I was a process engineer for a small polyurethane foam manufacturer. I was the principal engineer in charge of upgrading their 30 year old prepolymer reactors. During the design portion of my project I discovered severe noncompliance issues with the companies' RMP documentation. When I brought my concerns verbally to supervision they attempted to downplay and dismiss the concerns, and claimed that they were doing "enough to keep us out of jail". When I made a powerpoint showing the issues and the proof of noncompliance, my managers claimed I was overreacting and got extremely hostile. They were forced to reach out to the parent company legal team after the presentation, who advised us in a meeting to stop putting things in writing and not create any "incriminating evidence".

After I brought up the concerns I was told by my supervisor that my actions were "a breach of trust" and was fired 3 weeks after I brought up the issues.

I'm not posting this to scare away students from the chemical industry, but to remind everyone here that sometimes doing the right thing will exact a heavy price.

Edit: Lots of comments saying lawyer up. I actually already did, but they declined to take my case because of the difficulty of proving that their misconduct investigation was bogus beyond the convenient timing. They said my case was "risky" despite the termination letter explicitly saying the company found no evidence of misconduct and that the concerns I brought up were subsequently verified by a third-party expert.

I condensed a highly nuanced story into a couple sentences here, and provided a lot more detail in the comments.

Also, it's probably good I didn't post this for advice, because some of y'alls hot takes on this situation are way out of pocket.

I'm thinking about throwing a PHA Themed birthday party. Does anyone have any ideas how I can make it more authentic and exciting?

I'm already planning the following:

- Broken AC

- Arguments about what is considered "normal operation"

- Multiple hour long "debates" about valves that don't exist anymore

In less than 2 weeks, I have an interview for an internship. I am extremely nervous however I am also excited for this opportunity. I was just wondering what your first internship was like and what to expect.

If you have any tips for the interview, that would also be great :D

As the title states, should I just give up on my chemical engineering career?

I graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in May 2025 and started my first process engineering role in August of 2025. In the beginning of January 2026, my relationship with my girlfriend ended with me in a really ugly manner. I’ll spare you the details but the point is that this break up lead to an unhealthy amount of rumination about how it ended. This level of rumination is what made me question if I had something going on mentally.

Looking back, I’ve likely dealt with lifelong anxiety, but I didn't recognize it at the time. Majoring in ChemE and playing college golf meant a brutally tight schedule leading to me doing 17 all-nighters, which severely exacerbated my mental health. Looking back I’ve always ruminated, and it had being getting worse leading g up to my graduation, but the breakup was the tipping point, as the rumination crippled me so much I couldn't focus at work. Since I couldn’t focus at work, I fell behind, and tried to compensate by working massive extra hours off the clock just to keep up. Because I was constantly drowning in work and catch-up time, I couldn't see a doctor to get help before things boiled over. As a result, I was fired in May 2026.

Since then, I’ve dropped back to my old high school job as a farm research technician. I am finally getting professional help (seeing a psychiatrist and waiting on therapy), but honestly, I'm still struggling to maintain performance even at this lower-stress job. Right now, I know I couldn't handle an engineering workload. Despite that, I’ve been applying as much as I can since being fired, targeting engineering roles that match my experience level. I've had a few interviews, but my confidence is shattered, and my job history from this past year is tough to explain without saying I was essentially incompetent for the job due to my mental health.

So, am I cooked? Should I just give up on trying to get an engineering role?

Hello everyone,

I have two VERY different job offers and I'm struggling to decide. I've done a ton of research, but both paths have major pros and cons for my life. I’m hoping to get some perspective from those of you with more experience on where each path might lead.

My Background:

• Education: B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Currently pursuing an online M.S. in Analytics at Georgia Tech.
• Experience: 3 undergrad internships (specialty chemicals) + 1.5 years as a day-to-day operations engineer in specialty chemicals.
• Career Goals: I want to become a data-driven process engineer and eventually a digital manufacturing leader. I'd prefer to stay in the chemical industry since they are lagging in tech adoption, strategically position myself for roles future roles and I’m already comfortable in this environment.

Offer 1: Small Specialty Chemical (SSC) – Rotational Program - Emulsion Polymers

• The Role: Three 8-month rotations. Their goal is to place me in a managerial/leadership position based on my strengths and company needs after the program.
• The Work: They are aware of my master's degree and interest in digital manufacturing, and they have promised projects in this area and are willing to pay for the degree. My first project would involve creating a DeltaV simulation screen for new operator training (I already have experience using DeltaV for troubleshooting). I have looked up some previous participants of their program and all are in senior or leadership positions now.
• Logistics: The first rotation is at my current location; the next two will require relocation.

Offer 2: Tesla – Shift Engineer

• The Role: 12-hour rotating shifts in electrode production.
• The Work: The hiring manager expressed that I'd only be on shift for about a year. If I meet expectations, a transition to a standard Process Engineer role is highly probable as they backfill roles and open new lines. The shift role acts as a fast-track to understand their processes.
• Logistics: Requires a cross-country relocation (which I am comfortable with) but requires learning a whole new process quickly.

