<p>Is Petroleum Engineering and chemical engineering good careers? And what are the pros and cons of both?</p>
<p>I’m a Petroleum Engineering student at TTU. Since you asked about the only two majors at the top of the starting salary chart, I’ll make the right assumption you are taking a practical approach to a degree. From that perspective:</p>
<p>The only absolutely right answer to what career will pay the most next year, when you graduate, in 10 years, in 20 is this: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW. PERIOD.</p>
<p>The labor market is EXACTLY THAT: A MARKET. Playing the labor market is the exact same thing as playing the stock market. Except that to buy stock is the cost you’ve paid on graduation day. Opportunity, financial, personal, etc.</p>
<p>Now, with that in mind, do the stocks that are peaking today look like lucrative investments? Depends. But remember, the degrees that are paying a lot right now attract huge supply. If the demand doesn’t stay the same relative to the new supply the salary goes down (in general.) </p>
<p>That is what’s happening right now with PetE. Salaries are being driven down by the huge numbers of people, just like you, that read somewhere it had the highest paying starting salary and rushed into the degree. According to NACE, last year the average was 96K. This year it is 74K, a 20% drop. The BLS revised it’s growth prediction for the career downwards from last year. Next year? BUT, that all depends on how the supply and demand flux from year to year. Let’s say that by the time you graduate PetE pays the average engineering salary. Looking at it from that perspective; same pay, but…dirty work, little choice of geographical location, locations generally suck, impossible to raise a family, always away from home, no job security (see 70’s layoffs), huge responsibilities and stress, the chance (however small) that your degree will become completely meaningless at any time ( peak oil/ alternative energy, etc.) because if that happens your degree is so specialized that you can’t work any other job. Still sound like a good career? For 150k, the risks are worth it, but at 75K it’s a huge waste. Especially considering that in the oil industry truckers with criminal records and 2 weeks of training make 100k a year.</p>
<p>To answer your question you need to be able to predict how the supply of students and the demand for students is going to look when you graduate. That is much, much harder than you might think. There are huge sums of money at play here for both the industry and the universities. ANY information that you or I can obtain is almost guaranteed to be biased if not downright misinformation.</p>
<p>So back to my original claim: impossible to know. You are playing the market, so do research, be discerning about the information you obtain, and roll the dice. Anytime you choose a career that’s “hot” you are risking going into a bubble. It’s all a gamble, in the end, and if someone knows for sure what’s going to happen next year they sure as hell aren’t going to tell anyone else.</p>
<p>toastercombo,</p>
<p>I think you’re overempasizing the risks in majoring in PE. Im my opinion, the majority of college majors out there are useless. Just look at the Occupy Wall Street momevent, it’s full of kids that paid thousands of dollars for a college education that graduated with no marketable skills and no employment prospects. </p>
<p>Majoring in PE will give you marketable skills and those skills are in high demand right now as seen by the high starting salaries. The oil and gas industry was stupid and never invested in it’s future. They did have layoffs in the 80’s and 90’s and a consequence of those layoffs is an ageing workforce. The average age is in the 50’s. What’s going to happen when they all decide to retire? Who’s going to replace all that experience?</p>
<p>Also take into consideration the current state of the industry. We’ve had technological breakthroughs the last few years that have opened up resources that people laughed at 10 years ago. Projects are becoming more and more complex and that complexity is going to need more engineering talent, not less.</p>
<p>And maybe you do get layed off one day. Your still going to have more opportunies than the theatre or psych major. Consulting, Wall Street, govenment job, environmental groups, maybe start your own company.</p>
<p>Those are all good points, and I have considered them all. A report that came out a few months ago by Schlumberger projects that between now and 2018 5,000 more people will retire than graduate from PetE programs. But that’s a projection and they aren’t taking into account rising enrollments. If that number holds, then the supply-demand equation will be in your favor. I’ve looked at the enrollment trends nation-wide and I project a huge surplus of graduates by 2018. Who’s right? That’s the point I’m trying to make…it’s impossible to know for sure. I’m not saying that you will lose in the gamble, I’m just saying it’s a gamble. When gambling, or investing in stocks, or playing a labor market, you always have to know the risks versus the rewards. What I’m saying is that if PetE salary becomes an average engineering salary, which is almost certainly going to happen in my opinion, you’re better off getting another degree. The risk isn’t worth the potential payoff.
