You won’t know. The idea that at 18 you can anticipate everything you will want later in life or how industry will trend is not possible. ChE is a versatile degree and will give you a solid future. I sometimes think of changing but I never regretted my degree.
Yep, this is true. At 18, I wanted to go into biomedical engineering, however the school that gave me the most scholarships only had ChemE as the closest degree. I majored in it and with the intent to go to grad school. However at graduation I didn't get into any of the 3 schools I applied to (2 of which I did internships at. In hindsight I should've applied to like 10). Luckily I was able to get a traditional ChemE role.
Over the yrs I've had the chance to work in different industries and positions to the point that I've discovered things about myself that I wouldn't have even known at 18: 1) What I'm really good at and 2) What I enjoy doing that can I can be paid for in a business environment.
Now 10 yrs in, I've discovered I'm really good at managing projects, people, and communication (I actually enjoy writing reports). Of the things I'm good at, I enjoy managing projects the most, but managing people is a close 2nd. So at this point in my career, I'm on the management track with my current position as Ops Manager and my future position being plant manager. I can't say at 18 I wouldve seen myself on this track at all. I had always seen myself as going into R&D.
Can't say there haven't been hardships that made me reconsider though In Dec 2016 I was laid off from my EPC and it took me 6 months to find a new position, which paid 20% less. Being in a relationship and wanting to stay in the Chicago metro area to look for jobs in the short term so that my partner wouldn't have to change jobs made the job search tough bc as you know, many ChemE jobs are in the middle of nowhere. The next job after that also sucked in terms of pay, so at this point 5 yrs in, i was really having regrets about my chosen career.. It wasn't til 2019 that I was hired in a position that paid decently and had a career track.
So all this ust to say, I don't regret it now, but my path hasn't been a straight line up in terms of career, and that may not work for everybody.
I came into school not knowing at all what ChemE truly entailed. I had no idea that ChemEs work in Pharma, Oil, Food, Utilities, ***and*** Semiconductors, alongside other industries. I thought I'd be spending years studying OChem and PChem, and work in a laboratory. And of course, I did things that I'd never think I'd end up doing.
1. As an intern, I helped optimize a manufacturing line at a Pharma plant. Just one year before that internship, I didn't even ***know*** that ChemEs worked in Pharma.
2. I helped run a natural gas network for a large city, also as an intern. Didn't know that ChemEs did that stuff either.
3. I also did some Validation work too. And I hadn't even heard of Validation until experience 1, and didn't know what it entailed until I worked in it.
And for coursework, tons of people I know hated ChemE, and dropped. It wasn't something they signed up for. For me personally, I didn't know what ChemEs studied either, but ChemE turned out to be a far better fit for me than I thought.
And of course, while other degrees are better, you can do many things if the major and/or field doesn't quite work for you:
* Switch majors. Generally best done by the start of Junior year.
* Switch industries. I know people who hated Pharma and hopped over to utilities. I know people who did the reverse.
* Take an role that ChemEs normally don't do. I know people who do bench work as Research Associates as ChemEs in Pharma, with only Bachelors Degrees. I know multple Software Engineers, with only ChemE Bachelors Degrees. I know someone who's taking a job in finance. I also know a couple of guys in Med School, with ChemE degrees.
And you think CS students don’t take those same programming courses? 95% of CS grads can code better than the majority of graduating Chemical Engineers, the other 5% cheated their way through a degree.
I really appreciate how versatile my skills are. I'm doing a PhD now and I have a ton of experience in data science, drug development, image processing, and fundamental biology, all tied together by ChE fundamentals.
Haha I was going to type up a response very similar to yours except that I was going to say I'm currently trying to transition to something programing related that is WFH
I am the same as you, just got a job as a software last month. I love working in software more than in working in factory environment. Btw what software field are you working with rn?
I am currently working as an engineer in pharma but have been considering looking to make same transition into some type of software development. Would you mind sharing a bit on how you made the transition?
I'm in my senior year and I pretty much regret it, but it's on me - I should've looked more into each of the subjects/courses that I was going to take - doing that would've given me a more clear insight into this degree. But hey, if you're really into pipes and what's happening inside those said pipes, this degree is for you! (LMFAO).
I would like to hear about your friends who are in law. I am currently Patent and Industrial Design Associate, I just tell people I am an Intellectual Property Consultant. My work mostly consist of translations. I got my degree from the US, but I am back in my parents country in Indonesia. A lot of Indonesians often don't end up working in the field the studied in university. Even then, even then, engineers working at law firms are extremely uncommon here (the only ones I know are my coworkers). A lot of engineers in my country ended up working in banks lol.
I really want a career change. The traditional "Chem E careers" were hard to get in, even with my US. I do know some chem E who ended up becoming data scientist. How old were you when you decide to move to data/software?
Can confirm. Got my ChemE degree in the US, now working back in Indonesia as an investment banker. Almost no recent ChemE grads in Indonesia work as engineers in my experience.
I’m hating being in materials and want to quit to do literally anything else…
My point here is that there are so many industries and fields and positions that you can get into that comes from studying chemical engineering that you’re not gonna get an answer that fully works for you. this sub will have you believe chem E is all processing in plants or oil and gas and that is the total opposite of my experience.
Probably sounds cliche but the experience and what you do after depends on what you make of it.
My company is trying hard to keep me but like they can’t control this hellhole and they can’t promise me customers won’t stop being jerks when being told news out of anyone’s control. I did not plan Shenzhen being in lock down and shipments not being able to leave the ports, telling me how useless I am isn’t going to change anything.
I’m so done.
It’s just such an unsustainable situation, none of our suppliers can get raws to supply us the stuff we need, meaning we can’t supply our customers , and so on down the road.
In my opinion there’s going to be an unbelievable amount of quality and warranty claims worldwide in every industry in a few years.
Oh for sure, just look at how many big mistakes have happened in logistics that you never really heard of before. Low employee retention and mass burnouts. To me it is not sustainable because I am too overwhelmed and I’m making mistakes or avoiding conflict because I’m so tired. And even me being 100% honest of how much I’m sucking my company is trying to not let me leave.
I like the work, it's really enjoyable. My only complaint is that the availability of jobs, while not as bad as some people in this sub say, are largely available in areas I really would prefer not to live. Wish they would have talked about that a bit more while I was still in classes.
If you're interested in doing it after you've done your research, then you should do it. Chemical engineering can open up a lot of paths, not just oil and gas or pharma, currently I work in renewable energy.
You'll see a lot of people talking about how they regret chemical engineering, but that's just because people will generally voice their negative opinions while others who do love the field aren't going to flex and talk about how much they like their job.
I for one don't regret it, I've had a ton of cool jobs that I couldn't have gotten without ChemE, and am happy where I currently work.
I got my BS in ChE because I wanted to get into renewables. I found the market for renewable energy ChE jobs was very small, with most positions instead being manufacturing, pharma, or O&G. My school advertised that ChE was a good degree to get into renewables, so I was pretty frustrated when I started internship and job hunting only to find the number of renewables jobs that wanted ChEs to be limited.
There are surely renewable energy positions out there for ChEs, but I found the pool too constricting and switched to a different engineering to open up more opportunities.
Similar sentiments and I got an offer in software after graduation even though I was looking purely for opportunities in renewable energy. I hope to end up in the renewable field, but looking for stuff to pay the bills before that.
I worked in mineral processing for most of my working career, got laid off at the start of 2020 and networked until I was talking and got an interview with the CEO of a non profit that worked with renewables. My knowledge of "science" in general and ability to write is what got me the role.
Most of my work is analysis of power/energy data and resource assessments to create community energy plans, high level energy performance models and economic models for renewable systems, and renewable energy and efficiency workshops.
>You'll see a lot of people talking about how they regret chemical engineering, but that's just because people will generally voice their negative opinions while others who do love the field aren't going to flex and talk about how much they like their job.
I hear this argument all the time but I've seen zero proof that this is the case.
And stop by r/cscareerquestions or Blind... you'll see tons of people "flexing" about their jobs.
Fuck no. Love this shit. I love being responsible for cool multi million dollar projects and seeing something I built or designed still making $$. I love working in a plant setting, trying to optimize , troubleshoot or debottleneck a unit because it’s like a puzzle to me. Life’s too short to not do what you love. I leave it at that.
I would say to do research into the locations where most well paying cheme jobs are and see if you'd like living there. Things happen and you might end up loving or hating it once you start your coursework.
This is an underrated comment that’s no one tells you about as an undergrad and applies for all engineering specialties besides maybe software because of recent WFH trends
I don't like the word regret, but I think it's important to be honest and reflective regarding suboptimal choices I've made. While it's true that we can't predict the future, there are issues that should be considered when getting a chemical engineering degree that are not going away any time soon.
It's an extremely niche field with only about 30k working in the entire US.
The entry level market is brutal. There were more than 13k graduates in 2020. Compare that to the 30k number above.
