What they don’t tell you in school

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They don't tell you alot in school. Like why did no one ever tell me 15 year old me picking chemical engineering as a bachelor that your work will always be in the middle of fucking nowhere!!

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u/friskerson 1d ago edited 1d ago

Nowhere is where the money is. Low-key.

Culture and experiences are overrated and temporary, money builds a legacy for your future family. Not to be too deep, but in recent years I’ve preferred blander food and bigger missions.

And there are always jobs in the cities that would love to hire people who are intelligent enough to get through a chemical engineering degree … the difficult part is to figure out which ones are hiring. We work great as economists, it just takes a little bit more time to get an MBA or Econ Master’s. With some creativity, you can forge your career path so that you don’t stagnate and end up in the place that you don’t want to be… but the truth is most of the run-of-the-mill chemical engineering will be close to the raw materials and the processing of those materials to finish goods will be close to the cities. You have to think about it like it is Factorio. ;)

Life is a journey, take it a step at a time, believe in yourself and your abilities that make you stand out of the field, and lean into your strengths. Unlike a video game, there are no levels that are universally recognized as success. We define success internally - it’s a very personal thing - and when we are intrinsically motivated we start to feel alive again. You’re not going to be global elite in chemical engineering within your first 5 years. Heck, I’m 12 years into CounterStrike and I peaked at the 3rd highest ranking (LEM). Still, I recognize that with practice and persistence (and some people to help me along the path) I could probably get to an even higher level. Even so, you might just want to make just enough money so that you can get out of the field and pay back your student loans…. My mind used to wander all the time to that idea. But by taking a step back and analyzing my situation, where I have put over 12 years of my life into this thing, the best option for me to bring value is to continue, even if my job isn’t sexy like a financier (RollerCoaster Tycoon) or surgeon (Surgeon Simulator).

I wish I could aimlessly wander and party like I did when I was younger, because it was a lot of fun to learn about the world and fellow humans (I was robbed of my youth by being too into the books) but time has come to bring home the bacon or else, to be honest, I don’t have much of a future (lots of debt and 460 credit score LOL), so I chose to reconstruct my goals to align with what’s best for my future.

Sorry, I like video games.

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u/Superb-Taro6082 1d ago

Since you mentioned working in the city and at a remote plant, and you seem like someone with experience, may I ask for your advice on something?

I’m in my final semester/year of Chemical Engineering and I’ve been applying for internships like crazy. Unfortunately, I’ve been rejected from every internship position in chemical engineering companies around me. The only company that showed interest was actually a finance firm that wanted Chemical Engineers. By “accepted,” I mean they gave me the chance to go through interviews, from the 1st round up to the 3rd, but I haven’t received any confirmation yet. With the Chemical Engineering companies, I didn’t even get to the interview stage.

But all hope isn’t lost. My lecturer is part of a big mining company, and he said that if I do a Master’s project with him as my supervisor, I can apply for a bursary/funding from his company, which also offers an internship afterwards. He also mentioned that I could apply for a “higher-level bursary” with more funding since I’m close to graduating cum laude.

Any advise on whether to take the finance company route or take a chance with the my supervisor ?

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u/cswa5267 1d ago

If you're in your last semester of university, I would be applying for full-time jobs for when you graduate. If you have two semesters left, it could be worth it to try and get a co-op/internship wherever you can to gain some experience before graduating. You'll probably have to be willing to move far away for this, but it'll only be short term anyways.

Finance is hit or miss with engineers, as it's up to personal taste whether or not you'll like it. I would love to transition to finance instead from my rural plant job, but you might not feel the same way.

I would only go the masters route if you are guaranteed a position, want to do your masters, and are interested in the field.

