Be An Expert in At Least One Chemical Engineering Area
Friday, February 08, 2013
If you read this article, chances are you are a chemical engineering student or already graduated as a chemical engineer sometime ago. Congratulations!!!
Being a chemical engineer, there are plenty of job offers from various fields and industry. A chemical engineer can be in the oil and gas, biotechnology, oil and gas, polymer, plantations, educations, services, manufacturing, moulding, computer and others. The list are too long to be listed here.
Nevertheless, a chemical engineer who has additional strength of expertise in something is of higher demand. When I was doing my first degree, I still recall a course called chemical engineering with process control. It was a course offered for chemical engineering students like me. However, I did not take it because at that time I fear I cannot cope with my core chemical engineering studies. One friend of mine has the guts to take the course and he managed to get that Chemical Engineering with Process Control degree. Among the additional subjects covered in that course are advance process control and artificial intelligent. Well, that is already in the past.
Powder Technology Expert
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| Fig. 1 Powder technology is crucial in various industries |
Corrosion Monitoring Expert
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| Fig. 2 Example of ER Probe |
Back to my story above. Our principal company sent a young engineer (younger than me, that time I was 26 years old) to assist the installation of ER Probe. I think the engineer was just about 23 or 24 years old. But he was trained really well to do the presentation, installation and service of the ER Probe on the 48" and 10" pipelines. He taught us well and know all the specific details of on how to install, operate and maintain the ER Probe. He also thought us on how to analyze the ER probe readings and interpret them. Since I was the engineer incharge, I was involve with the costing of the project. I also know the fee of the young engineer which is relatively high and being paid per day for his service. The young engineers fee for 3 days alone has exceeded my monthly salary. That time, I whispered to myself, wow...this is the price we have to pay for an expert. The young engineer just had a diploma in engineering and went for a specific training on various technology on corrosion monitoring and corrosion protection. That is just an example of a story that we can learn if we want to be an expert in certain engineering area.
Chemical Health Risk Assessment (CHRA) Expert
Let me show the 3rd example. You can also be a Chemical Health Risk Assessment (CHRA) expert. For certain countries this is a requirement for any refinery or plant. This is to ensure the workers in the refinery or plant can work safely despite the various hazards in the workplace. A CHRA consultant service is demanded to provide training, consultancy, audit and perhaps more than that. The fee for a CHRA expert is quite high as well. However, before being a CHRA expert or consultant, you need to undergo specific training so that you are have sufficient knowledge and experience and reliable to help the clients.
The Choice is Yours
I have outlined 3 examples of a specific area you can choose to be an expert within your chemical engineering field. There are more of expert areas you can choose from. You can look around, browse the internet or ask your lecturers or experience engineers. Assess the field that you want to be an expert and get the required training.
Figure 1 credited to spacefellowship.com
Figure 2 credited to cosasco.com/microcor_wireless_transmitter.php
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:43 PM,
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The Author
I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!