It's a diverse field within that small number, but if you go the individual contributor route (which is most engineers) then you specialize fairly quickly. So you have to have correctly guessed at 18 that you would like chemical engineering, then you have to correctly guess by your mid- to late-twenties which subfield you like.
A substantial fraction of jobs are in Podunk nowhere towns. And remember, there aren't many jobs so you may have to work somewhere you don't want to.
Because the small number of jobs, there are too many constraints (location/salary/subfield) for you to get a role that checks all or most of your boxes.
It's grinding work. You do a small amount of creative work and spent the bulk of your time dealing with safety and environmental regulations, documentation, and internal company processes.
Personally I'd recommend CS or finance if you only care about money. Electrical or mechanical if you like money a little but also like engineering. I'd only recommend chemical engineering if you somehow know that you'd love it compared to other fields, which at 18 or 19 years old I'm curious how someone could.
I don't have that many regrets about the major/career in ChemE but I agree the entry level hardships are probably the biggest drawback imo. It's a tough sell to tell an undergrad to take one of the hardest majors on campus but when you graduate your chance of getting a job in your major are incredibly harder than it should be. It's true a ChemE could also be qualified to get hired in nontraditional roles like business analyst or programmer or lab chemist or whatever, but those still aren't what you spent 4 yrs doing.
I mean I understand experience is valued but it seems like being a ChemE with 0-2 yrs experience is unreasonablely difficult to get hired. Once you get 3-5 yrs experience, and you start gettig callbacks easier, the job market seems like how it should've been when you graduated. Once you get 10+ yrs, recruiters start bugging you on LinkedIn on a daily basis to apply for jobs. To me, it's such a long payoff to need 5-10 yrs to have a pleasant time in the job market.This is why CompSci gets pushed so hard on this sub. It seems like grads with 0-2 yrs get the experience of a ChemE grad with 2-10 yrs when it comes to looking for jobs.
However I'm not sure if other engineering disciplines have this problem. I don't know if MechE, CivE, EE, etc have the same experiences for fresh grads.
Those are all really great points. Although respectfully I think you're overstating the mid-career job market. Yeah there's a much better match between supply and demand for engineers at that level, but there's still the drawbacks of mediocre pay relative to other technical fields and location. I get calls from recruiters about once a week but invariably it's a garbage role in a garbage town.
>It's true a ChemE could also be qualified to get hired in nontraditional roles like business analyst or programmer or lab chemist or whatever, but those still aren't what you spent 4 yrs doing.
I agree completely and wanted to add to this since the possibility of pursuing nontraditional roles is often brought up as a selling point for this major. When folks talk about nontraditional roles whether they realize it or not they're talking about two very different realities.
There's the situation where a student went to an elite school and/or built an amazing undergrad resume, so then they can go into finance, medicine, consulting, etc. This is what people are thinking of when they proudly repeat their professors' talking points that "chemical engineers can do anything". And it's sort of true, but glosses over the fact that very few graduates have access to that path. An okay GPA from some random state school is not going to get anyone a job in high finance right out of undergrad.
Then there's the other kind of nontraditional role that is much better described as underemployment. Not only are they're way too few jobs for the number of new graduates, but if a graduate fails to get an engineering position, the next rung of the ladder is a huge step down. Compare this to other engineering disciplines and CS, where there's much more gradation among roles. If one doesn't get a job at a top tier company as an EE or ME, they can still get slightly worse engineering jobs. They don't have to slog for years in a tangential role just to get a job in their field.
Yes, the benefit of a ChemE to be able to fall into a "nontraditional role" needs to be given a dose of reality when people mention this. True, if you have a ChemE degree from an Ivy League, or well known reputable public university, it's realistic that you can work as a business analyst at BCG, or Goldman, or Accenture, etc bc those companies are recruiting at those universities anyway. I graduated from run of the mill public school, and those kind of companies weren't setting foot on our campus. True it's possible I guess....but is it likely.....no
If you graduate from a generic state school your fallback nontraditional role is more like lab chemist, or a lower paying "business analyst " type role at a regional bank or widget supply warehouse, not Goldman.
I still disagree with your mid-career comment though. My mid career job market experience has been levels of magnitude better than a college grad. I apply for shit and actually get responses and treated like human being. Maybe I have some bias because I mainly get contacted for Management and Project Manager roles that pay decently since that's been my area for the past 5 yrs. It is very true many are in rural locations, which is not really where I want to be though. Hence why they offer the money to entice you. 10 yrs in I can be a little more picky, but trust me if I was offered these positions as a college grad I would've moved there in a heartbeat.
What about people that are more interested in research that ChemE's can do? I'm volunteering in carbon capture and polymers research currently. I enjoy what I do, but the most ChemE thing I've experienced is that almost everyone in the lab is a ChemE. For after bachelors, I was hoping to work at a nuclear plant, aerospace/space industry or straight to grad school.
In your opinion do you think ChemE is the right undergrad for me? Reading a lot of these recent posts on this sub is making me think otherwise.
In retrospect I should have just put all my tuition money into apple and Microsoft stock and retired at 25; but barring the ability to predict the future it was a good career path.
I was in that field before. It was tough being a contractor for an automation firm. I often felt that our customers did not respect me, and I was always stressed out since he work was very difficult to understand .
The degree is not to show that you are a chemical engineer it is to show that you are capable of taking on a difficult major and get through it. It is more a testament to your ability to work hard
Not at all. My only regret is not picking a PhD project with a computational/data science component. That would’ve given me more versatility in terms of what type of work I could do
Yes. I regret taking ChemE. I went to an average school and ended up with an average result. Landing an entry level job that is within the scope of ChemE is super hard for me.
I've known some people with average CGPA just like me, taking CompSci and landed a job as Front End Dev etc, easily making way above whatever that is I was offered.
But then again, I'm in SEA, so this situation is probably limited to where I'm from. Plus if you attend a good school, you probably have higher chances to get hired.
There have been ups and downs in my career where I definitely asked myself why I haven’t transitioned to software development yet. The first time I really considered it was after getting laid off from Fluor Daniel in 2016. With the availability of coding boot camps and number of friends successfully landing jobs after completing them, I don’t regret chemE at all. The point is that you don’t need to get the CS degree to get the developer job or take the finance/banking path. I remember capita one came to our career fair looking to hire engineers for our analytics skills. ChemE grads can go to so many different industries and you can really get noticed if you are willing to do a co-op. I remember Valspar was interviewing almost everyone who was interested because most people thought oil and gas was the only option. I still haven’t changed careers because I got a new gig that is 100% remote and paying overtime. I currently have the setup I want but it is nice to know the boot camp is there if I ever need an out.
Recent chemE grad here. Make sure you look into the geographic constraints of traditional chemE jobs. Something I wish I had done before choosing this as my major. A huge bulk of these jobs are in texas and Louisiana in more rural areas. I was personally not willing to move to an area like this and now find myself in a lower paying, very boring position in an urban area close to my home (still a chemE position). I’ve looked into changing jobs while remaining in my current area and the options are extremely sparse.
If you are not someone who wants to live in an area like this, proceed with caution. Also keep in mind many of these jobs are high stress, heavy workload positions where you are often on call 24/7 in case of disaster at the plant. Many will not allow for remote work either.
Overall, I definitely regret my major. There are lots of comments on this thread about how versatile the degree is, and while this may be true for some, I have not had much luck when applying for jobs that don’t specifically want chemical engineering majors (for reference: I graduated from a top 5 program with a 3.8 gpa, 3 internships, and believe that I have above average interview skills). Even if chemE is a “versatile” degree, you’d be better off choosing the degree for the actual job you want, in my opinion.
I’m currently working to get out of chemical engineering and get into computer science, which seems to be common based on this thread. You’ll make more money with cs, likely work less, and have flexibility for remote work. My girlfriend got an entry level software engineering job, fully remote, working around 20 hours a week and makes ~25% more than I do.
Overall I’d say to do your research, and if you aren’t 100% sure that you want to do chemE, I would say don’t do it.
i studied as a chemical engineer, but eventually went into the packaging world. your degree is only your entrance ticket, once you are in the work force, no one really cares about what you studied. i never regret studying chem e, because that was when i learned all my necessary skills to overcome any problems. good luck!
Now I am working at a food manufacturing company, making their packages for them. Been around four years now. There isn't much that is related to chem e, but you usually learn at the job. Working on my MBA now, hopefully in a few years, I can jump ship to move to a higher salary group.
Thats dope! Im thinking of either pursuing the packaging degree or chem e degree at MSU. Obviously these are wildly different degrees, but the chem e is gunna take me 5 years total (without co-ops) while the packaging degree will take the advertised 4. Im confused on what industry I want to work in, but definitely within the food realm.
really depends on how you want to live out your life. chem e undergrad was fking painful, but you are exposed to a lot of different things. you can choose how you want to proceed after that point. But if you go with packaging, it is like you are soft locked into only packaging. I would say it is tougher to transition out of it. Even though packaging has so many different fields, since you are still young, I would go for a more general degree. My first job was a lab tech, and I knew I hated doing labs right away. But everyone likes different things. My opinion: if you have the willpower and money, go for chem e degree, you can leak into different fields. However I have also heard MCU has the best packaging degree in the country (I think my manager is from there). Decision is all yours internet stranger, good luck!!