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u/friskerson 1d ago edited 1d ago

I didn’t get an internship. I had one rug-pulled and then the wheels fell off. I went to a badly paying job ($66k salary) out of college for an equipment manufacturer (instrumentation measurement technology) which had a really good team atmosphere and made a bunch of friends. By servicing all the major industries (7, or 8 in total major ones) you learn a lot about all of them, then worked hard for a few years, trying to reach escape velocity. A refinery in the same area was hiring so I leapt onboard into a disaster (I have a blog I wrote about my experience there, nightmare fuel for a new engineer), but went in willing to solve their problems and leveraged that after a layoff into the next, and so on. Every opportunity is paid not just in $$ but in experience. Grads seem to value just the $ because that’s what everyone uses as the dick-measuring yardstick. Persist! That is my advice. I graduated with a 2.83gpa and now have a project manager role lined up with a $9B/yr revenue chemical company that’s closer to my favorite city.

I was a smart cookie in hs but college kicked my ass, and I didn’t know how hard to work to secure an internship (first engineer in the family) so I struggled a bit, but what is life but a series of events loosely connected by the thin strand of the passage of time?

Internships are excellent for exposure and connections and lots will brag about them as a gateway to superiority, but all it really means after 2-3 years in industry is $100k in missed salary over those years and over the course of a career (should you persist) it doesn’t mean much as the salaries cap out about the same even if you weren’t a 4.0 student. It’s a head start to have internships, sure, but it’s not end-all-be-all.

Oh, and I forgot your question. In 2025 mining is HOT. Do that. California and Arkansas just struck lithium gold. Read up. Based on dialect and time zone you’re probably not in US but battery tech is booming so the mines globally are in boom cycle. I’d go mining if it were in a location I wanted to live. I like a bit of city in my life. Something to think about.

Still interview with the finance people even if just to practice talking about yourself and selling your value and skills to someone who doesn’t know anything about you and didn’t study in your field. Makes it even easier to sell your value to an engineer. Economics is a core skill of business (one of my favorite subjects I studied tbh) and if you go corporate in engineering (even capital projects engineer or eventually later something less technical and more business acumen related) understanding that element of the business can get you out of a plant and into an office if you hate the bustle of plant life. I like the machinery, personally, but I’ve done office and plant jobs about equally.

In my experience, it’s better to get the boots on ground experience because you’ll be seen as more trustworthy working with the operators and other departments.

But I also think the order you learn things doesn’t have much consequence a decade on, as long as you keep growing and expanding your skills and knowledge. I just try to grow and learn with my job… someone’s dumpster fire is someone else’s paradise and you may not know til you try. It’s the fun part of life.

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u/Superb-Taro6082 13h ago

Thanks for the advice, it was really eye-opening.

I am situated in South Africa, where mining is a big deal. You might not know this, but we have a system called BEE (Black Economic Empowerment), which basically gives preference to black people for jobs due to apartheid, which ended about 30 years ago. I got a bit sidetracked, but my point is that leaving the finance company to apply for a mining company is a big risk because there’s a high chance I might not get it (I’m not black, by the way). Some undergraduate bursaries for Chem Eng from really big companies (like oil and coal) strictly follow the BEE system, leaving little room for other races.

The finance company I applied to has a 99% retention rate for their interns. So for me, it’s like working two years as an intern and then having a secure job, and if I’m not happy, I still have the choice to leave. As the first person in my family to pursue a professional job rather than going into business, I have this fear of not getting a job—is that normal?

But if I’m being really honest with myself, I would love to work in both the mining and finance sectors to get a feel for what I truly want to do.

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u/friskerson 13h ago

It’s normal to worry about finding/keeping a job. I don’t know SA’s work environment whatsoever, but at the end of the day, it’s economics - market rate for engineers goes higher when demand is high and supply of engineers is low, and engineering can be off putting to people afraid of the work culture. In fact during the 2008 recession is when I decided to pursue engineering because of the fear of being out out of work if I chose something less demanding.

