Fresh Graduate Chemical Engineer

It does not hurt to gain practical experience in a slightly different occupation. It will serve you well in later years.

And as a Chemical Engineer, you be surprised where opportunity may appear.

What do you mean by opportunity may appear? Without practical experience in process made me so worried although I did learn a lot in mechanical design in ASME Code Sec VIII div 1 which seems useless for my future.

Future is too unclear for me....

May I know the reason that you said I am the one with attitude? I am trying very hard to improve myself for my future but at this moment, I just need some guidelines and advices. I just hope I am on the right track on my career. However I am still learning and studying hard of the ASME code and software because I found it is fun and knowledgeable. Is there anything wrong with my attitude?

I wasn't going to say it...... the attitude that IdeaSmith talked about has nothing to do with your work ethics. It has to do with how you communicate with others.......

I personally felt that you sounded offended, frankly I blew it off. But not every one does that. It may be just looking in on yourself, you may not realize just how sharp you come off.

Actually I didn't mean anything seriously , just want to figure out what's wrong with my attitude.... But I think I had better stop here... Sorry if I said anything wrong.... Many Thanks to everyone......

Didn't mean anything seriously...... When you become serious, let us know ...... We may even take the time to respond, ............. Maybe.

Otherwise, you have the answers to what you need...

What's going on? Why did you keep attacking me? I didn't mean I am not serious, what I mean is not to offend anyone in this forum. I just want to get some advice that's all. May be my english is not good enough. Communication breakdown.

One problem English isn't your first language. That's understandable. Probably be a good idea to post you location. We'll can cut you some slack

Second, it's not an attack, criticism yes.

Being fresh in your career, one has to be able to find what's the best way to cope with it,.....everyone is different.

And again, thirdly...... I believe the advice given is the best it can be considering the circumstances and restrictions........

The questions you ask is not uncommon, and the answer can be limitless. It will always come down to you.

Oh course you didn't try to have an attitude that was clear. If you came off that way the responses would be far less helpful. All your responses WERE helpful.

The job market is terrible. Even a talented person needs to watch his/her Ps & Qs. Willingness to do the mundane is a winning attitude for anyone starting out. ANY job has vast learning potential because they all deal with people. Learn what you can from everyone and pay attention to the senior persons. Do not think anyone thinks ill of you. To put this in perspective, my son has more of an attitude than you and I do not think ill of him. He is just young. I suspect you are smarter than he is and will heed the advice given.

Thanks a lot for your advice. I will think positively. :)

"Is there anything wrong with my attitude?"

I think the attitude reference may be due to your talking about quitting your current job ASAP. This is especially true when you say you are enjoying that current job!

There is a very large benefit in working in fields other than the one you originally chose. This is true whether you end up working in that originally chosen field, or perhaps find you like another field better than the original.

For example, I firmly believe that every design engineer should be required to know how to operate at least a few of the machines used to produce whatever he is to design. Once you have made a few parts, you are much less likely to design something that can't be fabricated easily.

In your case, once you have designed a few pressure vessels, you will have a much better appreciation for their strengths and weaknesses, and will be much less likely to abuse them if you do end up as a chemical engineer

Thanks !! Your advice is very helpful! :)

Relax....your attitude is no worse than mine. Me... I like it.

I can give you a couple of proverbs which might prove to help you. These are from my Uncle Nick...a VERY successful engineer turned car salesman.

1. You cannot control the wind, but you CAN adjust your sails. (how would you apply this to a job which is "not quite" what you had in mind? Where you are at now really is a learning environment and its time you step up and adjust your sails. Don't get off the boat...you might not be able to get back onto it.)

2. Play the cards you are dealt. (Some think this means "don't ever cheat", but it means more than that... it means you must see the value in any work offered, even if it is not "in your field". I can see why a chemical engineer is annoyed that the job offered is of a structural nature, but chemicals go into tanks, and the specs are too important when chemicals are involved to trust to some other guy.)

So...my advice to you would be to study the ASME codes as you may have difficulty getting the time for another chance. Look at the positives. (looking at the negatives is the "bad attitude" some have called you on.) As I said, nothing wrong with your attitude as far as I am concerned...just happens with email people sometimes see more than may be there, as we all know. And your annoyance with this single task came through.

Thanks for your useful tips. Help me to say "thank you" to your Uncle Nick !!

