Howdy Ags,

I am a graduate chemical engineer with some internship experience in specialty chemicals industry. I have interviewed for a couple of positions in manufacturing/oil & gas but nothing has come of them. I have also looked at opportunities outside of engineering but it's the same story. I am honestly feeling kinda lost at this point - not sure whether to stay on this path or take my career in another direction (I have been advised to look at data science as an alternate career, but I am hesitant due to the cost and time commitment). Has anyone been in a similar situation and how did you get through or occupy yourself in the meantime?

Thanks.

Where are you?

DFW area

look into sales engineering jobs and other things while continuing to look for chemical engineering jobs while you work. The online system will probably not help you land a job. You need to network in person and go to meetings for professional groups. Also get EIT on resume. It's not a simple process like it used to be.

Alt-j

Do you have to stay in DFW? Would think you could land something in Houston or Beaumont/Port Arthur more easily than DFW.

@hangman do you have any suggestions for networking sessions or professional groups?

@ragoo Right on! I couldn't come up with something clever so I just went with what was playing. lol

@garland I have had two interviews out of Houston but they didn't work out. I eventually navigated away from the houston/beaumont area due to the saturation of engineers. But I am pretty flexible on location - just need experience.

Thanks for all the responses!

bump

I made the move from Environmental Engineering to Information Technology in the mid-late 1990s.
In my case, I spent about 3 months doing Environmental Engineering and then got stuck managing the department's data and Internet presence. After about 2 years of doing nothing but computer systems work and advancing beyond what our in-house IT staff were capable of supporting, I had enough experience to make the switch to IT full time.

In your case, if you're working on some heavy data science projects and get to the point to where you're the one doing the design specifications and the IT guys don't understand what systems you need and you're the one directing their work, at that point, you probably know enough to make the switch to a new data science career.

You might have a few projects that give you lots of experience in data analysis, etc. but, be thinking about how this would apply to other industries or other projects. If you can see the connection and can articulate what you've done and why, and can explain the business value of what you're doing, then you're ready to make the move.

Good Luck!

when you say graduate, do you mean you graduated with a bachelors in engineering, or are currently in a graduate program/have a masters?

Houston/SE texas is still a good market. Yes there are many other chem E's but there are also many jobs available.

I am sure you'd have a better chance there than anywhere else in the US. Possibly Louisiana gulf coast, but that's it.

tessellate said:

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@hangman do you have any suggestions for networking sessions or professional groups?

@ragoo Right on! I couldn't come up with something clever so I just went with what was playing. lol

@garland I have had two interviews out of Houston but they didn't work out. I eventually navigated away from the houston/beaumont area due to the saturation of engineers. But I am pretty flexible on location - just need experience.

Thanks for all the responses!

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For professional groups, isn't there one for chemical engineering? AIChE or something? You're going to have to do some googling yourself to find these groups. Ask your friends what groups they are in.