Since you’re starting a career, it’s not a bad thing to get into raw materials and you’ll absorb practical engineering knowledge like a sponge which reinforces the degree you have, which in turn makes you more marketable for the next role. That is a great safety net to have - degree matches the experience and practical knowledge, things line up and “look right” to a hiring manager and the next job opening will be putting your resume in the highly desirable stack. I’ve never been out of a job for more than a few months despite the setbacks, and the time off I’ve used to be with my retired parents and relax and while tight on finances I wasn’t completely unhappy leaving those roles. One was a failing company, sinking ship, one was a remote location I didn’t want to be in for too long in my life, and the third had some Machiavellian management with high expectations and a field that didn’t match my degree (mechanical engineer would have been a better suited hire for them with the technical analysis the team was doing). That said, things I learned and accomplished will be on my resume, which is now growing in length, and it says a lot to employers that you’re constantly pursuing work in the field rather than going somewhere else. Though, with a family in business ownership, finance would be a somewhat healthy field too for you. When I’m faced with difficult decisions I write out all my +/- for each, a SWOT analysis of my own situation, and it makes the decision at least feel more logical. Finding a local career mentor is hard these days but there are online services (I recently learned of strawberry.me).

I have two close friends who left engineering after only a short time and never found their way back (5 years or so now), and they then have a really difficult time because the exit strategy was not considered, seems in retrospect they just wanted out of the hard work to pursue passions instead. I imagine it could be a regret of theirs since I heard rumblings they wanted the paycheck again. But then again they got their degrees paid for by dad and granddad, which in the US is a huge deal. I still have $60k left on my loans.

There’s always work to be done in raw materials somewhere in the world, but it’s also hard to strike out on your own anywhere new. Life is full of decisions.

I’ve been through 3 jobs in 3 years and it’s tough when it happens, because whether or not it is in your control it’s a sinking feeling that something will happen and make you doubt your abilities, but what follows the doubt is a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachieving and questioning the past. For me it’s move on season. Job interview Tuesday! :)

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u/Superb-Taro6082 5h ago

Thank you.

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u/JasonUtah 1d ago

Take the finance job then get an MBA. Way more upside.

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u/GrinningIgnus 10h ago

I hate this. Lmfao

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u/r2o_abile 1d ago

Moved from middle of nowhere Quebec to Edmonton, but now moving to middle of nowhere Saskatchewan. 😂😂

Money isn't bad though.

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u/aasfourasfar 1d ago

You went in engineering school at 15?

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u/nick_4 1d ago

?? Get a biotech job and never work outside of some of the most expensive metros in the US

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u/STEMWorkersUnion 10h ago

That really depends on the industry. Biotech and pharma and cosmetics/personal care and a lot of defense industry stuff that I've seen are all relatively close to or in civilization

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u/Safe-Bed714 1d ago

what advice would you give to someone about to start uni for chem e that would like to end up in a city for their career?

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u/Lucky-Succotash3251 1d ago

Either go consulting or live in a city with a big harbor with a lot of chemical industries.

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u/limukala 1d ago

Plenty of pharma jobs in cities.

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u/Ells666 Pharma Automation | 5+ YoE 1d ago

There are a lot of pharma plants being built right now. They might not be in major major cities but they are in cities of 500k+. Some of these plants won't be fully productional until 2030+.

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u/chuck98789 1d ago

You could look at working in the water/wastewater industry at a treatment plant. If you like process controls you can get into the SCADA field.

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u/Nocodeskeet 1d ago

I was going to say this same thing. I live in a metro area and work in water. It's amazing.

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u/cololz1 1d ago

corporate roles

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u/Whyagain1234 1d ago

If the big city you want to live in is Houston you will not have a problem at all.

As a side note, even if you don't like Houston, putting in some time there will be extremely beneficial. The 2 biggest benefits are money and networking. After you build that base move somewhere else. The finding something elsewhere is not always easy (sometimes you have to wait a bit for the right job and location to come around) and some people will move there with the plan to escape but never do it. Usually, that is because they are afraid to move (money, available of opportunities, etc) or they build a family/marry someone attached to Houston and find it impossible to move.

