<p>So I think that the best way to look at what a major can get you (for a career) is to search actual job websites and see what entry-level jobs are for the major has for duties and responsibilities. I feel that this gives a better perspective than say, what colleges and reports can say because who knows, it might be a marketing gimmick.</p>
<p>Let me start and say that I searched places like indeed.com and found that the actual term "Chemical Engineer" does not really exist according to employers. I found what might be the equivalent, and it's called a "Process Engineer". You guys probably already know what this is, but I know I didn't. I dived into quite a huge pile of jobs and to summarize, most had to deal with manufacturing plastic, polymers or paper of the likes. Some were asking for more specific stuff. These were companies asking mainly for ChemE graduates, but I noticed a lot just really wanted someone with the Engineering degree, regardless, as long as they had some experience somewhere like a few years. (I couldn't find any jobs that took recent grads. So I looked at jobs with only a couple to a few years experienced needed).</p>
<p>This sounds really boring to me, personally. I felt that a degree in Engineering would be much more broad than this, but maybe I am wrong? I don't want to pursue a degree where the majority of the jobs for it are something I'm very disinterested in doing. So what are some other fields where ChemE graduates typically work besides that? The most common ones, anyway?</p>
<p>I was drawn to ChemE because of some jobs I have seen in R&D that needed the degree. It is probably a smaller field and usually takes higher degrees for them--for good reason, but I would rather get away with a Bachelor's if possible--and not all R&D jobs appealed to me. I'd like to keep an open mind.</p>
<p>Process engineering is only one the fields that chemical engineers go into. Though it may be the field that ChemE directs you towards there are plenty of other applications. Heres a couple ones:</p>
<p>Process engineering
-Refineries
-Plastics
-Olefins
-Polymers
-Downstream O&G essentially
-Chemical manufacturing for companies like DOW/Huntsman
-Theres a lot more but those are just a couple</p>
<p>Upstream Oil and Gas
-Pipeline Work (Flow Assurance)
-Subsea Infastructure (Though mainly a mechanical field theres plenty of chemEs)
-Topsides processing (A bit like process engineering but for facilities offshore, a lot more interesting imo)
-Possibly reservoir engineering if you dabble in petroleum classes in college
-Marine work (Again not mainly ChemE but there are a some working in it)
-Enviromental Consultant work, companies like DNV, Sage, Provenance</p>
<p>Other Fields (Dont really know too much about these)
-Pharmaceutical engineering-Companies like Merk, lots of R&D, huge field for ChemE’s
-Mineral Processing
-Materials Engineering
-Metallurgy
-Food Industry</p>
<p>Heres an interesting article from Rice: <a href=“https://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=331[/url]”>https://chbe.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=331</a></p>
<p>Anyway ChemE is by no means a really narrow field, it is easiliest on of the broadest engineering degrees out there right now and imo the best one (a little bit of bias here). Hope this helped!</p>
<p>Thank you nermfwaja! I was sure that there was more, but only finding the first category you listed, I was disappointed. This is much more reassuring! I’ll try to find some positions in the other fields and see if they appeal some more to me.</p>
<p>[Chemical</a> Engineers : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm]Chemical”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm)
[Chemical</a> Engineers](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172041.htm]Chemical”>http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172041.htm)</p>
<p>If you know what you are interested in doing, try to find a representative sample of job listings and see what degrees are expected.</p>
<p>noimagination:</p>
<p>Thank you for posting the link for the statistics of chemical engineers, I have not seen that section of the ooh! I found some interesting jobs in food engineering, and energy engineering about biofuels and biomass. The jobs I’ve seen that were based on food asked for a BS in ChemE, or some food engineering degree. The ones for energy asked for advanced degrees in ChemE, or at least a bunch of experience in which I basically needed to be in my 40s to do. Upstream and downstream are also more interesting than manufacturing polymers and plastics, but I’m not too sure I would like to work in this part of ChemE. I’d have to see what it’s like.</p>
<p>Thanks again, noimagination, I appreciate the links. ChemE I feel is more applied science than the other engineering fields, and I have always wanted to apply science to the real world in some way or another instead of pure science. I just didn’t want to be limited to plastics and polymers. I found several interesting fields in ChemE now! I think this is the field of engineering I want to do.</p>