I am studying ASME code and Shell DPS code once I have the free time. Thanks for your neutral comment as well, sometimes email might lead to some misunderstanding between peoples but they all just judge me from the cover. *Sigh*

Life is just not simple. Let's work hard together! Thanks Yusef!

Don't wait for your boat to come in. Row out to meet it.

Whar does ASAP mean, Boss?

ASAP = As Soon As Possible. Dude

Dude????

Is this Former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor?

This is attitude!

I have no idea what you intended to express by adding "Dude", but I consider it offensive!

I don't know 'dude' cannot be used like this. I just assumed it is same with "bro". Sorry about that.

Sir, After reading your comment I thought of referring to my old "The Concise Oxford Dictionary" 1934 edition. which used to be our family bible since school days. It reads dude: n, (U.S slang; fem, dudi'ni pr,-en). Fastidious asthetic person,often imitating English speech, dress, & manners; dandy, swell; hence dudish, a.

It is common word used by many young people now a days.

"It is common word used by many young people now a days."

I'm well aware of that, but I don't really know what meaning(s) they attribute to it. I think that in addition to its use for referring to another person, I have heard it used as an expression of surprise; situations where I might say 'Wow!'

I personally do'nt like this word. Also never liked if any one would call me "dude". It sounds cheap word.

Then put a date on it. I already know what the letters stand for; I want to know what date you meant by it. "Dude".

Did you realise that As Soon As Possible actually means Low Priority? If you don't believe it, try inserting a task into a linked task matrix in a project planning program with that task labeled ASAP. It puts it off to the right, behind everything else.

A good dose of realism would be a medicine worth taking.

I've never used any project planning software, but it sounds to me like that software didn't 'know' the meaning of ASAP, so couldn't assign a priority, thereby delegating it to lowest level.

In my experience, ASAP is just one step behind 'Immediately'.

In many cases ASAP simply means "Whenever I get around to it". It never ranks higher than getting to the office coffee machine for a cup of java and some gossip, getting home for Monday night football, the daughter's dancing lesson or the soccer practice.

Frequently it takes less time to just get it done than it takes to procrastinate and figure out why you don't have to get it done at that time, just do it.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I think ASAP is so badly abused from.......

"I need this ASAP......"

So it gets done right away and then sits on the shelf for weeks until it finally gets picked up.

Another over used term might be "stat". As in, I need this report stat. Usually a medical term, and barring one particular interesting story in my checkered military career, it is not generally abused by medical people. It means As Soon As Possible of course, without the coffee break.

Currently working a design engineer to do mechanical design of pressure vessel ( Equipment Design). Does this help for my future to enter oil and gas design process?

The practical design experience should help. The time you spend at your current job gaining real world experience will depend however on how much you think you can get out of it.

So it does help, doesn't it ? Hope what i gain right now is not a waste :)

All experience helps, especially if you are new to actually working in the industry. Relevant work experience will also help when trying to get another job in the future.

Many Thanks ! Although I am doing as a mechanical engineer job scope, I believe it will help me for my chemical engineer job in one of the day in the future.

Good for you to recognize that experience outside your "field" won't harm your career. In my opinion, the more varied your experience the more attractive you are to employers. Personally, I have worked in several fields of engineering and that has opened a lot of doors for me. Being versatile is never a bad thing.

Hope I can be like you that a lot of doors is opened there for me soon!! Thanks a lot!!! :)

Don' be in too much of a rush to get through the opening doors. Along with versatility, employers look for some stability as well. If you are job hopping frequently, that may not work in your favor. When you think there isn't any more you can contribute or feel you have gained some good experience with a current employer, then it is time to start a search. I try to learn something new everyday, it doesn't always happen, but most days there is something new.

Personally, the shortest I stayed with any employer was 2 years and I left that position to change fields when a business opportunity arose - I am now the employer, not the employee.

I'm thinking that quitting your job ASAP would be very educational dude.

Why ? :)

I think the anonomous poster thinks you would learn something. Like, the value of a higher education. Though perhaps it is best to just ignore A.P.'s, I tend to put them into the same box as youtube commentators....grin!

After I graducated from High School, I went to see the movie "Easy Rider" which had just come out. Thought it was uber kuul, and did the same. Damned near similar results. Lesson one of MY higher education was "Ya gots ta eat every day. No really!" I took basic eating so much for granted I did not realize how important it was until I didn't have it. Lesson two was "Nuthin's worth nuthin when somebody else takes it." A couple of cold nights with no sleeping bag drove that lesson home.