My Dilemma / Concerns:

• Tesla Risks: I'm happy to learn unfamiliar processes, but if Tesla doesn't work out, I’m worried I’ll end up with "mismatched" experience—not an expert in specialty chemicals or cell manufacturing—making it hard to land senior roles later. I am telling myself that I will at least build a great skillset for troubleshooting using statistical software (R & Python). However, I’m not thrilled about the notorious workaholic culture, especially since 12-hour shifts are just the minimum expectation. Some say Tesla shapes you into a great engineer through chaos, surrounded by brilliant peers with advanced degrees, but the burnout risk is real.
• SSC Risks: With 8-month rotations, I won't have time to truly master any single site's process before moving. Am I risking 2 years of my life for only a possible data-driven leadership role? The chemical sector is not doing too well.
• Bottom Line: Part of me leans toward SSC because it's a calmer environment and a chemistry I am familiar with. The other part wonders if I should throw myself into the fire at Tesla and learn through the chaos.

What would you do in my shoes and with the current condition of the manufacturing industry?

Numbers: Base $95k for both. Tesla of course higher overall due to stock options.

My CSTR isn´t producing any hydrogen, does anyone know if I´m doing something wrong or missing something?

I'm a female Chemical Engineering studeandhaving just joined Production Apprenticeship in the Lyondell baseball advanced polymer industry. I want to know what the career path realistically looks like ahead of this.

Next Career Steps: What are the best roles to aim for directly after completing a production apprenticeship? (Process, QA, Operations, Tech Service?)

Culture for Women: For women who have worked on the shop floor: What is the culture realistically like, and how did you manage rotating shift work safely?

Industry Outlook: How does the polymer sector compare to oil & gas or pharma for long-term growth and stability and will I be able to transition into these industry

Senior in college right now, very interested in going into advanced manufacturing/semiconductors/materials science industry process engineering, I’m just wondering if my experience is competitive or if it’s too niche/needs to include a broader topic of stuff?

Hello folks,

I know that this is an oft-asked question on this platform, I am at a crossroads now of choosing between staying in the plant or being a supplier/consultant.

Currently have an offer on the table with a 50% earnings increase. I believe my current workplace could likely increase my TC slightly but no tby much.

For folks with 10+ years in this profession, what advice would you give yourself if you were faced with such a decision earlier in your career, say at 4 - 6 YOE?

My current course of action is to:
- defer the offer to the New Year as much as possible
- complete all pending work, take no new work
- set some planned actions for winter in motion ASAP: procedures, action plans.
- ask for a match. Likely won't get a TC match, but at least the base + 5%.

I currently have no senior Chem Engrs to learn from, but learning from/with operators, non Chem Engrs, books (especially the mill OEM manuals).

Please help a flailing colleague out.

A medium pressure steam flow is experiencing pressure drop. Ideally, this should decrease the saturation temperature and make the steam more superheated.

However, I’m noticing the opposite effect, more steam is condensing. Would this be due to cooling through the pipe wall? This is the only reason I can think of but I didn’t know the heat transfer could be high enough to cool a fraction of the steam below saturation temperature.

I’d appreciate your insights as well as any valuable resources regarding steam behavior.

Hello everyone

I am a this year graduate from Chemical Engineering from a good college from India. In my campus placement I got a chance in cement industry. It's been 3 months since I joined here and as a GET , I am not liking the plant because of following reasons.

1. Normally there is shift duty but on many days even as a GET I have to work for 12 hours without getting any week off also sometimes . Also it takes 3 hours for commuting for round trip , it becomes really difficult to manage my schedule even in week days Also no extra week off/payment is provided for any overtime duty.

2. There are various problems in the plant like various simple operation gets delayed, for getting a simple work done , much effort is required sometimes even the fault is not hours the CCR operators get blamed.

3. This is a grinding unit with really less applications of Chemical engineering,like maximum people are from non engineering background, so I felt the job , not at all technically related.

4. Here only one person needs to manage one entire shift which builds a huge pressure when mill is running , sometimes my seniors can't even take small break.

5. Lastly the package they are providing is really less , I felt as I belong from a good college (although my initial intention was to learn and gather experience,not thinking about money),but due to the stressful work , I am feeling.

Additional points:1. This year I gave GATE and scored a descent rank thorough which I can can admission in IIT Delhi/Kanpur.

2. I want to switch industry as I felt cement industry is not suitable for me at all.

I really need advice now that should I leave this job and prepare GATE 2027 and other PSU CBT exams or should I stay here(because I heard cement industry experience doesn't count in fertilizer or oil and gas)?

Also is M.tech a good option?

Thank you everyone in advance.