As far as college degrees go in general, the whole point of getting a degree is that it’s suppose to be a relatively sure thing. You don’t get a degree in general because you want to win big, you get a degree because you don’t want to lose.
As far as the whole…do what you love load of horse crap, you don’t need to pay for college in that case…just go do it. You don’t care about the financial aspect, right? Well, then there’s no reason not to take the risk of just doing it without a degree, teach yourself for free and probably learn a whole lot more. You go to college for security and return on investment, period.
So having said all of that, if a college degree isn’t giving you a decent ROI for you risk, in my opinion you should consider a different degree or not going to college. Plenty of people with high school diplomas out earn degree holders. Especially in the oil industry where high school drop outs earn 6 figures like it’s minimum wage.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either one. I am a ChemE major and a PetE minor. Most of my summer work terms have been in reservoir engineering. I have friends in pure ChemE who have landed jobs in drilling/production/reseroir. I have friends in pure PetE who have landed jobs in facilities and projects. It is easier for example, to land a reservoir job if you’re a PetE, but a ChemE major will not lock you out. As a matter of fact, I have friends in MechE and CivE who have landed jobs in the previously mentioned! </p>
<p>I agree with the previous statements of our colleagues here in CC. If I were you, I would choose between which one you like better - petroleum courses or chemical courses. It’s all about which one you’re happy with. It’s true that PetE might make more, but in the end what will matter is how good you are at your job. </p>
<p>One more thing, some people say petroleum engineering is too specialized, but I would disagree. There are diverse jobs - completions, drilling, production, reservoir - and each one of those have their own umbrellas depending on what type of oil/rock you’re dealing with. On that note, I would agree that ChemE is more versatile. When I chose ChemE, I chose it because I knew in 4 years I can do law, medicine, consulting, business or whatever- it is a very versatile degree. I ended up choosing to “specialize” in petroleum because I happen to enjoy reservoir engineering (simulation specifically). </p>
<p>If you are insecure about the oil sector, then maybe move into consulting thereafter. But toastercombo is right, you’ll never know what the future holds. Note Wall Street and Silicon Valley both recruit engineers in general for consulting and comp sci jobs just because of the quantitative skills of engineers. So you might take engineering, graduate, and not work as a pure engineer for a single day in your life! </p>
<p>On a side note, do you think ChemEs or MechEs are safe if oil and gas falls down? No sir!</p>
<p>malcomsmth22:
Why don’t you tell us the reasons you want to compare the two majors?
Like, why these two specifically and what do you know about these two majors?</p>
<p>I like science and I think ChE would be best for me and plus its a very versitle degree but I also hear I would need my PhD to find any work because no one wants to hire a ChE with a B.S is this true??</p>
<p>Gave up on Petroleum Engineering huh? My job here is done; good decision.</p>
<p>malcomsmth22, you said “I also hear I would need my PhD to find any work because no one wants to hire a ChE with a B.S is this true??” </p>
<p>That is 100% false. Absolutely false. There is a huge demand for chemical engineers (any engineer for that matter). Here are a few choices (out of many other choices) if you don’t want any more schooling after you graduate from a ChE BSc:
-process engineer for a refinery (downstream oil/gas)
-pipeline construction and pipeline integrity (midstream oil/gas)
-facilities engineer for offshore platforms or onshore facilities (upstream oil/gas)
-corrosion engineer (general)
-pharmaceutical engineer
-process engineer for other industries such as plastics, beer
-energy consulting </p>
<p>Look, I’m not saying you’re guaranteed 10+ job offers after you graduate. The bottom line is that there are hundreds of opportunities out there, and it’s up to you to make it happen. Of course it would help having a good GPA and extracurricular activities. Also, please take advantage of your summer and get summer jobs. In my opinion, student jobs are much easier to land, and they will open doors once you get to 4th year and are looking for a permanent job. </p>
<p>With regards to a PhD, keep in mind that if you have one, you are locking yourself out of some jobs. For example, it’s a tough sell for a company to hire a PhD as a starting process engineer who is responsible for one component of a plant. The PhD is overqualified. That being said, some jobs are only available to PhDs such as professors, some R&D positions, and some tech-focused consulting jobs. </p>
<p>The PhD topic is a whole new topic. You have 4 years of undergraduate, and I suggest enjoy that for now. You are only young once.</p>