I suspect the A.P.'s comment was in a similar vein. Or maybe not. Its only an Anonymous Poster so who cares what they think.

If you aim to work in the oil and gas industry , you will find that the ASME code and pressure vessels are quite common. Sometimes to understand a particular problem you might need to extend your knowledge to other engineering disciplines.

You will find that as a chemical engineer you might have to go as far as process and plant design which you will find these mechanical skills useful.

Your advice is just short but with points! Thanks a lot! I will continue for it! :)

hay what you are doing is the foundation for oil and gas industries where you need to design much complicated pressure vessels and pipe lines I suggest continue your task try to pick up as much as possible on equipment and pressure vessels

murali

Yea you are right. Now I am handling a more complicated skid and vessels and it seems fun! Thanks a lot !! ;)

Life is a journey not a destination..a few detours & getting lost now and again isn't always bad thing.. there are people who take the motorway from A to B and get to the destination and there are those who take the back roads, get lost, meet new people, see new things, have the stories..... who do you think is going to be more interesting to talk to?

its good you have a firm grasp on what career path you want to go but do not rule out everything outside that narrow scope as not being beneficial. Global recession currently and a lot of graduates cant get any work, never mind in the specific field they want. working in a career job is a good start..

There are other things you can learn in jobs which will stand to you for your career: communication skills, interpersonal skills, making contacts, methods/processes/procedures which could be transferred to other disciplines, simple things like correct methods to log & file data & information, different ways to look to things, even business and possible contract management and of course ways not to do things! Also get a good reference for the job interview

Unless you are going down the road of consultant and want to concentrate on very specific area, the broader you experience base the better..

I left university with a 1:1 manufacturing degree and couldn't get a job in manufacturing, no one was hiring grads and economic climate unstable and future unsure.. so went labouring for a construction company. got ask to go look at very small job near where we were on site and take few photos for the estimator. i did and went back and talked to him about the job pointed out few things and gave estimate on man hrs needed. got sent on few more site visits and within a yr was working in the office in the estimating dept, 5 yrs later i am estimator with the company..

Those are the opportunities the earlier posters were referring to.. can not predict them, could not see them coming but they do if your open to taking them..

Thanks for sharing your thought to me. I am appreciate for your lengthy post to give me some advice and guide. Love it! Thanks bro!! :)

Sam 27, There is nothing wrong with you. You are on right track. Only thing is you should have Patience, do not be over zealous. This is time for you to learn more which was not taught to you in your college, gain experience. May be one day you will reach to position you are dreaming now.

One of the boss said me I am impatience too, just hope to learn everything in a very short period. I hope I can do a consultant firm business. HAHAHA. However I am glad that I am on the right track although sometimes I worried my chemical engineer knowledge and skill is rusty and not improvement. Now gaining experience and knowledge is the most important for me. Thanks a lot! I will try to be patience for everything from now onwards. Thanks again!!

There are a lot of good comments here. At the 40 year point in my career, might I add:

There is a world of opportunity in ChE, but you really need an MS. Young engineers should always be heavily involved in professional/trade activities, both in the center of their vocational interest and in allied areas (e. g. ASME and IEEE). And do not forget about the ACS. If you can not afford the full fee for trade shows, at least go to the exhibits and talk to the vendors; you will learn a lot. There are many start-ups looking for promising engineers; it is a risk, but worth it early in your career if you do not have a lot of debt and a family to feed.

Having employed many engineers over the years, the two greatest shortcomings have been lack of language mastery and problem definition and perspective. Work on these with a passion.

I just hope can do what I learn in Univeristy actually. First rules of mine is "Learn it, Use it". I am trying hard to master the language and improve my solve-problems skill but it is not easy at all. Thanks for your advice! I will put effort on it :)

My story is almost same like your story. If you have only graduation in chemical engineering, then try for masters in chemical engineering. Btw, I am not a chemical engineer and I have no interest in chemical engineering as well.But, I have interest in in pressure vessel design though it is not my core profession.

The only way you can tell if you like and are successful at another aspect of Chem. E is to go out and get a job in it. It doesn't have to be a job with the same pay or benefits. It is the experience you are paying for with the money and benefits gap if there is one.

