Career Path Paper:
Chemical Engineering
Engineering
Mr. Herm
Chemical Engineering
Professional Interview
I interviewed my cousin Steven Lamb who has a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering and is currently employed by EQT Production Company, he said he didn’t feel good about giving his email or phone number out but if really needed to he would. When asked to describe his engineering field Steven said petroleum engineering. His current job title is Development & Planning Engineer where his particular job and duties are being in charge of planning all the tasks to make gas wells produced. Steven said his average work schedule is unpredictable but if had to give an answer it would be 9 hour days and have every other Friday off. Starting with high school Steven took all the basic classes need but was in all honors classes and took as many sciences and math classes possible including all the calculi. If he had to do it all over again relating to his career or education he said, “No I would not do anything differently, I really like my job!” The advice Steven would give to someone interested in pursuing a career path similar to his would be that it is the most difficult career paths there is and you can’t have a social life but pays off big time in the end.
The thing that surprised me the most about this interview was that you have to give up your social life to be able to do good in it in college. The most important piece of information that I learned from in this interview was how hard my cousin worked in college and how hard this career really is. This interview influenced my feelings about this career by making me think more about if I could handle it in college.
Career Field Description
The title of the job is Chemical engineering where you design the equipment and processes that are used for manufacturing some types of products such as: chemicals, food, fuel, drugs, paper, and plastics. The duties, responsibilities, and common work activities are developing new and improved processes of chemical production, chemical use, and transformation of raw materials along with designing safe equipment and determining the best way to do operations. Chemical engineers do a lot of their work in offices and laboratories, but some visit industrial plants and can be away from home for long periods of time. Chemical engineers often work under an immense amount of pressure, making it a stressful occupation and most work full time. Chemical Engineering is a very specialized it combines science, mathematics, physics, statistics, manufacturing, and environmental work to design equipment, plans, solutions and testing experiments, etc.
Career Demand, Salary, and Education
The likelihood of receiving a job in chemical engineering is likely with 33,300 jobs in 2012 but could be hard with a employment change from 2012-2022 being 1,500 making the job outlook 4% which is below average. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX is in the greatest need for chemical engineering with 4,400 employed in 2013 and is an urban area with a population of 6.18 million. The expected starting salary of a chemical engineering is $66,400 a year. The average salary with career experience is $94,350 per year and $45.35 per hour. Some colleges or universities that offer degrees in chemical engineering are Clemson University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Colorado State University. Some advantages of Clemson University are school spirit, safety, weather, available off campus housing, happy students, big dorms, and proven to be successful. Some disadvantages are lack of parking and diversity, cruel parking services, far from any stores or shops, strict dorm rules, and campus dining. Some advantages of Carnegie Mellon University are lots of events, diversity and research opportunities, $1 movies on campus, the schools legacy, half priced late night food