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u/dirtgrub28 1d ago

you'll also meet people that have been there 15 years that have no fucking clue. the trick is being able to differentiate the two

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u/Cool_Election7606 1d ago

Those are funny enough important workers because they will almost never leave and you can rely on them for routine tasks 😅

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u/Cool_Election7606 1d ago

Obviously anything complicated you gotta talk to the right ones goes with everything

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u/Illustrious_Bid_5484 1d ago

If you take. The derivative of 2 people x¹⁵ years. You’ll soon realize that I have no clue what I’m talking about

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u/Iscoffee 1d ago edited 1d ago

Agree. Experience don't necessarily equate to knowledge and growth. There are employees who ponder about the things they see each day or at least every year at their work. On the contrary, there are some who just wants to end the day, and there are those who avoid being given tasks (my former manager is one). That differentiates the engineers to some operators (but not all).

Engineers are given the tools to analyze what's happening in their process. Albeit some engineers also become too engrossed with ego and experience that they become very reliant to abstraction and pure experience in a blind manner.

A good engineer is still able to relate equations and theories even after years of being outside the university or college.

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u/YesICanMakeMeth PhD - Computational Chemistry & Materials Science 1d ago

I had an experience with someone outside of work that had been an operator for like 20+ years. A well pump was having trouble moving water and he thought it was because the lines went too far below the water level, so a fluid 101 tier misunderstanding of how rated pump height works and is derived. Yes, I know friction does increase, but that's not what the problem was and not where his head was. He was just looking at the rated pump height and since the line length was larger he thought we needed to cut the lines.

I explained it, his reaction was "I've been working with pumps for 30 years, I know how they work." No, I wasn't a pompous dick, he just couldn't accept being corrected by a university student in his 20s, no matter how gently it was done. He did very graciously admit he was wrong when it didn't fix the problem lol.

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u/Half_Canadian 1d ago

The worst is anybody who thinks they know better than everybody else. Applies to technicians and engineers. Hard to work with these people

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u/Iscoffee 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is the worst kind of sht work environment. I had an executive, list "process design" as one of his "expertise" even though he just dabbled only on basic FEED level deliverables and had contractors do the rest of stuff.

They said to me that piping design only takes around two weeks to design because it's only Q = Av and I wasted their millions because I took months. Little did he know (or the lack of acknowledgement) that we started with the plot plan, PFDs, P&IDs, line sizing, material selection, and detailing of valves. That was for around 5-8 systems mind you. All of those stages have reviews and presentations. Such utter bullsht. He wanted me out. I resigned the fk out of that company. Such a thankless workplace.

I'm now in a better place where people especially veterans knows their stuff and doesn't look down on their people. This is one of the heaviest experience that I will carry throughout my life.

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u/thumpas 1d ago

You’ll also meet people who have been there 30 years and are convinced they know best in every situation, and while they do know the process and the facility, they don’t give two shits about compliance or quality.

Sorry if I sound salty lol

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u/Remarkable_Spare_351 1d ago

This is honest truth. Recently had a new run plant start and the operators won’t help him because talk down on them for not having a degree.

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u/Cool_Election7606 1d ago

That is so so bad when people with a degree act superior towards operators on many levels. Mutuals respect. And plenty of them are absolutely smart and hard working.

