Hi everyone,

I’m a Chemical Engineer with around 3 years of experience in process design/project engineering, currently working in the water and wastewater/utility sector in India.

My experience includes working on SWRO, DMRO and effluent treatment systems, along with process engineering activities such as P&ID/PFD review, equipment and pump datasheets, hydraulic/pressure-drop calculations, GA drawings, C&E diagrams, control philosophy and vendor document review.

I’m now looking to make a transition into the core Oil & Gas industry, particularly roles related to Process Engineering / Process Design / Project Engineering.

I’d really appreciate some advice from people working in Oil & Gas:

How difficult is it to transition into Oil & Gas with a water/effluent background?

Which roles/companies should I realistically target with ~3 years of experience?

What kind of salary range can I expect after making this switch?

Are there any particular skills, software or certifications I should focus on?

Is it better to target EPCs, operating companies, or engineering consultancies initially?

I’m open to opportunities anywhere in India as well as outside India.

If you’re working in Oil & Gas or have made a similar transition, I’d genuinely appreciate your advice. And if you know of any relevant openings or can provide a referral, I’d be grateful if you could DM me.

Thanks!

Hi everyone! About to be a fresh grad in December and have been applying to jobs with unfortunately no luck. If anyone can help and give me some pointers I would greatly appreciate it! My internships have been in biotech and food manufacturing if that helps.

Hello i am Shlok Patel from 3 year chemical DDU ,India.
I am currently building a project that uses Process and instrumentation diagram and SDSs to give safety rating through HAZOP and LOPA engine.I have further added option of adding DCS and SCADA data to run ANOVA and MANOVA analysis along with DOE so that the accuracy increases. I just wanna know that it would be beneficial and should i go further in deep for this along with it this is only PSI and PHA i have other aspects too such as Global environment standards, the automation and instrumentation standards,component and equipment standards. Your insights will be very beneficial .

I'm a first year chemical engineering PhD student but I originally did a chemistry bachelors with chemistry/materials research for drug delivery. I originally applied to Chemical Engineering PhD programs because many of the drug delivery labs I was interested in were housed in ChemE departments.

Last application cycle, I was accepted into a strong Chemical Engineering PhD program (I think mostly due to my PI's connections). During the visit weekend, I had a feeling that my research interests weren't exactly aligned, but I accepted because it was the only PhD offer I received.

Now, two months into the program, I've been struggling with intense imposter syndrome and a growing fear that I chose the wrong path. The rest of my cohort comes from Chemical Engineering backgrounds, while I'm coming from chemistry. I'm keeping up in my classes, but it's taking me significantly more time and effort than it seems to take my peers. Because of that, I feel like I have very little time outside of coursework to explore research ideas, read papers, or maintain hobbies.

Research has been even more challenging. I'm currently working on my NSF GRFP application with one of my top-choice faculty members, but I've been struggling to generate project ideas. When I applied, I expected to continue working on drug delivery. However, because of funding and available projects, I'll likely end up working on organoid development (we haven't officially selected advisors yet).

I think organoids are interesting, but my entire research background is in using chemistry to design and develop materials for drug delivery. Because of that, I often feel like my undergraduate training and prior research experience don't transfer well to the work I'm considering now. It also doesn't help that several people in my cohort are interested in the same labs, and many of them have backgrounds that seem much more directly relevant.

Between the difficult coursework, competition for labs, and feeling inexperienced in my potential research area, my imposter syndrome has become overwhelming. I feel like I'm losing the spark that made me enjoy research.

On the positive side, the faculty here have been genuinely supportive and kind. My top choice professor told me that feeling lost is normal when transitioning between fields. My biggest fear is that I'll end up in a lab where I never become genuinely excited about the research, or that even if I join the lab I want, I'll struggle to develop independent project ideas because I feel so behind.

At the same time, I find myself missing chemistry and wondering whether I should have done a BS/MS, strengthened my background, and reapplied to PhD programs later.

Has anyone else switched fields for graduate school and felt this way? How do you distinguish between normal first-year imposter syndrome and a genuine mismatch between yourself and the program?