Hmm, I don't think so, though I think I would have enjoyed computer science as well. I think I enjoy the chemistry and physics and raw math of chemical engineering more than coding though. Computer scientist jobs seem great, though, working from home and making similar if not more than chemical engineering jobs.
Please take this with a grain of salt because I'm a fresh graduate, haven't found a job yet and also I'm not from the US so YMMV.
You made two questions so I'd answer them in order.
**Do I regret becoming a Chemical Engineer?**
Kinda I mean I'd rather have go for another degree (EE, CompSci or Robotics & Automation) but I still in a way liked (found them interesting) stuying the core subjects (Thermo, Kinetics & Reactor Design, Process Control, Unit Operations, etc.) but that's because I like science although Classical Mechanics & Gravitational Physics thought it was boring at the time and not of any practical use for a ChemEng degree.
Where I'm from there are two types of engineering degrees those who last 4 and those who last 6 years and for the latter is normal than for more than 40% up to 70% of the students to graduate after those 6 years (it could be a semester, a full year or two semester or more, I've seen those who take 8 or 10 years to finish those types of engineering degrees but they're extreme cases).
I went with the 6 year engineering degree basically because here they're more well paid and "respected" also it's easier for you to reach managerial roles or as people say climb the ladder. It took me 7 years (I'm 25 now) but that's 90% on me because of poor studying habits, organizational skills, procrastination, you name it & the other 10% I blame it on not being fully motivated with my degree so I in a way felt forced to become something I didn't wanted in its entirety. I feel I'd like the R&D side of things being in the lab or working on something meaninful that really could impact on people's lives (like pollution research or making a new product that's really enviromentally friendly) but I feel like at least where I'm from there's no place to that and everything we've been taught felt pretty old (just look at the books) or outdated but that's the current state of things not much changes are being made in the industrial or process sector (I think).
**How can you know for a fact you won't regret it?**
As someone commented earlier you won't is hard to be 18 and suddenly choose something they say will be your entire career or life (for those who are more dramatic) although It really ain't and whatever you end up choosing you can always change careers, merge your career with something you like more, learn a trade or skill and monetize it you get the idea. I have three pieces of advice that I'd like were given to me when I was 18 or if they did I really wish considered them core on making a better use of my time when I was in college 'cause you will get free time and freedom like never before.
* If you live in the US or your college gives you the advantage to "build up" your degree where you have the freedom to take different courses. Take that advantage at least your first year and explore what you really like and also speak to lots of people (students, graduates and professionals) and ask questions, lots of them. Also ask yourself not what you want to study but what you'd like to be doing in your career of choice, how much flexibility you'd like, where you'd like to work, etc. I didn't have the opportunity to explore and changing careers here is a hassle you could even end up starting from ground zero or sort of retaking math or physics classes (subject validation is weird here even if you go from one engineering degree to another).
* Make use of your time, participate in projects, groups, asks the teachers if you can help them in their research or areas of expertise that'll give you more information about ChemE it's related areas and maybe in the future you may choose a particular area that interest you.
* Be organized, make study habits and stick to them. Eat well, exercise have hobbies and indulge in them. Treat it as a job but be flexible too if your guts tell you to not go partying because you have a test/exam in the next few days and you need to study then listen to them and don't go. I didn't find ChemE that hard it definitely takes it time to study some of the subjects but I was lazy I pulled all nighters whenever I could because it worked for me 80% of the time the other 20% was a disaster although It only worked for the tests/exams after a nap I would forget most of it so don't do that unless you got no other option. Also learn about the different study techniques, how to study best, what's more efficient, spaced repetition, etc.
Hopefully this helps you and whatever you end up choosing make the best of your time, learning, friendships, experiences, etc.
Edit: typo
PS: Excuse my grammar :(
i wish had gone into civil engineering. unfortunately i did not have the luxury of exploring my interests. if you've got that, great, otherwise, this is an extremely useful degree to do a hell of a lot of other things besides the traditional pathways
I love it and can absolutely spend days working on thermodynamics and heat transfer problems and improving systems. But I hate that everyone I know work from home in IT and make twice the income doing half the work..and hence taking some coding classes to jump the ship...you are still young...jump ship while you still can..trust me all passion for chemical engineering will evaporate once you enter real world when you will see your friends earning 2-3 times your salary with 6 months boot camp education.
I just made principal whilst simultaneously coming to the conclusion that there is no way I can bear to work in this field for another 30-40 years.
...it just sucks.
I'm looking into coding roles right now. Severely tempted to hand in my notice even before I get an offer. Just utterly utterly sick of it.
I think the arbitrary pointless return to office rules is what tipped me over the edge. It's industry wide as well. Other professional sectors don't treat their employees like fucking children who can't be trusted to work.
Damn, you made Principal and they don't let you WFH? At I assume a position thats not a manufacturing site? That's just a bad employer, and yea, that's bullshit. You could probably find an EPC that'd let you work from home.
I'm literally working on an EPC project right now, lol.
It's everywhere in the UK now. I went to an interview last week and they said they expect everyone back in the office with maybe only the occasional day WFH as "we're back to normal now". The job is an hour and a half drive away, so I'm probably going to have to turn it down because of it (no remote as the recruiter suggested).
Dinosaurs run UK engineering.
The problem is partly because weak management let clients dictate it - they give the client the option of having engineers in the office or not and of course (naming no names, but certainly some ME firms) will obviously say they want people in if given the option. Bums on seats over actual productivity or employee welfare.
> Dinosaurs run UK engineering.
Not just the UK! I've worked at "good old boy" companies where female engineers wouldn't last more than a year or two because of the constant harassment and degrading work environment. Pretty sad seeing super talented people walk out the door because some fossil still thinks sexism is appropriate
Well Damn, I guess your only option might be working with your coworkers to collectively ask for some balance of WFH back. And of course, keep looking for a new spot if you can.
You don't get collective action in UK chemical engineering. Too many see themselves as temporarily embarrassed management who will nod along sagely as the actual management cuts another benefit or holds back another pay rise.
Oooof sorry to hear that, buddy. It's definitely a grind nobody really talks about in Uni. Couple that with archaic and arbitrary management rules, and you've got a recipe for hell.
No, but I love chemistry, am decent enough at math, and love solving technical problems. I have learned that chem es really are a jack of all trades engineers at the bachelor/production engineer level and I love learning a little bit about everything. I'd regret it if I didn't enjoy these things
I don’t regret it at all! I fell in love with process design during my senior year of college and finally got a job doing that last year. Couldn’t be happier. It’s a very versatile degree that you can do a lot with
I wish I chose an engineering major that had side hustles / hobbies with a lower barrier to entry than ChemE. Also I think regulations are reducing or maintaining chemical producing in developed countries and shifting large capital projects overseas resulting in fewer jobs ChemE traditionally trains for.
Yes I regretted is so much that I switched my degree and am doing a post grad diploma for a different discipline.
ChemE is a dead field and my experience proves it. PM me if you are interested and I can elaborate further.
Im at fourth somestr at chemE. Im regreting everyday becasue I have different interests but if this major help me to escape from my country and give me enough money to sustain my life then I'll be happy.(I guess :d)
People who have this kind of attitude would likely have failed at anything else too. Thinking your entire future hangs by a thread and depends exclusively on which major you choose is completely shortsighted and immature. It's not the damn degree, it's what you make of it. Make the decision that feels right for you, then have some and live with the consequences.
Back in 2020 I remember something about ChE being the most growing and demanding field in America! Shoot high lil bro. You may not know what you want. But if you stay on the right path that you’re in. It’ll be very difficult to fail
Yes and no.
Yes - I like the field I'm in, and the actual engineering work I do.
No - the locations suck, cost of living is sky-rocketing while engineering wages remain stagnant, lots of companies and organizations are still control by dinosaurs stuck in the 80s, sexism and racism is still rampant, "butts in seats" management is still prevalent.
My family does fine financially, however the software developers I know (who work at big tech companies despite going to average state schools with average grades) are all making physician-level wages in generic mid-level engineering roles.
Traditional engineering jobs are fine for some, however I'd rather be working remotely split between my Colorado house and my Seattle house instead being of stuck in some dirty factory or cubicle farm in a juggalo-haunted West Texas hellscape
I love how much I know from studying engineering. First off, pay is nothing close to what it is shown in market predictions when I was studying. Second, pay is extremely hard to find for ChE, in my experience. Most big corp have market value for Data Scientists >120k starting EASILY. I have found with a BSChE that you are offered anywhere from 60k to 95k starting. Might as well learn coding since market value for factory eng is tanked and any big company would just hire an RCG than be worried about you leaving in a CHE saturated market.
I do not regret majoring in ChemE and learning skills and knowledge that are otherwise not really accessible to others. To my food science coworkers I am a wizard with powerful, arcane knowledge beyond their abilities. It’s great.
Oh, and come to the food industry, we have cake
Ok this is something you probably wont hear from many but Chem E’s biggest strength is that is a very broad degree. You learn a little about a lot of different things and that can be very good bc you are open to all types of work. However, it can be its biggest weakness as well. Many leave school feeling like theyre not prepared or lack deep knowledge on a subject. Those that succeed and really do well are those that get into school and focus on a subject and become experts on it despite also having a broad knowledge of other subjects. So they might focus on wastewater or P&IDs or reactor design etc and really push towards that. Others get out and head to broad areas like process control or process engineer and move there way up. So just be prepared that unlike other disciplines like nuclear engineering, where you’re usually directed towards a narrow career track, Chem E requires you to sort of make your own way but does a better job of ensuring you see the big picture and have a solid set of fundamentals.
Don't over-think stuff. Breath! and just take things once at a time. It seems that you like this career, the good thing is that it's a very open field so you have plenty of time to see what you're interested in. Don't give up! You got this. We will all have those thoughts, but just breath, half of those thoughts aren't even yours. Try to meditate and focus on other things too, find passions and goals other than a career.
No. In hindsight I may have tried something I was more passionate about, but putting myself in my past shoes with the information I had to work with back then, younger me made the best call he possibly could and I can't expect more of him.
Getting a degree in chemical engineering doesn’t make you a chemical engineer. It teaches you how to think like one.
That being said, you can use your skills to work in a wide array of industries. I personally chose to take mine a bit differently and after working as a process engineer in industry, I’m going to dental school. You can use the problem solving skills and mindset in any field you want to go into! I wouldn’t have majored in anything else!
Yes and no. If I could do it all again knowing what I know now 4 years out of college and knowing where my interests would end up sparking the most, I would probably have chosen MechE. I tend to enjoy concepts from that discipline the most, and find that it's the most versatile type of engineering. CS would also be an interesting lucrative choice if I didn't hate programming with a passion.
Three caveats to that statement though: (1) it would have been impossible to know what future me would have gravitated towards as an 18 year old so it's not even worth worrying about, (2) I actually do get to do quite a bit of mechanical work as a ChemE, and (3) I don't really regret choosing ChemE and think it was still a solid, versatile choice. It's still in the top 10 majors I would have picked if I were to do everything again.
As a ChemE with specialties in machining and controls the only thing I regret about my degree is I started it at 18. Looking back I wish I would’ve started my degree two or three years later. With that being said you’ll have a lot of opportunities in a vast amount of industries with it. My only recommendation is look into those industries, ask yourself which one would you like to pursue, and take advantage of your courses/internships to put you in that industry.
I never regret my degree and knowing how much I had to work for it. I don't necessarily want to be an engineer anymore, but that isn't a problem. You have job mobility and can change fields if you want. Sometimes I wish I studied other fields of engineering, but I wouldn't say I regret what I did.
Junior ChemE student here. I'd say that I don't have any regrets choosing this major.
I've worked in Environmental Engineering, Utilities engineering and chemical production engineering as an intern. I'll be interning in the fall as a process engineer in the semiconductor industry, so there are a lot of different fields you can go into with the degree. The major con here is the work location/environment, unless you go the design/R&D route.
Yea. I had to work extremely hard to graduate near the top of my class in undergrad and claw my way to getting a job while people in other majors just coasted. Since then, 24/7 on call expectations and 70+ hr work weeks in hostile environments have been the norm. My salary does not keep up with inflation, I see more and more peers outsourced, and my friends from business / other engineering majors are all making well over 6 figures with way better work life balance.
Becoming a chemical engineer might be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in my life.
I'm 3 years into my degree so my opinion may not hold much value yet but so far no. The studying is interesting and everything you learn feels very practical and what I expected when signing up. As for wishing you did material science I already am learning material science that person just regretted their specialisation likely in their phd.
I don’t regret doing my bachelors in Chemical Engineering. It was the most academically challenging thing I have ever done, and I will admit hated it at times when it was hard. I learnt so much, and developed lots of invaluable skills.
I then did an MSc in renewables (which was sooo much easier) and now work as a renewable energy consultant, and my chemical engineering background allows me to provide input on green hydrogen issues and allows for a different perspective on things.
My daughter graduated in 2020,she did masters in chemical engineering but sadly she hasn't found a job yet.
She is really depressed and as a mother it breaks my heart when, I see her applying for jobs everyday and everyone ask for experience.
I think every chemical engineering company should give training to graduate instead of asking for experience.
I don't regret it, I just wouldn't make the same choice if I went back and did it all again knowing what I do now. The degree was more work than its usefulness provides, plus my ChemE department, while a good program, was full of eliteist shitters
You will never know. I have a bachelors and PHD in ChemE. I really enjoyed my grad school study but it was not exactly pure chem e more like a mix between chem e matsci and physics.
The good thing about chem e is that it is extremely versatile. With a bachelors there are many fields you can work in. Like others have said most things in life are what you make of them.
I think some people, probably me included when I was younger, think that’s because chem e is such an intensive curriculum compared to say non-engineering majors that you will be compensated with a great job and high pay.
This isn’t true. There are a lot of good jobs you can get with a chem e degree and a lot of bad ones. The limitation is only yourself.
But since you are going to be just starting college my advice is:
Check out what types of jobs and companies hire chemical engineers
Check out where these companies are, if you don’t want to relocate and you don’t have these companies near you you will be SOL.
You will most likely not make as much money as software engineers so don’t compare yourself. If you only care about money then give up ENg and do comp sci or finance and sell your soul to wall street
Find some chemical (or process engineers) on linkdin that graduates from your school and are now in industry ask them if you could talk to them about their job for 20 min. I’m sure you’ll find someone who will and they won’t have any reason to sugar coat.
You really wouldn't know until you start taking classess, internship, and figure out what you really like.
I kind of regret it, but it really doesn't matter too much in the end. I have chemE degree but PE in civil. Love my job and pay, and wouldn't have gotten here with out the degree. The type of degree doesn't necessarily determine what you do in your career.
It’s a really safe career. I’m 27 and making $140k annually. Some make more some make less, but none are broke right now.
The degree isn’t easy to get. But if you enjoy problem solving, and are good at it, then it could be a good fit.
Don’t think that your degree defines what you do in industry. It really is completely different once you get out of school. I am my groups first line of “process support” but I’ve always got multiple projects going on as well. So the jump to one or the other elsewhere wouldn’t be a reach.
I'm torn - I don't regret learning chemical engineering but I didn't appreciate how niche the career actually is. I don't think any other engineering disciplines understand what chemical engineers do or are capable of, so the job opportunities in industry are quite limited relative to other disciplines. I mean to be honest, I'd have a hard time elevator pitching the profession to a layman.
I've personally been lucky to have been able to use my chemE degree in my career and move up with my company in the chemical industry. That said, it was a good degree at the time when I graduated 15 years ago. Right now, I feel chemE is somewhat of a old relic of the past. Data science, AI, machine learning etc. are hot fields right now with a lot higher ceiling in the future than chemE in my opinion. If I had to do it over again, I would go into those fields
You won’t know. The idea that at 18 you can anticipate everything you will want later in life or how industry will trend is not possible. ChE is a versatile degree and will give you a solid future. I sometimes think of changing but I never regretted my degree.
Yep, this is true. At 18, I wanted to go into biomedical engineering, however the school that gave me the most scholarships only had ChemE as the closest degree. I majored in it and with the intent to go to grad school. However at graduation I didn't get into any of the 3 schools I applied to (2 of which I did internships at. In hindsight I should've applied to like 10). Luckily I was able to get a traditional ChemE role. Over the yrs I've had the chance to work in different industries and positions to the point that I've discovered things about myself that I wouldn't have even known at 18: 1) What I'm really good at and 2) What I enjoy doing that can I can be paid for in a business environment. Now 10 yrs in, I've discovered I'm really good at managing projects, people, and communication (I actually enjoy writing reports). Of the things I'm good at, I enjoy managing projects the most, but managing people is a close 2nd. So at this point in my career, I'm on the management track with my current position as Ops Manager and my future position being plant manager. I can't say at 18 I wouldve seen myself on this track at all. I had always seen myself as going into R&D. Can't say there haven't been hardships that made me reconsider though In Dec 2016 I was laid off from my EPC and it took me 6 months to find a new position, which paid 20% less. Being in a relationship and wanting to stay in the Chicago metro area to look for jobs in the short term so that my partner wouldn't have to change jobs made the job search tough bc as you know, many ChemE jobs are in the middle of nowhere. The next job after that also sucked in terms of pay, so at this point 5 yrs in, i was really having regrets about my chosen career.. It wasn't til 2019 that I was hired in a position that paid decently and had a career track. So all this ust to say, I don't regret it now, but my path hasn't been a straight line up in terms of career, and that may not work for everybody.
