r/ChemicalEngineering • u/MistakeSea6886 • Sep 21 '23

Salary What’s the most profitable career path?

I’m a freshmen Engineering major that is taking gen Ed’s. I am thinking of switching to chemical engineering next year. I really like ChE but but want to pick a profitable career path, which is why I’m on the fence between it and Computer science. I did research and found that petroleum engineering is very profitable, and ChE can pick it pretty quickly. However with the way the world is going(more green energy), are renewable energy jobs such as nuclear power plants going to experience a boom in demand and become more profitable?

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u/True-Firefighter-796 Sep 21 '23

There are few corporations as cash flush as Oil. And those are probably the tech giants. If you want to do Oil and Gas, go to a school they actively recruit out of. Understand that you will not work/live in a nice city, and will be laid off at every downturn.

It’s unlikely renewables/nuclear will ever have the insane profits that oil has, as they can’t form a cartel and trade commodities on a global scale.

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u/MistakeSea6886 Sep 22 '23

Thank you for this