Questions about choosing a career
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Hello, everyone in the chemical industry community. I have an idea: to start by working in chemical operations, gain some experience over time, and then move on to work in chemical engineering design and related fields. Is this approach feasible according to you? What are the challenges involved? Which design firms are suitable for this purpose? What skills are required? I look forward to your responses. Thank you. A beginner in the field of chemistry.
If you are a painter, do you prefer to paint on a piece of blank paper or on paper with patterns? Even if you are already working in chemical processing, if a design firm is willing to take you on after 3 years, and you are willing to accept the same starting salary as the newer employees after that period, as well as dealing with the challenge of them not yet fully understanding the design standards, can you handle that?
It’s great to see someone push things through to the end.
The key lies in oneself; no matter what one does, as long as one can focus and put in effort, success will be achieved.
Your “specialization” is merely a stepping stone to getting into the industry; if it’s not something you’re interested in, then it doesn’t matter. So said a former \"educated youth\" without any formal education.
This requires courage. I’ve seen many workshop supervisors with only an elementary education level, who can barely read; what does that indicate? It shows intelligence, bravery, carefulness, high emotional intelligence, broad knowledge, and extensive experience.
I understand what you mean. What I’m wondering is whether there’s a way to transition from working in operations to working in design. Other than transitioning to becoming a chemical engineer, who mainly focuses on operational aspects. But still, the experience gained earlier can be utilized to some extent. Looking forward to your reply, haha.
There have been such examples. Once, at the request of an acquaintance, I reluctantly hired a person who had 4 years of experience working in a polypropylene production workshop (they lived in different locations). I tried to offer him a high salary, but it was still far below what he used to earn (after all, there was a 4-year difference in experience). After he switched to working in design, I assigned a head of the process engineering department to mentor him; he worked very hard, but his design skills remained fairly average, and it took him 4 years before he was able to work on projects on his own. On the contrary, when acting as a project designer, one has excellent communication skills with clients and production teams, understands what the production staff are trying to express, and ensures smooth communication.
Under normal circumstances, a new student can work independently after 3 years in design； In the example above, someone who switched from production to design and didn’t start working on their own until after 8 years; in other words, after graduating from university, they had to complete additional master’s and doctoral studies before reaching the same level as those who started working earlier, which is not worthwhile. After 8 years in the workshop, one could become not only a process engineer but also a process team leader or a workshop process supervisor.