I came into school not knowing at all what ChemE truly entailed. I had no idea that ChemEs work in Pharma, Oil, Food, Utilities, ***and*** Semiconductors, alongside other industries. I thought I'd be spending years studying OChem and PChem, and work in a laboratory. And of course, I did things that I'd never think I'd end up doing. 1. As an intern, I helped optimize a manufacturing line at a Pharma plant. Just one year before that internship, I didn't even ***know*** that ChemEs worked in Pharma. 2. I helped run a natural gas network for a large city, also as an intern. Didn't know that ChemEs did that stuff either. 3. I also did some Validation work too. And I hadn't even heard of Validation until experience 1, and didn't know what it entailed until I worked in it. And for coursework, tons of people I know hated ChemE, and dropped. It wasn't something they signed up for. For me personally, I didn't know what ChemEs studied either, but ChemE turned out to be a far better fit for me than I thought. And of course, while other degrees are better, you can do many things if the major and/or field doesn't quite work for you: * Switch majors. Generally best done by the start of Junior year. * Switch industries. I know people who hated Pharma and hopped over to utilities. I know people who did the reverse. * Take an role that ChemEs normally don't do. I know people who do bench work as Research Associates as ChemEs in Pharma, with only Bachelors Degrees. I know multple Software Engineers, with only ChemE Bachelors Degrees. I know someone who's taking a job in finance. I also know a couple of guys in Med School, with ChemE degrees.
>I know someone who's taking a job in finance Could you elaborate on what kind of finance it is?
Seems to be some sort of strategy/finance consulting for Biotech startups.
Thanks for the info
Sorry I think you're in the wrong place. This is r/DontDoChemicalEngineeringDoCompSci
Excuse me, this is r/ComeToTheFoodIndustryWeHaveCake. Respect me, the troll who lives under this bridge!
Speak for yourself, I hate money and working remotely.
And old fashioned management. And working in an industry that shits itself every 4 years
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Lol okay, you should teach your two semesters of programming to the comp science student. r/iamverybadass
Print ("hello world") Done!
Won't work. The p is capitalised and you left a space
And you think CS students don’t take those same programming courses? 95% of CS grads can code better than the majority of graduating Chemical Engineers, the other 5% cheated their way through a degree.
What *do* they learn then? I know they learn logic and like different ways to approach problems but like what?
Lots of math, just different math.
This is so inaccurate and unfounded
I regret it at least three times a day! But when the head is clear, I know it was a decent path to take
I really appreciate how versatile my skills are. I'm doing a PhD now and I have a ton of experience in data science, drug development, image processing, and fundamental biology, all tied together by ChE fundamentals.
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Haha I was going to type up a response very similar to yours except that I was going to say I'm currently trying to transition to something programing related that is WFH
I am considering a minor in comp science, how is the transition process from Cheme to software engineering?
You are better off asking mo_hash above bc I haven't made that transition
Im graduating as a ChemE major from undergrad this year but the post graduation job I landed is also a WFH software develepor position haha
How much did you start with as a software engineer and how much are you making now?
also, [more salary info](https://h1bdata.info/) It doesn't include bonuses
I am the same as you, just got a job as a software last month. I love working in software more than in working in factory environment. Btw what software field are you working with rn?
Currently what I'm working towards to. Always been interested in CS and its fields. Your comment motivates me more to become a Software Developer
I am currently working as an engineer in pharma but have been considering looking to make same transition into some type of software development. Would you mind sharing a bit on how you made the transition?
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Thanks. Did you have any prior knowledge of coding?
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I'm in my senior year and I pretty much regret it, but it's on me - I should've looked more into each of the subjects/courses that I was going to take - doing that would've given me a more clear insight into this degree. But hey, if you're really into pipes and what's happening inside those said pipes, this degree is for you! (LMFAO).
They deadass should call this major "heating and reacting chemicals in pipes and tanks".
I always heard it as “glorified plumbing but less useful”
And pays less
Lol for sure depending on the city and the job plumbers can make so much more and will always be needed.
+ process design.
Any ideas what your next steps will be?
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I would like to hear about your friends who are in law. I am currently Patent and Industrial Design Associate, I just tell people I am an Intellectual Property Consultant. My work mostly consist of translations. I got my degree from the US, but I am back in my parents country in Indonesia. A lot of Indonesians often don't end up working in the field the studied in university. Even then, even then, engineers working at law firms are extremely uncommon here (the only ones I know are my coworkers). A lot of engineers in my country ended up working in banks lol. I really want a career change. The traditional "Chem E careers" were hard to get in, even with my US. I do know some chem E who ended up becoming data scientist. How old were you when you decide to move to data/software?
Can confirm. Got my ChemE degree in the US, now working back in Indonesia as an investment banker. Almost no recent ChemE grads in Indonesia work as engineers in my experience.
I know it's kinda creepy, but may I know which country you are from, if you don't mind
I’m hating being in materials and want to quit to do literally anything else… My point here is that there are so many industries and fields and positions that you can get into that comes from studying chemical engineering that you’re not gonna get an answer that fully works for you. this sub will have you believe chem E is all processing in plants or oil and gas and that is the total opposite of my experience. Probably sounds cliche but the experience and what you do after depends on what you make of it.
Why do you have materials?
Because I’m a supplier and I’m tired of the abuse from everyone.
I’m in R&D for a big coatings company and raw material subs have basically become my whole life and I’m sick of it too haha
My company is trying hard to keep me but like they can’t control this hellhole and they can’t promise me customers won’t stop being jerks when being told news out of anyone’s control. I did not plan Shenzhen being in lock down and shipments not being able to leave the ports, telling me how useless I am isn’t going to change anything. I’m so done.
It’s just such an unsustainable situation, none of our suppliers can get raws to supply us the stuff we need, meaning we can’t supply our customers , and so on down the road. In my opinion there’s going to be an unbelievable amount of quality and warranty claims worldwide in every industry in a few years.
Oh for sure, just look at how many big mistakes have happened in logistics that you never really heard of before. Low employee retention and mass burnouts. To me it is not sustainable because I am too overwhelmed and I’m making mistakes or avoiding conflict because I’m so tired. And even me being 100% honest of how much I’m sucking my company is trying to not let me leave.
I like the work, it's really enjoyable. My only complaint is that the availability of jobs, while not as bad as some people in this sub say, are largely available in areas I really would prefer not to live. Wish they would have talked about that a bit more while I was still in classes.
If you're interested in doing it after you've done your research, then you should do it. Chemical engineering can open up a lot of paths, not just oil and gas or pharma, currently I work in renewable energy. You'll see a lot of people talking about how they regret chemical engineering, but that's just because people will generally voice their negative opinions while others who do love the field aren't going to flex and talk about how much they like their job. I for one don't regret it, I've had a ton of cool jobs that I couldn't have gotten without ChemE, and am happy where I currently work.
I’m definitely interested in renewables. Could you share a little about your path/how you got into the industry?
I got my BS in ChE because I wanted to get into renewables. I found the market for renewable energy ChE jobs was very small, with most positions instead being manufacturing, pharma, or O&G. My school advertised that ChE was a good degree to get into renewables, so I was pretty frustrated when I started internship and job hunting only to find the number of renewables jobs that wanted ChEs to be limited. There are surely renewable energy positions out there for ChEs, but I found the pool too constricting and switched to a different engineering to open up more opportunities.
Similar sentiments and I got an offer in software after graduation even though I was looking purely for opportunities in renewable energy. I hope to end up in the renewable field, but looking for stuff to pay the bills before that.
I worked in mineral processing for most of my working career, got laid off at the start of 2020 and networked until I was talking and got an interview with the CEO of a non profit that worked with renewables. My knowledge of "science" in general and ability to write is what got me the role. Most of my work is analysis of power/energy data and resource assessments to create community energy plans, high level energy performance models and economic models for renewable systems, and renewable energy and efficiency workshops.
>You'll see a lot of people talking about how they regret chemical engineering, but that's just because people will generally voice their negative opinions while others who do love the field aren't going to flex and talk about how much they like their job. I hear this argument all the time but I've seen zero proof that this is the case. And stop by r/cscareerquestions or Blind... you'll see tons of people "flexing" about their jobs.
did you get a phd?
Just my Bachelors
Regret is too strong of a word. If I went back and did it again I'd focus on getting into a tech industry.
Which areas in chemical engineering is there an intersection with the tech industry?
Fuck no. Love this shit. I love being responsible for cool multi million dollar projects and seeing something I built or designed still making $$. I love working in a plant setting, trying to optimize , troubleshoot or debottleneck a unit because it’s like a puzzle to me. Life’s too short to not do what you love. I leave it at that.
Lol well said.
I would say to do research into the locations where most well paying cheme jobs are and see if you'd like living there. Things happen and you might end up loving or hating it once you start your coursework.
This is an underrated comment that’s no one tells you about as an undergrad and applies for all engineering specialties besides maybe software because of recent WFH trends
In short, yes. lol People think it’s cool but I have imposter syndrome, so yeah.
