<p>Are there any recent chemE graduates who can share their experience looking for a stable job?
I googled CE job outlooks and they say employment is decreasing. Some posts on this website say that CE jobs are hard to get. I'm thinking about how many CE graduates there are vs how many jobs there are- I know jobs are decreasing, but are there a lot of CE graduates making getting a job hard?</p>
<p>My best subjects are chemistry and math. I'm deciding between majoring in chemE, EE, and computer science/software development. Are there any other majors/careers I should consider that involve chemistry and math that I should consider? I know software development jobs are rising, but are there a lot of people going into that field? What is a good major if I want a stable job after graduation? I'm leaning towards computer science if CE jobs are hard to get.</p>
<p>It’s hard to predict employment and not even the OOH can be accurate. ChemE jobs are usually related to manufacturing, which is why the government and possibly everyone else claims employment is decreasing. Some manufacturing has moved back to the US, but not all. I’d like to note that not ALL ChemE jobs are in manufacturing. There are plenty of jobs in R&D, and oil & gas that are all in this country. I think that in engineering if you keep your GPA up above 3.0 and you get internships, you should be okay. Engineering is much harder because the amount of required courses. I wouldn’t say very many are graduating with this degree because of how strenuous it is. ChemE has the reputation of being the “hardest” out of all undergrad degrees but this all depends on the person. This statement tends to scare even more people away from the major. ChemEs can also work as chemists in quite a bit of industry jobs I have seen.</p>
<p>Don’t pursue computer science unless you actually enjoy programming and code more than your chemistry classes. Just because there are more jobs doesn’t mean it’s worth it. Remember all jobs are cyclical in some way and their outlooks will change due to events and how many people. Pharmacy and PetE is going to start to look like lawyers’ job outlook soon because many people are pursuing this career because everyone else says they are in demand.</p>
<p>ChemE has the problem of being heavily geographically concentrated around infrastructure (around factories and valuable resources). If you’re willing to move, you should be able to find a job as a ChemE. There’s not really an oversupply of graduates in the field, just geographic concentration.</p>
<p>ChemE isn’t really that much chemistry though. Most of what you do involves physics, most notably fluids and heat transfer. Unfortunately, there’s not really any good career that is heavy on chemistry - Chemistry R&D is not doing very well right now, and most other professions simply do not need that many chemists. If that’s your main reason for wanting to do ChemE, you might want to seek greener pastures.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies.
Would it be unlikely for someone w/a ChemE degree to get a job as an engineer of a different discipline?</p>
<p>I’m attending a jr college in CA. I’ve only taken one programming class. I did enjoy writing code and the class was easier than my chemistry class, but I’m get more excited about learning chemistry. I’m hoping that if I take more programming classes, I’ll become more passionate about programming. I took the programming class, because the chemistry classes are usually filled quickly and the computer science classes aren’t.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to find a major/career that involves more chemistry. I’m taking 2 career exploration classes next week that will hopefully help. I’m thinking maybe I’ll get a BS in computer science but a MS in ChemE and PhD in chemistry. Not sure I want to get more than a MS though.</p>
<p>No, there are plenty of non-ChemE jobs for a ChemE. You won’t have too much trouble finding an unrelated job in a different engineering field or in a “general engineer” position.</p>
<p>Programming is always easy at the beginning. Believe me when I tell you that that doesn’t really mean anything as far as whether or not you’d enjoy it as a career. </p>
<p>There are no jobs for Chemistry PhDs. As I said, there simply is not that much need for chemists in the US. If you want to work as a chemist, sadly I think that you’re probably not going to be able to find any unless you get lucky.</p>
<p>What is it that interests you about chemistry? A lot of my friends started college as ChemEs, took the intro class and realize solving fluid flow and reactions wasn’t what they wanted to do, and instead migrated to Materials Science & Engineering. We mostly focus on the relationship between processing, structure, properties, and performance.</p>