4 replies to this topic

[xAlinkax]

Currently a sophomore in engineering at a t25 school. I want to move to a large city after graduation ex: Chicago, Houston, SF. However it seems that one major drawback to Chem E is that many plants are in the middle of no where. What options/difficulties would I face if I wanted to live in a city?

[breizh]

Hi,

a) All engineering companies are in big cities.

My experience with US is Baton Rouge,Louisiana where factories are about 30 minutes' drive from City center. 

 

Breizh.

[latexman]

I see no difficulty. Just make living in a city one of your job search criteria your senior year.

[astro]

Speaking from the perspective of having worked in one of the biggest cities in the world (think London) and also working in a small country town in the middle of a place that you've probably never heard of, my response is - work out your personal priorities and follow that lead.

 

From my history, I can say that the temporal dynamic is that personal priorities change. Speaking from experience again, my focus changed from my personal priorities to priorities that went beyond myself (think family).

 

So, there's compromise and conflict at play. Sometimes career and non-career objectives align and sometimes they don't. When they don't, then it's a matter of deciding what is most important - career or non-career. The right decision when there's a conflict is a matter for the individual. From my own experience, there were times when I decided that I came first and others when I put my personal preference second.

 

How that translates across to your situation, only you can answer.

 

That said, (and in my opinion) you will be a more complete Chemical Engineer if your experience spans across design, operation and project delivery. That doesn't present as a possibility for everyone but I consider myself fortunate to have experience in all three areas to comment. To gain that experience, I've made sacrifices (e.g. working in a remote location to be in a position to manage a hazardous process plant - recognising that most modern communities don't want a hazardous process plant in their back yard). On reflection, those sacrifices were worth it .. for me.

 

All I can suggest is that you take a step back, disengage from all the advice that's being fired at you, back your judgement and see where it leads. No-one knows (except with hindsight) what the right answer is. However, if you're the one making the decision, I'm confident that you'll be satisfied with the end result, when you look back on how your career has developed 20+ years from now.

 

In short, go for it (you just need to define what "it" is).

[Pilesar]

Houston employs more chemical engineers than any other US city. If you lose your engineering job in Houston, you can get another one down the street. The problem with a career as a chemical engineer is that you cannot go to just any town to get a job. So marry a teacher or a nurse or a tradesman so they can follow you and find a job where you go to work.