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How does an Engineer do their job?

I'm looking into engineering as a career option but still don't have a good idea of what engineers really do. The research that I have done has only given me a general understanding. For example, aerospace engineers design, build, and analyze systems and components of aircraft, helicopters, engines, satellites, rockets, and unmanned vehicles. I would like to know more about typical working conditions (in a lab, think-box, factory, production site?) or what tools/methods are used. Can anyone give me an example of a problem and how an engineer would go about solving it? I'm asking for examples, so it doesn't have to apply to all engineers. I'm interested in chemistry, so I'm mainly looking at chemical, polymer and fiber, and material science engineering. Thanks.

Since you haven’t received a whole bunch of responses, and your question is still open, I thought I’d add my two cents:

You actually ask a really good question. Many high school students who don’t know real engineers often make their choice of major based on vague understandings of engineering (or hyped up stereotypes) of engineering jobs. It turns out that most engineering jobs are not as “hyped up” as you might see on a Star Trek episode or other show.

Engineering is a good choice for people who love science, mathematics, problem solving, and how to make things work. If, on top of that, you like chemistry, chemical engineering might be a good choice – but beware, many people find chemical engineering is not what they originally expected – I did. It turns out that classical chemical engineering is mainly about doing chemistry on an industrial scale rather than engineering new molecules. But that is "traditional" chemical engineering.

If you’re like me, one of the most rewarding things about an engineering education, and especially a chemical engineering education, is the wide exposure to science, mathematics, and problem solving, even beyond what is normally used in a day to day work environment. Through your education, and work experience, you understand how “things get done”, and if your lucky, you interface sufficiently with other engineering disciplines to get an appreciation of their work as well.

On top of that, the compensation is quite good, and I believe that chemical engineering is still one of the top paying disciplines of engineering (you can consult salary surveys on the web)

Note that your college education trains you in many of the aspects that traditional engineers in your discipline may use. In your actual job you may not use all of the things you learned. You will however learn subjects beyond what they teach in college courses (real world stuff), and you will learn many very important work skills not really covered in course work (communication, organization, working with other people).

Here are brief descriptions of some “real” jobs, maybe outside the “classical” chemical engineer definition, that a person with a chemical engineering degree (BS or MS) might obtain:

1)Governmental position: Air Quality/Air Pollution Control Engineer:
Job Description: This job is to use your engineering skills/training to ensure that industries/companies that wish to install pollution-causing equipment will comply with regulatory laws concerning air pollution. Before construction, you will examine design drawings/plans/calculations submitted by the industry to your agency to verify that any pollution generated by the equipment will be within the regulatory limits. After construction, but before operation, you may visit the site to inspect the equipment & installation to verify that it has been built properly in compliance with your agencies requirements. After operation, you may participate in “source testing” where air pollution emissions from the equipment are actually quantitatively measured to verify the equipment operates in compliance with the requrieiments.

Typical day: Mainly in office reviewing plans/equipment specifications, writing evaluation reports and filling out paperwork. Depending on office, you may spend 20% of time “in the field” conducting inspections of equipment. Main tools used are basic business software (word processor, spreadsheets, some specialized programs relating to engineering calculations, if able, you may be able to write your own software for use).

2)Private Sector Consulting Position: Consulting Design Engineer (Working for a design company):

This job involves working with industrial business clients wishing to design manufacturing plants. Your job is to design your “engineering disciplines” portion of the plant (i.e. chemical engineering portion).

Prior to construction: You will mainly work in an office, but will have many meetings with clients to understand your portion (chemical) of scope to design – what they want to achieve, and how you are proposing to achieve it. You will work with AutoCAD operators/designers to develop increasingly detailed design drawings to represent the equipment and process systems that you intend to use in the design of the client’s plant. You will write increasingly detailed reports explaining the design to make sure everyone understands and agrees on the design. As the project proceeds, you will select and/or write specifications to detail exactly what equipment you will need and the requirements they must meet. You will need to work together with engineers in other disciplines (electrical, structural, mechanical, control engineers) to make sure the entire plant design works together. You will work with equipment vendors to ensure proper selection of the required equipment. The final product of your work at this stage is to come up with final design drawings (construction drawings and P&ID “piping & instrumentation drawings) so that a construction contractor can build the plant and provide a price to build it.

During construction: You may be assigned to work at the construction site to oversee the construction of your portion of the plant. You may find that the design must be changed to fit the construction conditions, and will need to be able to respond with new engineering designs (sometimes by yourself) as needed to meet the project schedule.

Your tools will include computers and business software such as word processors and spreadsheets. You will also use specialized software used to design & evaluate equipment, and piping. Single projects may take 1 or 2 years or more to complete.

3)Private Sector Working for a Manufacturing Company: Plant /Facilities Engineer:

This job involves overseeing your “assigned” portions of an operating manufacturing plant to ensure that the plant continues to operate productively. You will have an office in a building, but will frequently work directly at the plant’s equipment to effectively monitor/maintain it. Part of your job will be evaluating how well the equipment operates, resolving any issues that occur during the operation of the plant, and continuously evaluating what improvements should be made. You will thus need to be intimately familiar with all of the equipment and how it operates. As the plant changes priorities, you may need to evaluate ways to modify the equipment or its operation to meet the new requirements. You may need to oversee construction projects to expand the equipment of the plant and you will work with equipment vendors, design engineers, construction contractors to get the work done. You may have technicians who actually operate the equipment for you, and you will need to work with them, and provide them guidance on what work you need done.

4)Private Sector, as a Contractor: Project Manager:

This job involves coordinating/overseeing the construction of an engineering project based on design/construction drawings you are given. This work is not directly engineering work, but many engineers do this type of work. In this job you will need to develop a project scope, schedule, and budget to successfully build the engineering project. You will need to understand detailed design/construction drawings, methods of construction, permitting & regulatory requirements associated with the construction, and have familiarity with a number of engineering disciplines & construction trades (electrical, structural, architectural, mechanical, etc.) in order to manage the entire construction project. You will likely have an office, perhaps one at a client site, but you will spend a great deal of time working “in the field” overseeing the construction, and coordinating the work of the various construction contractors. You may also work with permitting agencies who will want to inspect the construction work. You may also need to be involved in “starting up” the equipment to ensure that it has been built properly.

Your tools will be a computer using standard business software such as word processors and spreadsheets, plus specialized software to develop/track construction project schedules. You may make use of more specialized engineering software as well.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Oh, you're last statement leads me to suspect that your interest might lie outside the more traditional engineering roles described above, and more into research - that would likely need a PHD, or at a very minimum an MS degree. There was another very insightful answer by someone else on another question that might merit your attention. If I find it again, I'll post a link.

Here's the link to the question/answer I found informative:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081102195412AARfMoC.

That didn't seem to come out right, but you can use Google to search under "m w" "chemical engineering". The question was "Is Chemical Engineering intellectually stimulating?" I thought "m w"'s answer was very informative.

Hope this helps.

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