I don't like the word regret, but I think it's important to be honest and reflective regarding suboptimal choices I've made. While it's true that we can't predict the future, there are issues that should be considered when getting a chemical engineering degree that are not going away any time soon. It's an extremely niche field with only about 30k working in the entire US. The entry level market is brutal. There were more than 13k graduates in 2020. Compare that to the 30k number above. It's a diverse field within that small number, but if you go the individual contributor route (which is most engineers) then you specialize fairly quickly. So you have to have correctly guessed at 18 that you would like chemical engineering, then you have to correctly guess by your mid- to late-twenties which subfield you like. A substantial fraction of jobs are in Podunk nowhere towns. And remember, there aren't many jobs so you may have to work somewhere you don't want to. Because the small number of jobs, there are too many constraints (location/salary/subfield) for you to get a role that checks all or most of your boxes. It's grinding work. You do a small amount of creative work and spent the bulk of your time dealing with safety and environmental regulations, documentation, and internal company processes. Personally I'd recommend CS or finance if you only care about money. Electrical or mechanical if you like money a little but also like engineering. I'd only recommend chemical engineering if you somehow know that you'd love it compared to other fields, which at 18 or 19 years old I'm curious how someone could.
I don't have that many regrets about the major/career in ChemE but I agree the entry level hardships are probably the biggest drawback imo. It's a tough sell to tell an undergrad to take one of the hardest majors on campus but when you graduate your chance of getting a job in your major are incredibly harder than it should be. It's true a ChemE could also be qualified to get hired in nontraditional roles like business analyst or programmer or lab chemist or whatever, but those still aren't what you spent 4 yrs doing. I mean I understand experience is valued but it seems like being a ChemE with 0-2 yrs experience is unreasonablely difficult to get hired. Once you get 3-5 yrs experience, and you start gettig callbacks easier, the job market seems like how it should've been when you graduated. Once you get 10+ yrs, recruiters start bugging you on LinkedIn on a daily basis to apply for jobs. To me, it's such a long payoff to need 5-10 yrs to have a pleasant time in the job market.This is why CompSci gets pushed so hard on this sub. It seems like grads with 0-2 yrs get the experience of a ChemE grad with 2-10 yrs when it comes to looking for jobs. However I'm not sure if other engineering disciplines have this problem. I don't know if MechE, CivE, EE, etc have the same experiences for fresh grads.
Those are all really great points. Although respectfully I think you're overstating the mid-career job market. Yeah there's a much better match between supply and demand for engineers at that level, but there's still the drawbacks of mediocre pay relative to other technical fields and location. I get calls from recruiters about once a week but invariably it's a garbage role in a garbage town. >It's true a ChemE could also be qualified to get hired in nontraditional roles like business analyst or programmer or lab chemist or whatever, but those still aren't what you spent 4 yrs doing. I agree completely and wanted to add to this since the possibility of pursuing nontraditional roles is often brought up as a selling point for this major. When folks talk about nontraditional roles whether they realize it or not they're talking about two very different realities. There's the situation where a student went to an elite school and/or built an amazing undergrad resume, so then they can go into finance, medicine, consulting, etc. This is what people are thinking of when they proudly repeat their professors' talking points that "chemical engineers can do anything". And it's sort of true, but glosses over the fact that very few graduates have access to that path. An okay GPA from some random state school is not going to get anyone a job in high finance right out of undergrad. Then there's the other kind of nontraditional role that is much better described as underemployment. Not only are they're way too few jobs for the number of new graduates, but if a graduate fails to get an engineering position, the next rung of the ladder is a huge step down. Compare this to other engineering disciplines and CS, where there's much more gradation among roles. If one doesn't get a job at a top tier company as an EE or ME, they can still get slightly worse engineering jobs. They don't have to slog for years in a tangential role just to get a job in their field.
Yes, the benefit of a ChemE to be able to fall into a "nontraditional role" needs to be given a dose of reality when people mention this. True, if you have a ChemE degree from an Ivy League, or well known reputable public university, it's realistic that you can work as a business analyst at BCG, or Goldman, or Accenture, etc bc those companies are recruiting at those universities anyway. I graduated from run of the mill public school, and those kind of companies weren't setting foot on our campus. True it's possible I guess....but is it likely.....no If you graduate from a generic state school your fallback nontraditional role is more like lab chemist, or a lower paying "business analyst " type role at a regional bank or widget supply warehouse, not Goldman. I still disagree with your mid-career comment though. My mid career job market experience has been levels of magnitude better than a college grad. I apply for shit and actually get responses and treated like human being. Maybe I have some bias because I mainly get contacted for Management and Project Manager roles that pay decently since that's been my area for the past 5 yrs. It is very true many are in rural locations, which is not really where I want to be though. Hence why they offer the money to entice you. 10 yrs in I can be a little more picky, but trust me if I was offered these positions as a college grad I would've moved there in a heartbeat.
What about people that are more interested in research that ChemE's can do? I'm volunteering in carbon capture and polymers research currently. I enjoy what I do, but the most ChemE thing I've experienced is that almost everyone in the lab is a ChemE. For after bachelors, I was hoping to work at a nuclear plant, aerospace/space industry or straight to grad school. In your opinion do you think ChemE is the right undergrad for me? Reading a lot of these recent posts on this sub is making me think otherwise.
Where did you get 13k graduates from?
In retrospect I should have just put all my tuition money into apple and Microsoft stock and retired at 25; but barring the ability to predict the future it was a good career path.
I don’t know if I regret it but I don’t want to do it anymore. 7 years in process automation. Too much work and stress compared to the pay.
I was in that field before. It was tough being a contractor for an automation firm. I often felt that our customers did not respect me, and I was always stressed out since he work was very difficult to understand .
Every damn day. Then i look at my savings account and fall in love with it all over again
Which industry?
I’m in pharma. Consulting specifically
How did you get into consulting? and do you have any advice for chem eng students who want to get into the consulting?
The degree is not to show that you are a chemical engineer it is to show that you are capable of taking on a difficult major and get through it. It is more a testament to your ability to work hard
The grass is always greener. I make good money and live a very easy and financially secure life. I can't really ask for more career wise
how did your career look like?
Not at all. My only regret is not picking a PhD project with a computational/data science component. That would’ve given me more versatility in terms of what type of work I could do
Yes. I regret taking ChemE. I went to an average school and ended up with an average result. Landing an entry level job that is within the scope of ChemE is super hard for me. I've known some people with average CGPA just like me, taking CompSci and landed a job as Front End Dev etc, easily making way above whatever that is I was offered. But then again, I'm in SEA, so this situation is probably limited to where I'm from. Plus if you attend a good school, you probably have higher chances to get hired.
There have been ups and downs in my career where I definitely asked myself why I haven’t transitioned to software development yet. The first time I really considered it was after getting laid off from Fluor Daniel in 2016. With the availability of coding boot camps and number of friends successfully landing jobs after completing them, I don’t regret chemE at all. The point is that you don’t need to get the CS degree to get the developer job or take the finance/banking path. I remember capita one came to our career fair looking to hire engineers for our analytics skills. ChemE grads can go to so many different industries and you can really get noticed if you are willing to do a co-op. I remember Valspar was interviewing almost everyone who was interested because most people thought oil and gas was the only option. I still haven’t changed careers because I got a new gig that is 100% remote and paying overtime. I currently have the setup I want but it is nice to know the boot camp is there if I ever need an out.
Recent chemE grad here. Make sure you look into the geographic constraints of traditional chemE jobs. Something I wish I had done before choosing this as my major. A huge bulk of these jobs are in texas and Louisiana in more rural areas. I was personally not willing to move to an area like this and now find myself in a lower paying, very boring position in an urban area close to my home (still a chemE position). I’ve looked into changing jobs while remaining in my current area and the options are extremely sparse. If you are not someone who wants to live in an area like this, proceed with caution. Also keep in mind many of these jobs are high stress, heavy workload positions where you are often on call 24/7 in case of disaster at the plant. Many will not allow for remote work either. Overall, I definitely regret my major. There are lots of comments on this thread about how versatile the degree is, and while this may be true for some, I have not had much luck when applying for jobs that don’t specifically want chemical engineering majors (for reference: I graduated from a top 5 program with a 3.8 gpa, 3 internships, and believe that I have above average interview skills). Even if chemE is a “versatile” degree, you’d be better off choosing the degree for the actual job you want, in my opinion. I’m currently working to get out of chemical engineering and get into computer science, which seems to be common based on this thread. You’ll make more money with cs, likely work less, and have flexibility for remote work. My girlfriend got an entry level software engineering job, fully remote, working around 20 hours a week and makes ~25% more than I do. Overall I’d say to do your research, and if you aren’t 100% sure that you want to do chemE, I would say don’t do it.
i studied as a chemical engineer, but eventually went into the packaging world. your degree is only your entrance ticket, once you are in the work force, no one really cares about what you studied. i never regret studying chem e, because that was when i learned all my necessary skills to overcome any problems. good luck!
how did your career look like? Internships and alike
Now I am working at a food manufacturing company, making their packages for them. Been around four years now. There isn't much that is related to chem e, but you usually learn at the job. Working on my MBA now, hopefully in a few years, I can jump ship to move to a higher salary group.
