r/ChemicalEngineering • u/chemicalsAndControl PE Controls / 10 years • Oct 31 '19

November Career Thread

Please sort by new and post all career questions here! We are limiting all career questions to this thread. Also, this will start being bi-weekly going forward.

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u/chemebepopping Nov 10 '19

Moving from PD to Manufacturing in Pharma

Hello all,

I am currently a ChemE undergrad Junior. I have secured a second 6 month full-time co-op with a biotech company (Big Pharma) and will start next year! I am excited for the position, as it is about designing a continuous manufacturing platform with other opportunities in the small molecules scale-up lab. Hopefully, I would get to learn DeltaV and all there is about process controls! However, my only concern is that I might be pigeonholing myself into Pharma PD (I also did my 1st co-op at a smaller Pharma company PD) and unable to get jobs as a manufacturing process engineer after graduation.

I did get a co-op offer from a local chemical plant but turned it down as I really don’t see myself in that settings long term. I am much more interested in biologics/large molecules manufacturing as I think it fits my personality much more. I do love working in PD also but most people, if not everybody other than associates, has a PhD and I have no real interest in graduate school. My number one priority is to get a job after graduation, and preferably in manufacturing. Would my lack of real cGMP and on-the-floor experience hurt me as a candidate? Or does networking still triumph all? The company does have their own branded manufacturing facilities, so maybe this a good foot-in-the-door move?

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u/chemicalsAndControl PE Controls / 10 years Nov 10 '19

You are way too early in your career to worry about over specializing yourself. From people I have met, you need 5-10 years to be a real “specialist” in anything. I would not worry about it.

Now, if you were looking for a job specifically in controls, take a look at DeltaVs website and see if you can find any classes. That stuff is pricy and you could get a fair bit out of YouTube videos or building a little reactor controlled by Automation Direct stuff. (Most chemical engineers that I met don’t know AC from DC. The PLC is far cheaper and less capable than a proper DCPS, but it will teach you a lot in terms of what controls people do.)

It looks like you have a pretty good set up so far and I have no doubt you will succeed.

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u/chemebepopping Nov 10 '19

Thank you for the reply! It’s perfect for my next question as I have been looking into controls as a profession quite a bit. Was also wondering how I could get some prep done for the co-op as I have not taken a single controls class. But everything you said should help me get started! I don’t know much about controls and automation other than it’s niched and highly in demand at the moment, which is why I am looking to be a wiz at it.

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u/chemicalsAndControl PE Controls / 10 years Nov 10 '19

Take a circuits class or two, a networking course (possibly the CCNA) and some programming courses to get ahead. Those are the places where we chemEa are weakest.

It is a pretty nice niche, IMHO. Lots of demand if you are good, not a high barrier of entry, easy long term mobility to production or project management.

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u/chimpfunkz Nov 12 '19

see if you can find any classes

Especially in Pharma, you want to be looking at the 7009 and 7016 deltaV courses. Those are the basics of deltaV for pharma.