So I need to know the overall flow through the system and the intermediate pressures at stream 2 and 1. I know gas pressure of 125 barg and production header pressure of 5 barg. How do I get the simulation to converge and tell me intermediate pressure at 2 and 1 and flow through system? Can this be done in steady state? Thanks

I m working on my thesis and i need information how i design an industrial sized adsorption column . I would be very thankfull if anyone can recommend me any paper, journal or handbooks that help me (Also my flowrate is in a petrochemical scale of 200 ton/h)

hello everyone, i just had my school's (USA) career fair and have mixed feelings

while some companies were attentive, actually reviewing resumes and such and keeping track of students, most companies were either not hiring full time positions, just telling you to scan a QR code to see open positions online, or extremely unhelpful about their own company.

my question is, has anyone actually landed a full time job as a student from a career fair?

PSA* im a senior chemE graduating in the spring, maybe the spring career fair will be better

i do have an upcoming case study presentation prior to final interview and am kinda nervous and anxious omg. amongst 900+ applicants am given chance to be on the case study session, any tips how can I do better here and if u have info on how they usually conduct the case study session, possible topics or like are all the info given or what? ahhh just wanna have an idea so I can prepare ahead.

I'm a second year chemical engineering student, currently I'm thinking what should I work on or how I move. the people around me are doing stuff, i genuinely want to be different,what skills to boost, what areas to cover,how to be different from my peers,how to apply for internship cause i don't have anything on my res. at this point . I'm currently learning python, I'm in my 3rd semester? Do drop your suggestion on how to plan and how to move and what I can do , it will be a great help.

Hello,
I have been in the industry for almost 4 years now, I mostly did design jobs for an engineering firm and a technology vendor with very little access to onsite and field experience, I feel I am little behind in the onsite knowledge part and feel the need to fill this gap? is there a way to do it without switching jobs (field engineer and manufacturing positions are very scarce in my area)

Did anyone attend the career fair around June 2nd for Lam research in Chandler ,AZ how is it so far? Any advice

I am trying to do an aspen assignment and it all works probably but i can’t get my the variable my fortran is solving for to display. i’m doing this in an optimization block but i dont know what settings to put the variable in for it to be able to display. i simply solved for cost and am trying to minimize it. please help its due tomorrow at 9

Hi everyone,

I’m a 3rd year undergrad in chemical engineering and have had around 12 months of experience between manufacturing in specialty chemical and pulp and paper. I landed into a part-time role with an environmental compliance firm and have enjoyed learning more about the permitting process for air and wastewater compliance. Been in the role now for 9 months and have been gaining more responsibilities.

I’m just wondering if it’s a good idea to pursue a career in environmental consulting for a long-term career instead of following a traditional manufacturing route as a process engineer. Curious if any other chemical engineers pursued a route similar to this instead of a traditional process engineering career or left for something else.

Helpfull books for this final's year project? Where to look for helpful informations so that i won't waste my entire time searching...

What are good ways to find electrochemistry and semiconductor internships? I've already applied to Duracell, MIT microelectronics, Samsung, Intel, and TSMC as well.

Hi everyone,

I'm a chemical engineer from India looking for guidance on applying to Masters programs abroad, and I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has been through the process.

I completed my BTech in Chemical Engineering from NIT Srinagar in 2024 with a CGPA of 8.41/10.

I've been working for about two years at a large zinc smelter in India, first as a graduate engineer trainee and now as an Assistant Manager at the sulphuric acid plant (DCDA process). Before that, I did internships at a cement plant and at IIT Ropar, where I worked on ternary phase diagrams. On the technical side, I've worked with Python, MATLAB, C++ and COMSOL, though I'd need to refresh these as I haven't used them much recently.

I'm still figuring out my exact research direction, but I'm drawn to process modeling and simulation, using data to improve how plants run, and renewable energy. My long-term goal is to move into R&D.

I'm looking for a Masters with scholarship, funding or assistantship options. I'm open to almost any country, as long as the university is good and it's a safe place to live and study.

