The Reason Why Chemical Engineering Is Decreasing in Popularity - Is this good news?

Recently, it came to my attention that there are less chemical engineers around online communities. After a quick search, I noticed that lots of potential chemical and process engineers are no longer choosing chemical engineering. Most are now selecting other bachelors or ways of life. This is mostly due to the following reasons:

⌚Timestamps:
00:00 Start
01:38 Job Market
02:45 Job Mobility
04:21 Loyalty/Belonging
05:48 Unpopular PR
06:53 Too many degrees!
08:25 This degree!
10:38 Some last ideas to consider
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[TInfinteT]

I’m in my 3rd year of Chemical Engineering with a minor in energy. The timing is great because I was so close to giving up, thank you. 🙏

[danielgarza]

I graduated 7 years ago from ChemE, its all true, at least in Mexico its dificult to find a really good place where you can use everything of your career. Nevertheless, you become so versatile that it is totally worth it.

[Rahul-qrwo]

Impeccable timing. I just graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

[Luis.Miranda]

I'm glad to see the chem eng community has found this space to share experiences!

[jefersoncostaengineer]

Great point my friend. Choosing graduation based on the present situation is a hard task because you will get the fruits only 3 or 5 years ahead. A good surfer get prepared before the wave forms 😅

[tanzeelahmadhashmi]

Here in UK, theres limited chemical based engineering opportunities even at the entry level. Simply too many graduates out there. But having a six months or a years experience can land a fairly relevant role. Mostly graduates end up in finance, teaching or a technician/operator...that being said I only took the degree as a challenge rather than a career path and happy to work in any technical setting!

[niralnaik]

Thanks for checking comments. Seems like we chemical engineers needs a common platform to discuss on daily basis. #Together4betterTommorow

[fernandocarlos]

Hi there, Carlos here from Ecuador. I'm a Colombian Chemical Engineer, graduated back in 2015 when the oil shares fall down; yes that was an ugly start. After THREE years struggling to get a job i finally landed here in Ecuador working for a private company doing EPC + precom-com + startup projects for oil&gas production facilities. I have to admit that the learning path have been exciting, this industry gives you a lot to learn.

Now, considering all the points you said on this awesome video i agree the job market is hell, almost all the time i got rejected inmediatly although i have 4 years of exprience.

Job promotions, never happening, you get stuck as process engineer.

Too many varied degrees, absolutely, there is a ton of new and state of the art degrees that attract the attention of the students who are graduating from school.

Computer science, i loved that you have touched this topic, personally i learned to programm by myself, i find very exciting to build your own projects right away on my pc and get experience, this experiences eventually could land me in a role as software engineer. Quite the opposite for ChemEngs, we can simulate whole plants in Hysys and we could become experts in simulations...but believe me, starting a whole plant is far from simulating it and it demands a lot of specific experience, and if you pretend to apply for a plant startup job, companies would not take your simulation experience in account, sorry.

Good vibes: yes, we can iterate and become an engineer in a fiel-related environment, in my case o'm heavily convinced that software development could be a good compliment ( www.carlos-pinzon.com), each one have right to decide.

Good luck to everyone and thank you for this video.

PD: You could search for chemical engineer job postings and make comments, could be a good experiences for all of us, cheers.

[knoela]

There are many students who are having a hard time because of COVID-19.I also want to help those who are interested in chemical engineering. Thank you for the good video.

[emiliocervantespacheco]

I'm graduating this summer. Nice video, keep on with the great content.

[evielovesu]

One thing I love about Chemical Engineering Guy is that he reads EVERY comment, and usually comments on that. Much respect.

[ChemEngWeekly]

Very good video discussing a very real topic within the ChemE industry, so good job on that Emmanuel! I would have to say that the positives at the end of the video are often getting ignored, but it is very good that you have brought attention to them again 👍

[s_inclair]

I'm about to graduate as a ChE next year and surprisingly, my batch has great numbers of students who took ChE as a course. I'm already a 3rd year and there are still 3 block sections in our department comprised of 135 students. I just hope we would be successful in our respective careers in the future.

[chawkispam]

I think allot of it has the do with the rise of other engineering disciplines like Biomedical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Aerospace Engineering (mainly rocket propulsion), and Industrial Engineering & Management. High-school students that have an interest in chemistry and physics now have more degrees to choose from.

[SirKat-mobd]

Im in my third year, and well, let's say that the reason why i choosed it was because i kinda didn't knew what to do with my life ( still don't know ), so i closed my eyes and dragged my finger in the career list, then i stopped, opened my eyes and it was in chemical engineering, so yeah, i hope that everything goes well ...maybe...probably...

[andyiswonderful]

There were many indications in the industry, back as far as the 1970's, that the chemical engineering discipline was interested in broadening its usual scope. I think this started in Universities, where bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biochemical engineering became linked to chemical engineering. I think the reason was that innovation in the classical fields of ChE was waning. Not much really new going on in petrochemical, plastics, or refinery plants.

Also, there is competition now for STEM students to enter sexier fields, like computer science, programming, new electronic devices, etc.

[normalguy_]

I really appreciate that you addressed all this problems but it wont change my views to chemical engineering, I’m in love with the major even tho there is a-lot i dont know, i will fight for it and by the grace of god i will get a job !

[majedaljaber]

Many thanks for your efforts, friend!

[rhinobridge]

In my country (Brazil) chemical engineering is one of the the most popular engineering courses and the number of chemical engineering graduates grew over the years. The problem is: the number of jobs for chemical engineers didn't. So we have a lot of graduates unable to find a job within chemical engineering. Most people give up after a time.

[delawer_efra]

Saludos desde CDMX, hermano. Excelente contenido.