What's the day-to-day routine of a Chemical Engineer actually like?

A chemical engineers day can be office based doing calculations, lab based doing experiments or field based working in a production environment. It all depends on the company and job you get

As frustrating as those answers may be, they are honestly your best answers. A degree in chemical engineering will give you a wide variety of things to do which is one of the benefits. Unfortunately, everyone you ask will likely have taken a different path and will therefore tell you a differrent story. For example, when I worked at Archer Daniels Midland, my day to day routine was to work on a calculation for an assignment I had been tasked with. I would arrive and attend a morning meeting. Then, I would go to my desk and fire up excel and perform some fluid flow calculations for sizing a heat exchanger. When I needed extra help or information, I would grab my hard hat and walk out the door into the facility. I often followed pipes, looked for process tags to identify various vessels, and talked with shift engineers to get a better understanding of the project. At my current role. My day typically consists of getting in and working on excel and word to issue out process safety documents related to nuclear remediation. No matter what role you work in, your day to day routine will likely involve excel. Also, whether you work in a facility or at a desk/consulting company will impact how hands on your day to day is in a facility.

I'm not sure how far along on the degree path you are, but if you are just starting, it is worth being a bit patient with it. The more you follow the degree path the more those answers will start to make sense. Also, I highly recommend buffing up your linkedin profile and just asking people who work in those professions what they do on a day to day basis. It's easy to filter by industry and most people are nice enough to respond if you attach a note in your invite. Also, this will be an enourmous resource when you graduate and start looking for a job regardless of what field you enter.

Hi Nomar!

Here are some sites that will tell you about the life of a chiemical engineer::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpeMeVWB2d4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qnqkNbGu4s
http://www.careercornerstone.org/chemeng/chemengdaylife.htm

Here are some statistics that will let you know more about the future of engineering and the various areas that is involves: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172041.htm

To learn more:
- talk to the head of alumni relations at your school to arrange to meet and visit graduates of your school who are working as chemical engineers so that you can learn more
- talk to the reference librarian at your local library to learn about and attend meeting of professional organization to which chemical engineers might belong in your area so that you can mix and mingle. These organizations are very open and welcoming to student inquiry and

Best of luck! Please keep me informed. I would like to follow your progress!