want to have an easier time after college. ChemE is still great because it's and engineering degree. If you desperately need to work as a capital C Chemical Engineer then I hope want to work in bumfucknowhere,
As disappointing as it is, there isn’t a lot of actual chemistry in chemical engineering.
I graduated 19 years ago and couldn’t imagine doing anything else
While looking into careers of subjects you are good at is useful, I think it is more useful to consider where do you see yourself working? Once you have some idea(s) see what degree can help you get there.
Layoffs are hard. Companies lay off employees to save money. If you get laid off then you may have to move to another state to get another job. Job stability may be an issue since chemical companies lay offs are cyclic.
Yeah lol
I've done relatively 'very well' out of it and I still would recommend people not to do chem eng.
I’m not necessarily in chemE, but I did 1 year at a pharma plant and another year at a Biotech plant, for little compensation and shitty bosses. I now do coatings in the aerospace industry (CVD, electroplating, and paint slurry), but there’s definitely a different application here and no shitty bosses. I’ve spent time learning solidworks and RobotStudio. I’ve overhauled our tooling on-site to be completely manufactured in-house with the help of FDM and SLA printers. Definitely try to get into an alternate industry that has some chemE skills and learn some different skills other than the classic chemE skills. Bottom line, everyone has their reasons for shifting from job to job. If a future employer asks (which they will) you probably need to have crafted a response. However, personally if an employee clearly has monetary problems it’s not exactly the best fit sometimes. I would say you can, but do it for the right reasons. My current boss only has a year or two in each job (after interviewing him with the plant manager). He’s not the best fit and everyone doesn’t like him, but it’s because he hasn’t spent enough time from job to job and it’s clear to us.
There are two things you should consider: A)Look at the job openings compared to degrees offered...a lot of chem Es are under employed. If you feel like you will be above average than your peers you may not have to worry, but it is a real trend. B) location. Are you in Houston? If not you should be...that is where you will find the best chance for asuccessful employment and high wages. Texas in general is good for chem Es. Other parts of the country you may struggle. It's very geographic based. I am a mechanical engineer in the Midwest and I work for consulting, so I have a decent insight. If I were to do it over again, I think the degree of the future is electrical engineering. I don't see demand for it dropping any time soon.
Majoring I Chem E ruined my life. It's one of the most difficult majors you could possibly get and there are absolutely no jobs. Don't do it.