<p>Is there such a thing? I want to get into ChemE, but would it be significantly harder to find a ChemE job versus MechE or CivE?</p>
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<p>I think MechE and CivE have more jobs per se in an aggregate sense, but because the number of ChemEs grads are small (same with MatSci) the job opportunities for ChemEs is actually higher per person graduating.</p>
<p>In terms of specific “firms”, I think a lot of work in environmental consulting firms are done by people with ChemE training. But in general, ChemEs who work in chemE fields are usually employed by big industry groups (food, oil, pharma, materials, etc). </p>
<p>The way I see it is that a ChemE can basically do everything a MechE can in general.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys.</p>
<p>Also, I’m attracted to the research aspect of ChemE. Is it possible to work and concurrently get a PhD with a still standard ChemE salary (of like 45k +) ?</p>
<p>the standard cheme salary is more like 65k. and in general, no you cannot work on a PhD while you have a fulltime work because a PhD also pays you about 15-20k a year depending on program for your living expenses.</p>
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How? Can chemical engineers design cars? Airplanes? Robots? I’m sure there’s some overlap, but the two cannot do the same type of work. Please explain your line of thinking because I don’t see it.</p>
<p>Getting a Phd is a full-time job by itself, so no it’s not really possible to do both.</p>
<p>I second ken285…I dont see how chemE’s can “basically” do everything a MechE can in general. I think the person who made that statement misunderstands exactly what ME’s study. His line of thinking seems to suggest that ChemE=ME+some which it does not.</p>
<p>Nope, dont think you can work plus do research for a PhD. You could get a teaching fellowship on top of a research assitantship once you are admitted to candidacy, which will earn more than just a research assistantship – of course, depending on the institution. You might also be able to do some small amount of conslulting on the side, again, depends on the institutuion.</p>
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<p>Well, that’s quite the straw man, don’t you think, for to be perfectly honest, the vast majority of ME’s can’t design cars, airplanes, or robots either. At least, not by themselves. I know some ME’s who graduated from MIT, and they freely admit that they don’t know how to design airplanes. Any sort of project of this complexity requires numerous engineers who bring each different skillsets to the table. </p>
<p>But to your point, since you brought up airplanes, I know of a guy with a chemical engineering degree who just got hired by SpaceX, which is one of the most innovative aerospace firms in the world. See below.</p>
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<p>Nobody is suggesting that that is the case. On the other hand, I think you guys are too hung up on specific major. Frankly, companies don’t really hire you for your major per se. They hire you for your potential to do the job, of which your degree is but one factor. </p>
<p>Since aerospace was mentioned, let’s talk about aerospace. Many of SpaceX’s projects were designed, at least in part, by Elon Musk. He doesn’t have a ME degree. In fact, he doesn’t even have an engineering degree at all. {He does have a degree in physics.} Heck, a lot of the “engineers” at SpaceX don’t have ME or AeroE degrees, but rather have degrees in other engineering disciplines, in the sciences, or in math. Yet that hasn’t stopped them from being on the cutting edge of aero technology. </p>
<p>One can also think back to historical examples. Howard Hughes was, among many other things, arguably the most innovative aerospace designer of his time - having himself designed and built numerous record-breaking aircraft - all without lacking not just an engineering degree, but not even having graduated from college at all. He won the Collier Trophy for technical achievements in aeronautics. Hence, I think we can all agree that he was a far better aircraft designer than almost any other person with a ME degree today. </p>
<p>The point simply is that if you want to know how to design airplanes, cars, or whatever, you can learn these things. You don’t need an ME degree to do that. Furthermore, like I said, having an ME degree doesn’t automatically mean that you actually know how to do those things. You should never feel restricted by the degree that you have. Degrees are far more flexible than you may think.</p>
<p>I agree that with training, your major doesn’t matter as much. I almost took a position that was heavily mechanical engineering and not so much civil engineering. </p>
<p>The keyword is “with training.” With training, anybody can be anything more or less.</p>
<p>It’s not a smooth transition 10 years down the road if you’ve been doing chemical engineering work and now want to do mechanical engineering work. It’s not a simple switch. Fresh out of school it’s not that bad because you really don’t know that much yet and companies will be training new grads anyway.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s exactly what I’ve been saying. Your major really doesn’t matter as much as people seem to think, as - like you said - fresh out of school, frankly, you don’t actually know how to do very much and so the company knows it will have to train you. A newly minted ChemE probably doesn’t know how to design airplanes, but neither does a newly minted ME. Hence, at that point in your career, companies are hiring you on the basis of potential. </p>
<p>I also agree with you that it is certainly difficult to transition to another job role if you have been working in other roles for a long time. But that has nothing to do with the specific major. For example, a guy with a ChemE degree who has been working in 10 years in a ME job will know quite a lot about ME - certainly far more than somebody with an actual ME degree (but with no experience). Earning a degree in a particular field is really just a starting point. It doesn’t mean that you actually know how to do the job well. Furthermore, after 10 years after you graduate - heck, probably after only 2-3 years - hardly anybody is going to care what you majored in. All that people will care about is what you have actually worked on.</p>