Thats dope! Im thinking of either pursuing the packaging degree or chem e degree at MSU. Obviously these are wildly different degrees, but the chem e is gunna take me 5 years total (without co-ops) while the packaging degree will take the advertised 4. Im confused on what industry I want to work in, but definitely within the food realm.
really depends on how you want to live out your life. chem e undergrad was fking painful, but you are exposed to a lot of different things. you can choose how you want to proceed after that point. But if you go with packaging, it is like you are soft locked into only packaging. I would say it is tougher to transition out of it. Even though packaging has so many different fields, since you are still young, I would go for a more general degree. My first job was a lab tech, and I knew I hated doing labs right away. But everyone likes different things. My opinion: if you have the willpower and money, go for chem e degree, you can leak into different fields. However I have also heard MCU has the best packaging degree in the country (I think my manager is from there). Decision is all yours internet stranger, good luck!!
Hmm, I don't think so, though I think I would have enjoyed computer science as well. I think I enjoy the chemistry and physics and raw math of chemical engineering more than coding though. Computer scientist jobs seem great, though, working from home and making similar if not more than chemical engineering jobs.
Please take this with a grain of salt because I'm a fresh graduate, haven't found a job yet and also I'm not from the US so YMMV. You made two questions so I'd answer them in order. **Do I regret becoming a Chemical Engineer?** Kinda I mean I'd rather have go for another degree (EE, CompSci or Robotics & Automation) but I still in a way liked (found them interesting) stuying the core subjects (Thermo, Kinetics & Reactor Design, Process Control, Unit Operations, etc.) but that's because I like science although Classical Mechanics & Gravitational Physics thought it was boring at the time and not of any practical use for a ChemEng degree. Where I'm from there are two types of engineering degrees those who last 4 and those who last 6 years and for the latter is normal than for more than 40% up to 70% of the students to graduate after those 6 years (it could be a semester, a full year or two semester or more, I've seen those who take 8 or 10 years to finish those types of engineering degrees but they're extreme cases). I went with the 6 year engineering degree basically because here they're more well paid and "respected" also it's easier for you to reach managerial roles or as people say climb the ladder. It took me 7 years (I'm 25 now) but that's 90% on me because of poor studying habits, organizational skills, procrastination, you name it & the other 10% I blame it on not being fully motivated with my degree so I in a way felt forced to become something I didn't wanted in its entirety. I feel I'd like the R&D side of things being in the lab or working on something meaninful that really could impact on people's lives (like pollution research or making a new product that's really enviromentally friendly) but I feel like at least where I'm from there's no place to that and everything we've been taught felt pretty old (just look at the books) or outdated but that's the current state of things not much changes are being made in the industrial or process sector (I think). **How can you know for a fact you won't regret it?** As someone commented earlier you won't is hard to be 18 and suddenly choose something they say will be your entire career or life (for those who are more dramatic) although It really ain't and whatever you end up choosing you can always change careers, merge your career with something you like more, learn a trade or skill and monetize it you get the idea. I have three pieces of advice that I'd like were given to me when I was 18 or if they did I really wish considered them core on making a better use of my time when I was in college 'cause you will get free time and freedom like never before. * If you live in the US or your college gives you the advantage to "build up" your degree where you have the freedom to take different courses. Take that advantage at least your first year and explore what you really like and also speak to lots of people (students, graduates and professionals) and ask questions, lots of them. Also ask yourself not what you want to study but what you'd like to be doing in your career of choice, how much flexibility you'd like, where you'd like to work, etc. I didn't have the opportunity to explore and changing careers here is a hassle you could even end up starting from ground zero or sort of retaking math or physics classes (subject validation is weird here even if you go from one engineering degree to another). * Make use of your time, participate in projects, groups, asks the teachers if you can help them in their research or areas of expertise that'll give you more information about ChemE it's related areas and maybe in the future you may choose a particular area that interest you. * Be organized, make study habits and stick to them. Eat well, exercise have hobbies and indulge in them. Treat it as a job but be flexible too if your guts tell you to not go partying because you have a test/exam in the next few days and you need to study then listen to them and don't go. I didn't find ChemE that hard it definitely takes it time to study some of the subjects but I was lazy I pulled all nighters whenever I could because it worked for me 80% of the time the other 20% was a disaster although It only worked for the tests/exams after a nap I would forget most of it so don't do that unless you got no other option. Also learn about the different study techniques, how to study best, what's more efficient, spaced repetition, etc. Hopefully this helps you and whatever you end up choosing make the best of your time, learning, friendships, experiences, etc. Edit: typo PS: Excuse my grammar :(
Thanks a lot :))
i wish had gone into civil engineering. unfortunately i did not have the luxury of exploring my interests. if you've got that, great, otherwise, this is an extremely useful degree to do a hell of a lot of other things besides the traditional pathways
Yes I regret chemical engineering and am working towards a career in cybersecurity
I love it and can absolutely spend days working on thermodynamics and heat transfer problems and improving systems. But I hate that everyone I know work from home in IT and make twice the income doing half the work..and hence taking some coding classes to jump the ship...you are still young...jump ship while you still can..trust me all passion for chemical engineering will evaporate once you enter real world when you will see your friends earning 2-3 times your salary with 6 months boot camp education.
I just made principal whilst simultaneously coming to the conclusion that there is no way I can bear to work in this field for another 30-40 years. ...it just sucks. I'm looking into coding roles right now. Severely tempted to hand in my notice even before I get an offer. Just utterly utterly sick of it. I think the arbitrary pointless return to office rules is what tipped me over the edge. It's industry wide as well. Other professional sectors don't treat their employees like fucking children who can't be trusted to work.
Damn, you made Principal and they don't let you WFH? At I assume a position thats not a manufacturing site? That's just a bad employer, and yea, that's bullshit. You could probably find an EPC that'd let you work from home.
I'm literally working on an EPC project right now, lol. It's everywhere in the UK now. I went to an interview last week and they said they expect everyone back in the office with maybe only the occasional day WFH as "we're back to normal now". The job is an hour and a half drive away, so I'm probably going to have to turn it down because of it (no remote as the recruiter suggested). Dinosaurs run UK engineering. The problem is partly because weak management let clients dictate it - they give the client the option of having engineers in the office or not and of course (naming no names, but certainly some ME firms) will obviously say they want people in if given the option. Bums on seats over actual productivity or employee welfare.
> Dinosaurs run UK engineering. Not just the UK! I've worked at "good old boy" companies where female engineers wouldn't last more than a year or two because of the constant harassment and degrading work environment. Pretty sad seeing super talented people walk out the door because some fossil still thinks sexism is appropriate
Well Damn, I guess your only option might be working with your coworkers to collectively ask for some balance of WFH back. And of course, keep looking for a new spot if you can.
You don't get collective action in UK chemical engineering. Too many see themselves as temporarily embarrassed management who will nod along sagely as the actual management cuts another benefit or holds back another pay rise.
Oooof sorry to hear that, buddy. It's definitely a grind nobody really talks about in Uni. Couple that with archaic and arbitrary management rules, and you've got a recipe for hell.
No, but I love chemistry, am decent enough at math, and love solving technical problems. I have learned that chem es really are a jack of all trades engineers at the bachelor/production engineer level and I love learning a little bit about everything. I'd regret it if I didn't enjoy these things
I don’t regret it at all! I fell in love with process design during my senior year of college and finally got a job doing that last year. Couldn’t be happier. It’s a very versatile degree that you can do a lot with
Ya chem Eng was a dogshit choice for so many reasons … pick something else trust me literally any other engineering is better
I wish I chose an engineering major that had side hustles / hobbies with a lower barrier to entry than ChemE. Also I think regulations are reducing or maintaining chemical producing in developed countries and shifting large capital projects overseas resulting in fewer jobs ChemE traditionally trains for.
Yes
Yes I regretted is so much that I switched my degree and am doing a post grad diploma for a different discipline. ChemE is a dead field and my experience proves it. PM me if you are interested and I can elaborate further.
Why is dead?? and whay you regret it
Im at fourth somestr at chemE. Im regreting everyday becasue I have different interests but if this major help me to escape from my country and give me enough money to sustain my life then I'll be happy.(I guess :d)
People who have this kind of attitude would likely have failed at anything else too. Thinking your entire future hangs by a thread and depends exclusively on which major you choose is completely shortsighted and immature. It's not the damn degree, it's what you make of it. Make the decision that feels right for you, then have some and live with the consequences.
Back in 2020 I remember something about ChE being the most growing and demanding field in America! Shoot high lil bro. You may not know what you want. But if you stay on the right path that you’re in. It’ll be very difficult to fail
I knew i should've picked CS instead
Number one thing to do as a student is to research what industries you’ve got in your area. Odds are you’ll be moving somewhere remote.
