Kellen
Describe a day in the life of a Chemical Engineer at work.
I am a high school senior and am looking into possibly chemical engineering. I was hoping to hear from several different CEs to determine the array of opportunities it might have as a career. #engineering #engineer #chemistry #chemical-engineering #chemical-engineer #chemical
2 answers
Katie Burell
Katie’s Answer
While I was in school, I co-oped with a flexible packaging manufacturer working in their corporate lab. This opportunity made me realize that I did not want to work in a lab and that I wanted to work for a company that made something that I could easily explain to friends and family.
My first job after graduating was as a Continuous Improvement Coordinator on a Quality and Food Safety Team for a food manufacturing plant. In this role, I received the training to become a Six Sigma Black Belt, and I worked on projects to both improve the quality of the products we made and save the company money. I would usually start each day by reviewing the quality data from the previous 24 hours and doing data entry as needed for my current continuous improvement project. I also attend the site's daily product review and operations meeting. I would spend part of each day on the manufacturing floor working with operators to learn more about the processes and move my project forward, and the rest of my day was spent on documenting my work.
I have spent the last 19 years in food manufacturing primarily working in Quality and Food Safety roles. I have managed teams that have included Continuous Improvement Techs, Lab Techs, and Quality Managers. I also did some work as a Product Developer and even did a temporary assignment as a Plant Manager. Now, I manage a team of Quality Managers that work at eleven food manufacturing plants across the US and Canada. My degree comes in handy when reviewing new production lines and investigating non-conforming products.
Terry Coyne
Terry’s Answer
Hi. The array of potential careers with a Chemical Engineering degree is very large and almost impossible to completely describe. In my case I entered the oil and natural gas industry as a process engineer, which is one of several typical paths for new ChE grads. In this field, your first few years are likely to be spent working in an oil or natural gas processing plant, mostly trying to monitor your portion of the plant for operating problems and to optimize its functioning. With experience you will be given greater responsibility and asked to tackle more challenging projects. Your career could then take one of several paths. You could choose to continue working as a process engineer if you really enjoy the work -- I had several colleagues that chose to do this -- or you could branch out into other activities. These include project management and design, which involve activities such as designing new facilities or working on their construction, or different types of management jobs that require knowledge of chemical engineering. I had both of these types of jobs later on in my career, and then later transitioned to working for the federal government in a job where my background in the oil and gas industry was essential.
Of course, there are many other industries besides oil and natural gas that require ChE's, including pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, bioengineering, plastics, etc., and each will offer you a different set of experiences.
Hope this answer helps and good luck in the future.