<p>ChemEs can also work to help design airplanes, robots and cars…</p>
<p>Right, but they work on different aspects of designing airplanes, robots and cars. A chemical engineer doesn’t work on the same parts as the mechanical engineer. The final product is a combination of efforts from both mechanical and chemical engineers, not one or the other. Saying that the chemical engineer (and by that I mean professionally, not academically) can do the mechanical engineer’s job is simply false.</p>
<p>But none of that should stop you from pursuing a ChemE degree, for as I think we have agreed, those who have just finished their degrees don’t really know very much anyway. Like I said, a newly minted ChemE probably doesn’t know how to design airplanes, but, frankly, neither does a newly minted ME. Put another way, merely having a mechanical engineering degree doesn’t mean that you’re truly a mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>If we defined engineers by your standards, I think we would have only a handful in the US.</p>
<p>Carnelian, it’s not my standard. It was proposed by others that a true mechanical engineer is somebody who knows how to design a robot, airplane, or car. Under that definition, how many true mechanical engineers are there? Certainly, almost no newly minted ME graduates know how to do that. {They may have a general idea about how they might start such a design, but to actually do the whole design? Unlikely.}</p>
<p>But anyway, look, if you don’t like the definition, fine. Take it up with the person who created it.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m really interested… what does the mechE curriculum offer besides maybe using a drafting program such as CAD, that chemEs don’t have essentially integrated in their programs. ChemEs and mechEs take the same core engineering curriculum (statics, physics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, dynamics, circuits, some sort of programming, thermodynamics, mechanics of materials, some industrial manufacturing class). In addition to those, chemEs usually have some coursework in unit operations, quantum mechanics, process design and mass transfer. What do mechEs usually take while the ChemEs are taking those?</p>
<p>The differences at my undergrad were that chemEs didn’t take statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, stress & elasticity, aerodynamics, manufacturing, and mechanical vibrations. </p>
<p>Then there were electives that were only open to mechEs and not chemEs such as HVAC, mechatronics, and industrial robots.</p>
<p>I know that at many schools, for example Berkeley, Stanford, Caltech, and MIT, there are no electives that I am aware of that are open only to ME’s. ChemE’s can take those electives, and so can anybody else, as long as space is available, and ME’s receive no priority for those spaces. {Then again, those electives are hardly ever filled to capacity anyway, so priority isn’t necessary.} </p>
<p>Regarding courses that ME’s take that ChemE’s don’t, again, that seems to be specific to certain schools. For example, MIT mechanical engineers don’t have to take a specific course on statics, aerodynamics, or elasticity. Berkeley mechanical engineers don’t have to take courses on aerodynamics or manufacturing. {Note, they can * choose* to take such courses, but they are not required to do so.} </p>
<p>But like I said, those courses are not particularly important anyway, because as I think we’ve agreed, just taking courses doesn’t mean that you really know very much, and if you didn’t take those courses, you can still learn those topics on your own, as part of on-the-job training, and companies know this. For example, I was just talking to a guy who graduated from MIT with a master’s in mechanical engineering. He had never taken a single aerodynamics course in his life, but he still got offers from Boeing, GE Aviation, and Pratt & Whitney (he chose Boeing).</p>
<p>The point simply is that, at least for entry-level jobs, employers are not really hiring you for the specific knowledge that you have right now. What they are really hiring you for is your potential. You can have taken every single class that is relevant for a particular job, and gotten straight A’s in all of them, and still get rejected for the job in favor of somebody else who didn’t take those courses but who is viewed as having greater potential.</p>
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<p>Yes, we’re in agreement.</p>
<p>When I said the courses were only open to ME’s, I was referring to the series of prerequisites required to take them. It’s possible to take the course, but difficult to do so. If I’m not mistaken, taking courses at my school across majors also required departmental approvals as well.</p>
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<p>Well, if that’s true, then frankly, that’s pretty rough. I’ve complained a lot about Berkeley in that that’s a school that is rather restrictive in terms of students being able to move from one engineering major to another, which I find ridiculous. But at least students could still freely take courses in another engineering major, even if they couldn’t switch into that major. But you’re telling me that your school doesn’t even allow people to take courses in the other majors (without approval). That’s rough. </p>
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<p>Well, I don’t know what’s going on at your school, but I know that at the schools I mentioned, the courses may have prereqs, but hardly anybody ever actually checks to make sure you did them. If you want to take a particular course that has prereqs that you don’t have, nothing is really stopping you from signing up anyway. </p>
<p>Furthermore, I strongly recall that a lot of prereqs aren’t true prereqs in the sense that you actually truly need to know those prereqs. For example, I recall how Berkeley’s ChemE process control course had 3 prereqs: mass transfer, linear algebra, and multivariable calculus. But the truth of the matter is, you don’t actually need to know any of that. The course never uses that stuff. Now, granted, it’s nice to know it as it may allow you to understand some of the optional advanced material of the course. But you don’t actually need to know it. These are ‘fake’ prereqs.</p>