The Truth About Chemical Engineering

👨🏽‍💻 Hey guys! I'm Shawn, a chemical engineer in training who has been in the industry since May 2020.

Let me know if you have any questions about Chem E down below, I answer all your comments, and make videos based on popular demand.

🕐 Timestamps
(0:00) Career vs. School
(2:13) Mistake #1
(3:04) Core Subjects
(6:26) Memorizing Equations
(8:13) Mistake #2
(9:18) Mistake #3
(11:51) Money

👷🏽‍♂️ CHEM E RESOURCES

🎈 VLOGS

👨🏽‍💻 CHEM E UNDERGRAD TIPS

⚡️ PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Mistake #1 — The Lack of Chemistry, **SCHOOL**: Do you use your degree at work?
- The main courses you learn in Chemical Engineering are related to running a plant efficiently. This means you have to have a wide understanding of physical and chemical phenomena related to how gases and fluids work (Fluid Mechanics), how heat can be quantified, generated and recovered (Thermodynamics), how to optimize chemical reactors (Reactor Design), how to quantify and manage the inputs and outputs of a plant (Material and Energy Balances).
- Most people go into Chemical Engineering because they have a love of Chemistry, which is totally fine. But I think that the Chemistry we learn in high school and even first year university is very limited compared to what you actually have to know to be an effective chemical engineer. In first year general engineering, I took one chemistry course. In second year, I took 3 chemistry course (organic, inorganic and physical). In third year and fourth year, you don't take any chemistry specific courses, but there is some chemistry involved in Reactor Design and Material and Energy Balances.
- I've asked most chemical engineers I've met who have had anywhere from 5 to 20 years of experience, and the most common response is that they only use about 0 - 25% of what they learned in school. I definitely suggest taking at least 1 or 2 4-month work terms, I took 4, where you learn about what sorts of industries interest you. It's kind of like at a buffet when you take a little taste of everything, which I highly recommend. Because when you start working full time, it will not be as easy to work at a company for less than a year. It's also common in Chemical Engineering that when you get experience in one sector, say Pulp and Paper, then its easier to get pulp and paper jobs and you might only stay in pulp and paper if that's what you're experienced in.
- So while it's totally OK to switch from industry to industry, you should know that Professional Engineer roles in certain industry may require you to have years of SPECIFIC industry experience in that sector.

- Mistake #2 – Not Totally Understanding Job Specifics **WORK**: Skills For The Job
- In my own words, the main thing that a Chemical Engineer does is use math, science (chemistry, physics, biology and math), and logic to invent and improve processes.
- I made another video related to this topic, "What Do Chemical Engineers Do?" where I go in depth into the roles, responsibilities and skills required for a chemical engineer, as well describe two of the main roles for a chemical engineer.

- Mistake #3 – Not Knowing Where The Jobs Are
- It's important to understand that although Chemical Engineers do make a lot of money, you may not be working in the most fun areas. As I've mentioned in other videos, people don't want to have factories spewing out weird smells and stuff all the time. Also, chemical engineers working in natural resources like oil and gas and mining, you can't really choose where those natural resources will be. Therefore, if you want to work in the natural resources sector, which does pay very well, you should consider where those work locations might be.
- For example, oil and gas is probably the highest paying chemical engineering industry, but the work locations for sites may not be the most ideal. In Canada, the oil sands are one of the most abundant natural resources in the world, but they are located in Fort MacMurray, which is a town of around 66,000 people. I've had numerous friends who have worked in the middle of nowhere, which is not uncommon in Chemical Engineering.

[zenwheat]

I used to be an ambassador to the ChE department at my school because I loved teaching students about the degree. I still have that passion so I sometimes find myself watching videos like this one out of curiousity. I must say that being an engineering student is MUCH diffferent than being an full-time engineer for a company. One thing to consider that no-one ever mentions - chemicals smell. Good or bad, chemicals smell and you will have to work around them all day every day. Something to consider.

My roommate in college interned at a meat packing facility. One of the other interns who started the same day admitted they were a vegan and couldn't work there. I'm not sure if they didn't realize or didn't think about what they were getting into but that had to be a pretty harsh realization.

I graduated with B.S. in ChE in 2016 and have worked in 5 different engineering related roles:

Project Engineer- I designed a $1MM batching sub-system for a $25MM expansion of a feed production facility - smelled bad, lots of meetings, lots of measurements, material balances, equipment research, logistics planning, etc.

Plant Supervisor - I was incident commander of a corn milling facility- if things went wrong in any way, i was the first to know and the one resposible for addressing the issue - long hours, nights sometimes, stressful, fast paced, lots of responsibility.

Research and Development - worked with a team of engineers and biochemists developing a pilot-scale fermentation process - fun, stinky, lots of troubleshooting, lots of reworking piping, wrote a lot of SOPs, difficult

Manufacturing Engineer - in charge of operations in a clean room for making medical device components - boring, 90% technical writing, very little actual engineering, stressful, highly regulated, didn't stay long

Process Engineer - in charge of process improvements, team development, program development, and sometimes cleaning the floor - fun, stinky, sticky, fast paced... pretty much a mix of everything i've done as an engineer up to this point but on a daily basis. I size pumps, perform trials with the R&D engineers, develop cost analysis for the plant manager, I help with hiring employees, I help maintenance fix stuff if they need a hand, iresearch and nstall safety equipment, troubleshoot boiler issues, I literally cleaned the floors yesterday because someone spilled some product and were too busy to clean it up so I picked up a hose and helped out.

ChE is a ton of fun for the right person. I am not one who enjoys sitting at my desk all day looking at specs and doing calculations. I enjoy that very much but what I enjoy more is going into the plant, getting dirty, learning about systems I'm unfamiliar with, building relationship with operators who do the hard part when it comes to production, visualizing improvements, understanding how to make the operator's life easier.

[tatendachisekereni]

I am a fourth year chemical engineering student and I can totally relate to your second year. There was a semester where I did Fluid mechanics, Thermodynamics, Mass Transfer, Process dynamics and control, Differential calculus and three other modules in one semester. It was terrible and after I made it past that semester, I knew I could handle whatever Chemeng could throw at me because that was the worst of the worst🙆🏽‍♂️

[lukefujicat]

Good video. I agree completely with your advice to try out internships/co-ops. I had a co-op in a TiO2 plant as a sophomore working for a P-Chem PhD doing data analysis on particle sizes of finished product and I absolutely hated it. I nearly quit ChemE because of that job. I did a separate co-op in manufacturing of HFCs later and loved the work because it was in production. Now I'm 25 years in and a plant manager and still enjoy being in a plant solving problems.

[SDub-yllg]

Very good video. The choices you make early in your career matter a lot. It can be very hard to transfer from one industry to another. Employers usually want someone that has similar experience in that industry. Networking can sometimes over come this (very important to keep networking, even after you land a position). For example, if you work at a steel mill, its going to be very difficult to transfer to petrochemical or food industry. The industries/rules are very different, and employers don't like to invest the time and $$ to teach all that. In my opinion, its easier to transfer from general manufacturing and petrochemical to the more specialized industries and harder to do vice versa. If you decide to work in a remote location, you can sometimes transfer within the company to a larger city after about 3 yrs, so if working in a larger city is a must-have, then you may be able to take this route (just make sure this is an option before you accept the position). For any new chemical engineers out there, it will may start off rough, but you will learn with time. All engineers have made mistakes, and it will make you better.

[cefycqx]

I am a chemical engineer from saudi arabia it is really a difficult major but if you study very well you will love this major

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JUST FOR STRONG PERSON 💪💪

[alexanderlockwood]

As a fellow chemical engineer who is working remotely, if your neck is hurting you, you need what in Britain is called a DSE assessment. Invest in an ergonomic set-up- i.e. a proper ergonomic chair and stands for your laptop so you don't have to strain your neck, even get a proper 2nd screen to save your eyes. You can develop a lot of eye and spinal issues if you continue to work under strain. In Britain, your employer is legally obliged to pay for the proper equipment for you to work computationally.

[Zoe-nqke]

I’m a freshman chem e major; been looking for something like this to get better idea about the field, thanks!

[fardinshek]

like how you briefly explain some of the topics we will learn and why its important!

[fawazalotaibi]

almost all students say we use 0 to 25 percent of what we learned in our jobs. The truth is what you learn in school is concept and you will apply what your job needs from that concept .
if you work in pharmaceuticals it's focused in reactors and reaction
Oil refineries focused in separation
Power plants for example gas turbine focused in complete combustion.. etc.

if you can relate the problem you are facing to one of the subjects you learned that's more than enough, and with experience you will rock as great engineer

[assiaelidrissielalouani]

your video helped me a lot, keep up. I am applying to chemical engineering this year and you have answered all my questions

[danyliv]

2 years into chemical engineering and still didn't know what I was actually getting into omggg thank you so much for all this information. And thx for talking about the money because i know you should not do a degree for the money but a lil insight in important because money is important hahah. Thankfully my parents live in a rural area 10 minutes away from a plant (of l'oréal!) by car so now I'm sure imma shoot my shot there:)

[thetransformatorium]

This was a really cool peek inside ChemE. Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences! Cheers! 😁

[hurnidan]

Found that as a recommendation on youtube. So fun. Am a chemical engineer and 18 years after finishing it. I think at a certain moment in time after lets say 5 years or so. You will need to decide to take some kind of leadership role or if you re going to stay a subject matter expert. If you take a leadership role, you will start doing lot more different things. While still valuable to know how the job is done it will move away to more leading people, empower people, doing HR and budget staff etc...

[mythighsofsteel]

My copy of Perry's Handbook (aka the chemE bible) has definitely seen similar use as your thermo book 😂

[kylekvitek]

Currently in my second to last semester, it has been tough but still kept my GPA around 3.5! Starting to look for some jobs now

[swaradakulkarni]

Really great info man! Your videos have been a motivation for me to keep going and to realise my love for chem and that i have made the right decision taking chem e as a degree.Best wishes to u n keep guiding us!!💯🧡

[Egyptdzulkarnain]

heat integration I have used in cement plant ebfore. Now im try to brush up my Fluid Mechanics. Truly, in real life, fluid mechanics is very complicated.

[ExtremeGamer]

Unit Ops killed me I failed my 1st test, then worked my ass off to get a C. Luckily we had a P/NP for that semester.

[pijuripisu]

Thank you for your videos. Am a 4th yr Chemical Engineering student from Kenya😁

[jrhvhfn]

Very helpful video! : ) Full of details abt chemical engineering which couldn't be found in other chemical engineering related videos. Thanks for the video :)