What industry should I pursue as a chemical engineer?

What industry should I pursue as a chemical engineer?

• I am currently a co op at a pulp and paper company. I really do enjoy the work that I do. However, I am doing a lot of mechanical work. I don't mind it. I have run a few wet end chemistry trials. I also work on anionic trash collector efficiency assessment and materials balances on screens. But I also do a lot of work on winders for the rolls, IE autosplice optimization and changing thickstock screen baskets. I guess I dont mind turning wrenches. But there is not a lot of capital in the paper industry. Most of my work is fire fighting and keeping the machines going. I was wondering what work would be like in the petroleum or pharmaceutical industry. Would there be a lot more applied chemistry? I would image that they both may entail some organic chem. I really enjoy o chem. But there is no way that I could be a chemist. I want to keep things hopping and not sit a lab and run crummy tests. I would think that petroleum would be similar to paper. However, if there is anyone involved in the pharmaceutical, I would love to hear your experiences. I would think that it would be a lot of batch processes. I think that there will likely be a huge amount of money available in these industries for large capital projects. If there are other industries, I would love to hear about them as well.

• Answer:

  After over 30 years in various industries, I can assure you that even if you are designing distillation columns and reactors, you will still get into fixing, expanding, adding, specifying, designing, and installing pumps, motors, piping, heat exchangers, electrical disconnects, doing control design, etc. There is a lot of overlap between disciplines. If you want to do ONLY what you view as ChE, then you will probably have to go to work for an equipment manufacturer or sales company, like one that makes scrubbers/absorbers, or column packing. And then it is the same thing every day. Enjoy the variety. The engineer who has had experience in everything is more valuable than the specialist, and has a new challenge every day. And that includes pharma, specialty chem, and others.