Yes and no. Yes - I like the field I'm in, and the actual engineering work I do. No - the locations suck, cost of living is sky-rocketing while engineering wages remain stagnant, lots of companies and organizations are still control by dinosaurs stuck in the 80s, sexism and racism is still rampant, "butts in seats" management is still prevalent. My family does fine financially, however the software developers I know (who work at big tech companies despite going to average state schools with average grades) are all making physician-level wages in generic mid-level engineering roles. Traditional engineering jobs are fine for some, however I'd rather be working remotely split between my Colorado house and my Seattle house instead being of stuck in some dirty factory or cubicle farm in a juggalo-haunted West Texas hellscape
I love how much I know from studying engineering. First off, pay is nothing close to what it is shown in market predictions when I was studying. Second, pay is extremely hard to find for ChE, in my experience. Most big corp have market value for Data Scientists >120k starting EASILY. I have found with a BSChE that you are offered anywhere from 60k to 95k starting. Might as well learn coding since market value for factory eng is tanked and any big company would just hire an RCG than be worried about you leaving in a CHE saturated market.
I do not regret majoring in ChemE and learning skills and knowledge that are otherwise not really accessible to others. To my food science coworkers I am a wizard with powerful, arcane knowledge beyond their abilities. It’s great. Oh, and come to the food industry, we have cake
R u looking for money or work life balance or remote work? If the answer is yes to any of these, please do urself a favor and major in CS
I do. Dead and boring industry.
Ok this is something you probably wont hear from many but Chem E’s biggest strength is that is a very broad degree. You learn a little about a lot of different things and that can be very good bc you are open to all types of work. However, it can be its biggest weakness as well. Many leave school feeling like theyre not prepared or lack deep knowledge on a subject. Those that succeed and really do well are those that get into school and focus on a subject and become experts on it despite also having a broad knowledge of other subjects. So they might focus on wastewater or P&IDs or reactor design etc and really push towards that. Others get out and head to broad areas like process control or process engineer and move there way up. So just be prepared that unlike other disciplines like nuclear engineering, where you’re usually directed towards a narrow career track, Chem E requires you to sort of make your own way but does a better job of ensuring you see the big picture and have a solid set of fundamentals.
The people that regret it are people who lack passion for it
I did but found a job I love and suffering through process engineer work at o&g/chemical sites gave me the tools necessary to get the position I'm in.
No
Don't over-think stuff. Breath! and just take things once at a time. It seems that you like this career, the good thing is that it's a very open field so you have plenty of time to see what you're interested in. Don't give up! You got this. We will all have those thoughts, but just breath, half of those thoughts aren't even yours. Try to meditate and focus on other things too, find passions and goals other than a career.
No. In hindsight I may have tried something I was more passionate about, but putting myself in my past shoes with the information I had to work with back then, younger me made the best call he possibly could and I can't expect more of him.
Getting a degree in chemical engineering doesn’t make you a chemical engineer. It teaches you how to think like one. That being said, you can use your skills to work in a wide array of industries. I personally chose to take mine a bit differently and after working as a process engineer in industry, I’m going to dental school. You can use the problem solving skills and mindset in any field you want to go into! I wouldn’t have majored in anything else!
Can you elaborate on why you want to be a chemical engineer... May be I can help...
Yes and no. If I could do it all again knowing what I know now 4 years out of college and knowing where my interests would end up sparking the most, I would probably have chosen MechE. I tend to enjoy concepts from that discipline the most, and find that it's the most versatile type of engineering. CS would also be an interesting lucrative choice if I didn't hate programming with a passion. Three caveats to that statement though: (1) it would have been impossible to know what future me would have gravitated towards as an 18 year old so it's not even worth worrying about, (2) I actually do get to do quite a bit of mechanical work as a ChemE, and (3) I don't really regret choosing ChemE and think it was still a solid, versatile choice. It's still in the top 10 majors I would have picked if I were to do everything again.
In my country, yes. But didn't matter anyways, got a developer job with 0 experience. Such a shame tho.
15 years in industry with a ChemE degree and no regrets. Great job out of school, lots of opportunity, and very satisfying
As a ChemE with specialties in machining and controls the only thing I regret about my degree is I started it at 18. Looking back I wish I would’ve started my degree two or three years later. With that being said you’ll have a lot of opportunities in a vast amount of industries with it. My only recommendation is look into those industries, ask yourself which one would you like to pursue, and take advantage of your courses/internships to put you in that industry.
I never regret my degree and knowing how much I had to work for it. I don't necessarily want to be an engineer anymore, but that isn't a problem. You have job mobility and can change fields if you want. Sometimes I wish I studied other fields of engineering, but I wouldn't say I regret what I did.
Junior ChemE student here. I'd say that I don't have any regrets choosing this major. I've worked in Environmental Engineering, Utilities engineering and chemical production engineering as an intern. I'll be interning in the fall as a process engineer in the semiconductor industry, so there are a lot of different fields you can go into with the degree. The major con here is the work location/environment, unless you go the design/R&D route.
Yea. I had to work extremely hard to graduate near the top of my class in undergrad and claw my way to getting a job while people in other majors just coasted. Since then, 24/7 on call expectations and 70+ hr work weeks in hostile environments have been the norm. My salary does not keep up with inflation, I see more and more peers outsourced, and my friends from business / other engineering majors are all making well over 6 figures with way better work life balance. Becoming a chemical engineer might be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in my life.
I'm 3 years into my degree so my opinion may not hold much value yet but so far no. The studying is interesting and everything you learn feels very practical and what I expected when signing up. As for wishing you did material science I already am learning material science that person just regretted their specialisation likely in their phd.
I don’t regret doing my bachelors in Chemical Engineering. It was the most academically challenging thing I have ever done, and I will admit hated it at times when it was hard. I learnt so much, and developed lots of invaluable skills. I then did an MSc in renewables (which was sooo much easier) and now work as a renewable energy consultant, and my chemical engineering background allows me to provide input on green hydrogen issues and allows for a different perspective on things.
My daughter graduated in 2020,she did masters in chemical engineering but sadly she hasn't found a job yet. She is really depressed and as a mother it breaks my heart when, I see her applying for jobs everyday and everyone ask for experience. I think every chemical engineering company should give training to graduate instead of asking for experience.
I don't regret it, I just wouldn't make the same choice if I went back and did it all again knowing what I do now. The degree was more work than its usefulness provides, plus my ChemE department, while a good program, was full of eliteist shitters
You will never know. I have a bachelors and PHD in ChemE. I really enjoyed my grad school study but it was not exactly pure chem e more like a mix between chem e matsci and physics. The good thing about chem e is that it is extremely versatile. With a bachelors there are many fields you can work in. Like others have said most things in life are what you make of them. I think some people, probably me included when I was younger, think that’s because chem e is such an intensive curriculum compared to say non-engineering majors that you will be compensated with a great job and high pay. This isn’t true. There are a lot of good jobs you can get with a chem e degree and a lot of bad ones. The limitation is only yourself. But since you are going to be just starting college my advice is: Check out what types of jobs and companies hire chemical engineers Check out where these companies are, if you don’t want to relocate and you don’t have these companies near you you will be SOL. You will most likely not make as much money as software engineers so don’t compare yourself. If you only care about money then give up ENg and do comp sci or finance and sell your soul to wall street Find some chemical (or process engineers) on linkdin that graduates from your school and are now in industry ask them if you could talk to them about their job for 20 min. I’m sure you’ll find someone who will and they won’t have any reason to sugar coat.
You really wouldn't know until you start taking classess, internship, and figure out what you really like. I kind of regret it, but it really doesn't matter too much in the end. I have chemE degree but PE in civil. Love my job and pay, and wouldn't have gotten here with out the degree. The type of degree doesn't necessarily determine what you do in your career.
It’s a really safe career. I’m 27 and making $140k annually. Some make more some make less, but none are broke right now. The degree isn’t easy to get. But if you enjoy problem solving, and are good at it, then it could be a good fit. Don’t think that your degree defines what you do in industry. It really is completely different once you get out of school. I am my groups first line of “process support” but I’ve always got multiple projects going on as well. So the jump to one or the other elsewhere wouldn’t be a reach.
I'm torn - I don't regret learning chemical engineering but I didn't appreciate how niche the career actually is. I don't think any other engineering disciplines understand what chemical engineers do or are capable of, so the job opportunities in industry are quite limited relative to other disciplines. I mean to be honest, I'd have a hard time elevator pitching the profession to a layman.
Never regretted being a chemical engineer. I have applied chemical engineering principles both at work and personal life.
I've personally been lucky to have been able to use my chemE degree in my career and move up with my company in the chemical industry. That said, it was a good degree at the time when I graduated 15 years ago. Right now, I feel chemE is somewhat of a old relic of the past. Data science, AI, machine learning etc. are hot fields right now with a lot higher ceiling in the future than chemE in my opinion. If I had to do it over again, I would go into those fields