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u/friskerson 1d ago

I’ve always felt like the purpose of the degree was to teach you how to think, not to memorize things. Sure you will memorize and learn things along the way, but the problem-solving is the key. That was a focus at my undergrad and I’m really happy for it.
It is a blessing to be able to draw on the knowledge of the people who came before you, been there, done that, done it the wrong way a few times. Sometimes engineers learn late how to be more social, how to gain rapport and trust of operators, all in the vain, self-serving pursuit of personal satisfaction of proving their superior intellect. Good engineers realize that the job is about a mission, and all good teams are assembled of people with lots of different pieces of the puzzle to put together. I get really excited when I get to assemble teams of people to accomplish a big goal that nobody thought was possible, or where there was no light at the end of the tunnel. One of my favorite, but also least favorite jobs was one where we were making some incredible stuff, with some ridiculously unhelpful clients, trying to engineer things that had ridiculous specifications and requirements in the contract, and they had deep ramifications for the company’s future. That’s where a growth minded engineer wants to be.

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u/twostroke1 Process Controls/8yrs 1d ago

What’s funny is that I go to the operators for troubleshooting help far more than I go to the process engineers.

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u/Cool_Election7606 1d ago

Love this lmao, we had a super cool humble contact engineer who had even a phd lmao. He hung around the control room with us chatting about problems in the plant and shooting the shit. Everyone loved him work was great. Sadly he moved on but i cant blame him for the new fantastic job he got.

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u/theKenji2004 1d ago

It’s not like people don’t have a degree because they can’t get one life circumstances are different and some people just never had the funds/time or were taking on real responsibilities as a child or young adult.

That attitude just pisses me off so much. Without a ton of programs I wouldn’t even be able to attend school myself.

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u/Cool_Election7606 1d ago

You put it so well.

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u/KobeGoBoom 1d ago

A degree means that you can do the math if need be. That’s pretty much it.

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u/AIChE_Baranky 1d ago

When advising my students (many of whom will soon supervise operators with experience that dwarfs their own), I always give them the advice my dad told me when I first learned to ride a horse: "You may be 1000x smarter than your horse. But never forget that your horse can see, hear, and smell 100x better than you can. So you LISTEN to your horse at all times. If your horse starts, it could be a car backfiring from 5 miles away or a rattlesnake behind the next rock. So always take them seriously, if not literally..." In other words, the operator may not be able to explain why something is happening on a McCabe-Thiele diagram, or using the principles of fluids or thermodynamics; but if they tell you something is wrong you must ALWAYS listen, and (hopefully) learn from them.

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u/MaxObjFn 1d ago

I always say that the degree helps me extrapolate. I can take an educated guess on what will happen without ever having seen it, and I can usually get respectably close.

The 15 year operator is really good at interpolation. They've seen some version of this before and they have an idea of what's happening.

What gets inexperienced engineers in trouble is that they trust their extrapolation sometimes when the operator has already seen it before and their interpolation is more likely to be correct. They operator may also struggle to explain why something is how it is, but that doesn't make them wrong.

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u/Helpful_Matt 1d ago

Being a personable engineer and getting those former operators on your side is always the best route.

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u/patrick_notstar28 1d ago

They don’t tell you a lot, like how some of us will never find jobs after graduating.

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u/cololz1 23h ago

yea, I hate how this field is either you make it or dont, theres no in between.

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u/gitupokemon 1d ago

Absolutely when I started working with a chemical manufacturing plant I had so many ideas on how we could improve the process and worried about deviations from sop. But the more I interfaces with operators my appreciation only grew. Like wow this is not in the sop but this works and you understand the plant even if you don’t understand some of the science behind it!

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u/Yunus1999 1d ago

I graduated with a chemE degree I work next to Phoenix. chemE is pretty versatile you don't have to work in the middle of nowhere. Feel like it is a big misconception with this field.

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u/JonF1 1d ago

Many people have to go to pretty remote plants to get their start off in their career.

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u/theKenji2004 1d ago

This is common sense to me. Someone who has actually been at the company and worn several different hats will no shit know more than some fresh graduate. I don’t know why so many of you inflate the degree.

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u/snappyirides 14h ago

Absolutely true

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u/Get_can_sir 10h ago

I work with an operator who has done measurements for 35 years and I know better how the measurements work than him

Career Advice What they don’t tell you in school

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