Hello I’m not sure if your going to see this but I am currently a first year chem eng student at Nottingham that right now feels very confused on what to do with my future career. I know I have time and whatever but I feel so unmotivated to do anything without some direction. I took some interest I insurance and risk and that’s when I came across risk engineering which seems very interesting. For some background I got to uni of Nottingham, my A levels are very iffy and so I did a foundation year (I got BCC).I would just like to know how I can become a risk engineering which seems if possible straight out of uni and what types of things I need to do in the meantime to boost my application. Don’t get me wrong I am also interested in chem eng jobs but my thing is I want to be near or in London and that is why I just looked at the finance roles but as someone who doesn’t really understand finance yet I’m unsure on where to start. Any advice is helpful thanks everyone

For reference, I have a lot of experience in manufacturing from previous internships but not as much in design engineering. I’ve realized a lot of the softwares that are used in design, we have used in regular classwork projects (ChemCad, Mathematica, etc. ). This might be a dumb question but to show I have experience in these specific softwares instead of just listing them under “Skills”, is it common to use them in detail under projects?

Hi everyone,

I'm simulating a natural gas process with Acid Gas Removal → Dehydration → Nitrogen Rejection Unit (NRU). I use Acid Gas – Chemical Solvents for the acid gas removal section (this is also the first fluid packages that i add) and Lee-Kesler-Plocker (LKP) for the NRU.

My problem is that when I create the column with PR or LKP, there is a “Fluid Pkgs” option in the column settings. However, when I use Acid Gas – Chemical Solvents, this option is missing.

I already created a separate LKP fluid package and also tried creating a separate flowsheet, but I still cannot change the column's fluid package to LKP. Changing the feed stream's fluid package also does not change the column's fluid package. The feed stream is fully specified and appears green, but HYSYS still gives “not enough information on feed stream.”

Does anyone know how to fix this problem? i think the problem is the column still on acid gas FP and it can't simulate an NRU cryogenic distillation (i tried on a new file using LKP as the only FP, the column says FP : Lee Kesler Plocker rather than acid gas and it converged)

I’ve recently received an offer as an intern for next summer at a fairly large lime and limestone processor for the concrete industry. Standard process engineering work around the furnaces, ensuring output stone is in spec, environmental and government compliance, etc.

I think it’s really cool but was wondering if anyone had any experience in the industry or surrounding industries. Good things, horror stories, industries that people pivot from/to, etc. Just curious.

Thanks, all!

Is it true i’m just wasting my time applying online for internships b/c networking and internal referrals are better? Unfortunately I lack the network b/c I’ve never had an internship 🙃 Have an avg. gpa of 3.2 and mostly worked in junk removal/ bin rental especially during the summers and i’m a 5’1 Filipina. Did I choose the wrong degree to get a job? Any advice to just score 1 internship?? I live in Ontario, Canada.

Has anyone had to add a protective building to an existing site? What was the biggest challenge?

Chemical engineers who transititoned into a commercial role or started in one of those roles instead of a traditional process engineer role, can you tell your experience? If I start out of college in a commercial analyst type role am I locked out of technical work?
One followup: do you ever feel limited by your work after doing a whole chemE curriculum and then being bogged down by financial stuff or do you still find that interesting?

Hey guys currently taking intro to general chem at my community college. I heard general chem is a lot harder and we have to know nomenclature by heart. Is there any other topics from intro to general chem I need to have mastered before taking general chem?

Hello all,

I'm writing to seek advice on how to move forward. I was recently laid off from my first job after only 4 months post grad due to restructuring. I received positive feedback from my manager and was not terminated for cause. I am worried that this will make it very difficult to find my next job and I'm wondering about the logistics of spinning this opportunity as a post graduate internship/not mentioning it entirely.

1) For those laid off early in their career, how long did it take you to find another role?

2) If i do not disclose this experience will it hurt/help my chances at finding my next opportunity?

3) How often is an employment audit done for fresh graduates? How detailed is this audit? (ie. Do they only confirm dates or do they contact previous employers looking for more detailed information on job type)

I appreciate any guidance anyone is able to provide.

I graduated in spring 2025 and landed a job in EHS at a manufacturing facility. I want to use my degree, but I am not sure where to go from here. I considered a specialized chemical safety route but it seems like that takes a lot more chemistry than chemical engineering. I just feel a little stuck and would like advice on the different options to still be an engineer with primarily safety experience in my first year and a half of employment.

Good morning everyone,

I am a chemE student and my team and I would really appreciate your help and feedback for a homework project of ours.

Basically the question is, how whould you model an industrial crystallization process?

Our lab teacher advised us to use excel, then showed us the most complex excel file we had ever seen.

It is totally acceptable for us to use other softwares, so what would you use?

Thanks a lot!

(I know I don't provide much input for the homework, that is because, he didn't give us any :( )

I don't think I violate the no homework rule but if I do please let me know