Career change - Civil / Environmental to Chemical-Biological / Process

[brainofJ]

I realize this is a technical forum, but I was hoping to get some advice career from some Chemical and Process Engineers.

I'm a Civil Engineer with 7 years experience in municipal consulting (treatment plants, pump stations). I've been working as a Project Engineer but I am interested in getting a more technical, process related position. I am thinking of doing a graduate degree (North America) in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Although I am more interested in doing a MASc, my impression is that a MEng degree would be more useful since it would allow me to take more core courses to improve my knowledge for a career in a different field.

Ideally I would like to get a position working with bioprocess, specifically in bioenergy or waste treatment. I realize the bioenergy field is still pretty small at this point, and such a position may be difficult to get.

Which degree do you think would be more beneficial (MASc or MEng) for my situation?

My main concern is post graduate degree, how would I be perceived by potential employers? Although some of my experience as a Project Engineer carries over to a Process Engineer (P&IDs, PFDs, plant layouts, piping design, equipment selection), I expect that I would need to take more of a Junior position instead of Intermediate since I am starting in a different field.

Would my knowledge and experience post Masters be considered up to par with a Chemical Engineer with little or no experience? Would my lack of a BASc in Chemical Engineering be considered too much of a gap in knowledge?

Thanks for reading, any insight would be appreciated.

 

[moltenmetal]

You're going to be missing quite a few courses to be considered competent as a chemical/process engineer, whether you take the M Eng or the M A Sc. It's a much easier leap for a mechie than for a civil.

You'll be missing probably three or four chemistry courses, one to three thermo/phys chem courses, mass transfer and probably heat transfer as well, plus sizing and selection/plant design, flowsheeting/process modelling etc. That's a couple years of study at the Bachelors' level. With study and effort, you might be able to challenge a few of those courses, but without them I'd have a tough time hiring you as a chemie.

 

[brainofJ]

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to figure out how many pre-requisites I would need to take. I get the feeling it would be about 5 courses, plus the 8 MEng. Ideally I would like to cover most of the core courses. I've already picked up a couple.

 

[MartinLe]

Summary: I don't know if MSc or MEng is better, I think wastewater and bioenergy is easier to break into than "proper" chemical engineering.

I'm based in Germany at a company building biogas plants. Most of our project managers are civil engineers, and picked up ample proces know how. That means: Often enough to troubleshoot a biogas plant (though the biologists are often called for here) and the relevant machinery. But over here the filed is still dominated by agricultural plants operated by farmers. So the culture of the field is largely that experience trumps calculations (also because you are dealing with stuff that is very hard to calcualte/simulate).
In the US, everyone in the field I know comes from wastewater and here the culture is (to my limited knowledge) different and a decent degree is called for. I think the demands are still lower than in the chemical industry.

My training was a hodgepodge of physics, chemistry, environmental stuff and process engineering. There's always more to know, but I'm not vastly undertrained.

 

[MortenA]

Since you already have a "broad base" for a chemical engineer and know engineering from your first degree and work - maybe a MSc would be better? IMO your are making a leap and i guess that must be based on your interests - so i think you should stop thinking too far ahead and focus on what will make your study time the best time for you, both with regards to what you learn and socially, you newer know what will happen once you start down a ne path.

 

[brainofJ]

Thanks for the above input. I've looked further into it and agree with moltenmetal's comment. I would likely need to take about 10 courses at the 3rd/4th year levels to be considered competent as a Chemical/Process Engineer. That isn't really compatible with a Master's degree, which requires 5th year course work. I'm not sure I'm willing to take on that much course work given that I may still be at a disadvantage with a Bachelor degree in a different discipline (ie. trying to convince someone in HR that I'm qualified for a Process job without a Bachelor in Chem Eng). I also I agree with MortenA & MartinLe's comments. Sometimes it just depends on the right opportunity being offered. Getting a Master's degree doesn't mean I end up with the job I have in mind.

 

[chemebabak]

Consider posting this topic in this forum:

http://eng-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=731