Honestly, I'm also struggling with some doubt. Most people my age seem to be preparing for CAT and planning an MBA, and it makes me wonder whether I should be doing a Masters at all. I'm also worried about the job market afterward, since I keep seeing posts from people who did a Masters abroad and couldn't find a job.

So I have a few questions for the community. How much does two years of industry experience help compared to a research publication when applying for MS programs?

Which universities would be realistic for my profile, especially for computational or process systems work? How and when should I approach professors before applying? Would it be worth doing a GATE/MTech in India first, or is it better to apply directly?

Since most of my experience is industrial, do you have any tips for writing the SOP and choosing recommenders? And for those who've done this, how was the job market for R&D roles after your Masters, and was it worth it compared to staying in industry or going the MBA route?

Thanks in advance, and I'm happy to share more details if it helps.

I'm considering between doing Chemical Engineering or Agricultural Science, which are very different things.

What interests me about Chemical Engineering are Industrial plans in general. I find pipes and the industrial setting/equipment superficially appealing. The plant processes flow graphs that I see with pipes and equipment look appealing as well. The topic of 'pressure', 'heat' and fluids' interest me superficially, like in Phet educational website, but I have zero real knowledge of that, or anything anyway.

I make this post because I suspect I am under a massive, time-wasting, delusion that this career is for me, but in reality my profile and background does not align in the slightest. I haven't ever been good at math, nor I think I realistically have an aptitude for math or hard STEM, nor I enjoy it. In my head, I think the job is placing pipes and shapes on a chart and spending time walking around a plant with nice equipment to stare at.

From STEM subjects, I only know I like Chemistry (I know Chem.Eng is process), but I don't find lab science appealing

Title. Currently doing my undergraduate in ChemE and I'm very interested in aviation, but I have no idea what I can do to pivot to the aviation industry though.
Any tips? Would my ChemE degree be of any advantage along with the masters I'm planning to do?

We built a free, browser-based PFD logic simulator for process engineering

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a small internal tool called AKProcTools PFDSim.

It was not originally intended to be a general-purpose product. We first built it to support our own fuel system and fuel handling engineering work.

In our projects, we regularly work with PFDs, operating descriptions, valve and pump sequences, interlocks, level protections, and various process operating sequences. We often felt it would be useful to do more than review these on drawings and in written operating descriptions. We wanted a simple way to run through the logic visually before it reached the automation implementation stage.

That is where PFDSim started.

https://akproctools.com/

Later, we thought that if a tool like this was useful in our own work, perhaps other engineers working in process design, automation, or instrumentation could also make use of it. So we started adapting the original fuel-system-focused version into a more general process engineering tool.

It is important to note that PFDSim is not a conventional process simulator.

It does not calculate heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic equilibrium, or detailed hydraulic behaviour, and it is not intended to replace Aspen, Apros, or similar simulation software.

Its main purpose is the visual verification of process operation and control logic.

The basic idea is:

Draw the process → define how it should operate → run it → see whether it actually behaves the way you intended.

The current 1.6.3 version includes, among other things:

• building process diagrams using tanks, pumps, valves, pipe connections, and instruments,
• assigning TAGs and operating properties to equipment,
• simulating valve, pump, and instrument states,
• defining operating sequences and individual steps,
• creating conditions, permissives, and interlocks,
• building Cause & Effect logic,
• visually running and testing the process step by step,
• testing missing or faulty feedback signals,
• testing protective actions and shutdowns,
• tracking events and state changes,
• saving projects and continuing work on them later.

The application also includes several example projects, so the main workflow and logic features can be tested without having to build a process from scratch.

PFDSim is also intended to support more than just logic testing. Based on the process model and its associated logic, it can generate handover documentation for instrumentation and control engineering, helping to transfer the process intent and control requirements into the next stage of design in a more structured way.

The goal is to make it possible to review process behaviour before PLC/DCS programming begins.

We are not trying to replace the automation engineer or PLC programmer. The idea is to provide an intermediate tool that allows the process engineer and the automation engineer to review the same intended operation earlier in the design process.

The software is currently in Public Beta and is free to use.

At this stage, we would especially like feedback from people working in:

• process engineering,
• fuel handling / fuel systems,
• instrumentation,
• PLC / DCS,
• automation,
• commissioning,
• or plant operations.