Many successful Chem. E's have started out in another industry due to a poor economy and liked it more than their original plans for Chem. E. Are you aware that former President Carter was a Nuclear Engineer? There are many people out there that found that engineering in a company is not what engineering is like in industry!

What do you have to lose? Worst would be you hate the new job and quite it, flip burgers for a month or two and fine another job. Without trying it you will never know. There is an expression about "A ROAD NOT TAKEN".

There are many of us who have the same dilemma. Some didn't take the effort to find if another job was the solution and were bored/frustrated for a long time. Some made the change and found out the new job was similar to the last one. The ones who appreciate their diploma are those who made a change, whether it is in Chem. E or some other field.

Also, Do Not call me Dude! I'm old enough that I remember Spin and Marty on the Mickey Mouse Club show. A Dude at that time was one who had very little skills in what they were doing. Also, don't call me Bro! I have one who is good most of the time and I don't need to go through those events anymore. For some of us those terms are disrespectful!

Good Luck, Old Salt

You can call ME "Dude". I know, a dude ranch for instance might be considered an insult of a label, but not to me...the guy who really DOESN'T know how to ride a horse. I equate it to the word "newbie". Up here where I live (to continue the same theme) a dude ranch would be like a basic (accompanied dive) PADI course, or an attached sky dive... Just because I might not be fully trained in MY eyes makes me a "dude", not an incompetent fool. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Personally Old Salt, you could NOT insult me with anything...I respect you too much. I figure if its true I deserve it and if it is malicious, I blow it off. (Note, never met a malicious person on the forum yet, so the former case (I deserve it!) may apply) I will endeavor not to let the teenager in my 57 year old frame call anybody on this forum anything they might not like. But ya havta let us know.....so thanks for that.

(Long may yer big jib draw!)

Regards

Yusef1

the guy who really DOESN'T know how to ride a horse. I equate it to the word "newbie".

One who dresses up in $500.00 boots, wears a Stetson, $700.00 coat, and a huge belt buckle that looks as though it'll castrate the person wearing it every time he sits down..... I call him a 'Dimestore Cowboy', and the closest he came to a horse was a picture of one. :/

But that's another thing I guess.....

Some of them look like or think like the south end of a north bound horse. No disrespect intended to the equine world.

Good Luck, Old Salt

could be....grin!

Yusef1-

Please disregard my personal comment about the use of "Dude" in a general manner. As with several other contributors, to me it is often used in a manner that other words would show more deserved respect than Dude. It often expresses a familiarity or closeness that really isn't there. In other times it can be used as a "fill in" for someone who you would be better off simply asking for the person's name, examples "Hey Mac"; "What do you say little guy?"; "Oh Buddy what time is it?" "Hey big guy what's going on"; "get out of the way Butchy".

I would certainly not use the term if I was talking to a boss or someone else I had a formal relationship with. Also certainly not my father-in-law.

If someone who doesn't know me or my name wants my attention, thoughts or assistance why not call me something expressing respect such as Sir, Mam, Mister or something similar. If anyone were to call me "Kid" I know they were delirious, demented or had very poor judgment.

To me, and I will be the first one to agree that it might be a personal quirk, it us often used in my geographical area as a substitute for other more respectful terms. If you were to use the word "Dude" in a communication to me I wouldn't think it out of place. Although we have never met, other than in corresponding through CR4, I respect you and your thoughts because your history here is great.

I do not correct people if they call me by that term. If appropriate I attempt to extract a better term from them and one more appropriate for the discussion. My method of handling unjustified names and terms is to say "Thanks you but no"; turn around and walk away; and in a very low voice or only to myself tell them they can kiss my gluteus maximus. Works every time for venting.

Again Yusef1, even if I could insult you I certainly wouldn't want to. I don't insult easily but sometimes it is hard not to when a contributor starts attacking someone else or me because of our thoughts. My mother used to say "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all". Maybe that's why I was such a silent kid for the first few years.

For anyone not familiar with it "Spin and Marty" was a Disney "Musketeer Show" portion which followed the misdeeds of a city kid and a ranch kid on vacation at a dude ranch. The city kid always called everyone "Dude" because he was too lazy to find out their names.

Sorry to be so long winded but I have too much respect for you not too. May the wind fill your spinnaker on the run and the Genoa (jib) on the reach.

Good Luck, Old Salt

How kind. Thank you.