r/ChemicalEngineering • u/Ok-Carpenter-7748 • 27d ago

Student Degree Vs Skill 🤔

I’ve heard literally every other person talk about how skill is more important than a degree. Personally as one pursuing chemical engineering what skills are there that I can develop that will help boost my career? Please help me

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u/West-Character-1625 27d ago

Skills are only important after you have got your degree

1

u/Ok-Carpenter-7748 27d ago

Yeah I was just looking for what skills will help me in the future

7

u/hysys_whisperer 26d ago

One not mentioned here is the ability to bullshit with operators. Especially the old crotchety ones that nobody likes.

Your personal relationship with ops is what you'll live and die by.  If you're hanging out talking cars in the control room, you'll hear all sorts of random tidbits that if you piece together, can give you the epiphany you need to solve long standing problems.

1

u/MuddyflyWatersman 24d ago edited 23d ago

operators do not necessarily know what causes problems... but they know what they are.... they know that they see A happen and then B happens... even if they don't know why. spend time sitting with them and asking questions about how they do things and what they don't like what gives them problems... and you'll be way ahead of most young people

#1 complaint I hear from operators about young engineers is they will try to solve a problem without even knowing what it is. Somebody told them to go fix a problem in a meeting so they do that without even talking to the operators and understanding what the actual problem is... A lot of times what's been communicated to them is wrong, just hearsay from person to person. then they come propose some kind of stupid solution to something that's not even the problem....

we got a whole generation of young engineers today who.... want to find the answer to everything on the computer..... it's not there.... you got to go talk to people.... operators.... inspectors.... mechanics and maintenance people..... to get the real information... dig through files on equipment and inspection records that are written by hand..... lots of young people fail at this point because they simply refuse to go talk to people to dig up real information..... they've been conditioned their whole lives to find it on a computer or it's been given to them....

3

u/Prestigious_House564 27d ago

To me, the “skill” is actually solving the problem quickly and efficiently; whether it is technical or human in nature.

2

u/supahappyb 26d ago

Defining what the problem is is also a skill that many people lack. A clearly defined problem statement with root causes identified is well on its way to a solution

2

u/Auwardamn 25d ago

Excel.

The world operates on janky spreadsheets. Knowing how to manipulate the data in them to give you insights is so insanely valuable, I’ve unexpectedly made a career out of data from it.