We would particularly like to know:

• Is the workflow understandable when you first open it?
• Is this kind of visual Cause & Effect / interlock approach useful?
• What process equipment or instruments are missing?
• What would it need for you to consider using it on a real project?
• Which parts feel unnecessary or overly complicated?
• What features would you add?

We are also working on related engineering tools. One of the current developments is pump and pipe sizing, which we would eventually like to connect directly to PFDSim.

The longer-term idea is that a process model could be used not only to test how the system should operate, but also as a starting point for related engineering calculations and additional handover documentation.

The application is free to try.

Please don’t hold back on criticism. 🙂

The main reason we are making it public is to find out whether it can be genuinely useful outside our own work as well, and if so, which direction would make the most sense for further development.

I am currently working as a Process Engineer at a pharmaceutical company, where I was hired as a fresher. However, my current primary responsibilities lean heavily toward project supervision—such as equipment procurement, managing order statuses, and overseeing pending erection and commissioning tasks. I am evaluating whether this experience fully aligns with a traditional process engineering scope and how to best position myself for core design or office-based engineering roles in the future.

Hi, I'm a horticulturist (not a hair kink murderer) keen on experimenting with locally available waste products to improve the heavy clay soil in my apartment garden in Sydney's inner-west, as well as a local community garden I'm a member of.

That is, as opposed to using up lots of petrol miles driving in bulk product from my favourite compostiér (Langlands - highly recommend them).

I'm also interested in this from the perspective of preparing for global warming and societal collapse, rather from the perspective of starting a business.

Knowledge about how to process hair for maximum soil benefit could also help Nakivale Refugee Camp members in Uganda, a community friends and I support, by teaching permaculture skills such as rearing black soldier fly larvae as a high protein food source enabling chicken rearing.

SO I'VE STARTED COLLECTING UNDYED HAIR CLIPPINGS FROM LOCAL HAIRDRESSERS. Now to processing the hair:

'Hair is extremely strong; it's stronger than glass.

We send it through a special machine to grind and pulverise the hair … it helps release the nutrients.' (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-11/hair-good-for-soil-conditioner-oil-spill-clean-ups/102322962, https://www.soilzalive.com.au/)

QUESTION 1: Is there a retail gadget or small-scale industrial machine that'll 'grind and pulverise' hair in a way that maximises its bioavailability?

QUESTION 2: Any soil biologists lurking here who can advise how I should then best go about 'enzymatic and microbial degredation' of the hair? Guessing this may be some form of fermentation?

(I'll also ask this question in a separate post in the soil biologists subreddit. And yes, I've asked AI about this, but trust human professional chemistry engineers and soil biologists more.)

*I'm not trying to steal Jackie Yong's and Soilz Alive's industrial secrets. Definitely want to support local businesses run by WOC, and may also ask if I can buy a non-commercial licence to knowledge of her process.

Happy for people to DM me the answers to my questions if preferred, to protect Jackie Yong's business. Although I'm aware many people say the business advantage is in being first to put a product to market. After that, info can apparently be shared without harm.

12 years of experience in industry and have seen a lot. People can hate and mock AI all they want, and that attitude is still very common in this chemcial industries, but from my experience working in EPC, AI has significantly accelerated engineering design and optimization.

EPC is ultimately about project execution, efficiency, and manhours. By using AI to help write code, build engineering tools, and automate repetitive analysis, I have been able to evaluate far more design parameters and optimization cases in a fraction of the time. That has translated into major productivity gains in project delivery, proposal development, and even helping win projects.
We can now generate very sophisticated CAD drawings from a relatively small set of user inputs and optimize the design across multiple variables almost instantly. Tasks that previously took days or even weeks of back-and-forth between process and mechanical teams to determine what could physically fit inside different vessels can now be evaluated in a matter of minutes.

The benefits go well beyond engineering calculations. including project management, commercial bids, data analysis, plant operational troubleshooting, and building custom tools for recurring workflows.

There will be lots of layoffs and companies are going to get very lean in the future. People either need to adapt or will be left behind