Career Advice on How to Become A Chemical Engineer

General Career Information

Hope you really truly love chemistry!  If you are considering adding chemical engineer to your careers list or job planning, then chemistry better be something that you just can’t live without.  A career working as a chemical engineer means that you will be living, eating and breathing chemicals and all things chemical in nature. 

The number of different industries that employ chemical engineers is as vast as industry itself.  Virtually any section of the manufacturing or medical industry that one can think likely employs chemical engineers.

Career Facts:

If you hated chemistry in high school or college, then you are probably going to want to pass on becoming a chemical engineer.  Chemical engineers take their skills and apply them to developing new chemicals and new ways of applying chemicals to a wide array of industries.  Chemical engineers may be found employed in such diverse industries as the food industry or the automotive industry.  Recent developments in technology and material science have made chemical engineers a central player in the technological breakthroughs of the early twenty-first century.

Few careers allows for such diverse potential job opportunities.  If you are the kind of person that thinks you might want to frequently change jobs, then you might indeed find chemical engineering to be an interesting opportunity.

Career Opportunities and Job Outlook- Poor:

A Day in The Life:

Normally you will find chemical engineers working in factories and research facilities such as laboratories.  A good deal of attention is required, as chemical engineers are working with chemicals and the consequences for mistakes could be obviously serious.  Due to the expansion of the global economy, it is common for chemical engineers to often travel frequently, as they visit factories and facilities around the world.

The varied nature of the work means that chemical engineers will have a various different options when they enter the workforce.  Since chemical engineers are employed by such a wide variety of companies and in such a wide variety of industries, it is common to find chemical engineers employed in all sectors.  Corporations working on technologies ranging from nanotechnology to biotechnology employ chemical engineers.  Part of what may make a career as a chemical engineer appealing is that one could be working in diverse locations including everything from a food processing facility to a computer chip manufacturer.

Average Salary:

$85k

Career Training and Qualifications: