r/chemistry • u/AutoModerator • Apr 13 '26
Weekly Careers/Education Questions Thread
This is a dedicated weekly thread for you to seek and provide advice concerning education and careers in chemistry.
If you need to make an important decision regarding your future or want to know what your options, then this is the place to leave a comment.
If you see similar topics in r/chemistry, please politely inform them of this weekly feature.
2
Apr 26 '26
guyss im so stressed, idk which uni to pick, pecs or debrecen or nyiregyhaza or elte???? actually i checked the stipendicum hungaricum website and they only provide this scholarship for pecs,debrecen and nyiregyhaza. so im not sure which one to pick. i dont only look for a better education and a prestigious university,but also a a place tht is clean,safe,fun nightlife and a nice environment. i really need to make a decision soon coz i only know this stipendicum scholarship tht provides monthly stipend, free accomodation and fully funded.
1
u/gigsland Apr 26 '26
I'm from Hungary. I did my BSc and MSc on chemistry at University of Szeged (in hungarian). I can wholeheartedly recommend this city, nice, safe environment. The nightlife is okay, nothing spectacular. I now do research at the Faculty of Pharmacy, and here we have many students with stipendicum hungaricum program. I can vouch for the pharmacy education. If you insist on chemistry, I can share my opinions of the other choices.
ELTE is in Budapest, the capital. It is a very reputable university. I personally don't like the city. It is busy, noisy, less clean and I would say a little bit less safe. But here is the biggest, most versatile nightlife by a large margin.
Pécs and Debrecen (just like Szeged) are university cities, with many foreign students. These unis are also quite reputable. I personally would give the edge to Debrecen in all aspects.
I've never been to Nyíregyháza. I didn't hear much about it's University either.
Good luck
1
Apr 27 '26
thank you so much, i checked the stipendicum website and they only provide scholarship for bsc in chemi in uni of debrecen,pecs and nyigryhaza,so im not sure which one to pick. or if yk other countries tht gives scholarship like the stipendicum for bsc in chemi,pls lmk tqqq.
1
u/chemnerd52 Apr 13 '26
I'm interested in doing small molecule work for pharma companies, but there is not much entry positions available or listed right now. Is it worth to reach out to a bunch of companies and see what positions they have or if they are considering hiring someone of entry level in the future? About to graduate with an M.S. in organic chemistry
3
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
Welcome to the exhausting world of targeted job searches.
First, do you live in a city that has a pharma industry? Nobody is doing global or national recruitment right now.
Online ads aren't getting posted now. Bunch of layoffs at big companies over the last 2 years, turns out messing with global supply chains causes problems. You are competing against people with a MS or PhD + several years direct hands on experience at big companies. We don't need to advertise, we can ask friend-of-a-friend or go back through our books of layed off workers.
Short term contracts, temp workers and CRO are the main entry points. Eventually we may convert that to permanent, but only in a few years when someone already working here quits. Or who knows, maybe like 2017 and Trumps 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical imports really does drive another gold rush in pharma hiring.
Cold calling companies costs you nothing. Do it. Unfortunately, low-effort = low-success. You may get lucky and they have a short project coming up or some vacation work for a few months.
Should you live in a city with a pharma industry, have a look at old archived job postings. You may find that they use a recruitment company. It costs me time/money to post jobs online, screen and interview candidates, then wait 2-4 weeks for them to quit their other job. It's faster/cheaper for me to outsource to a 3rd party recruiter, they have an existing database of candidates ready to go. Or just Google STEM/chemistry recruitment and name of your nearest big city. Get on LinkedIn and find the people who work at that recruiter, direct message them with a copy of your resume, ask if they can place you in a role at a pharma company. These people only get paid (by the hiring company) if they put you in a job, so they have an incentive to massage your resume and put it in front of the correct company at the correct time. If they all say no or refuse to talk to you, they don't think they can put you in a job with their current clients.
Right now consider your network. You have a boss, who has other students that graduated in previous years. Where are they working now? It's certainly worth asking your boss or checking on LinkedIn.
Have at look at other research groups at your school. Where do their students end up working? Pharma companies are quite incestous, they like to hire from the same groups over and over. May not be your group, but do you know any other MS or PhD students in those groups that do get jobs in pharma? Go knock on their door and ask about their job search strategies. The current students probably know an ex-graduate who now works at those places.
E-mail or call those previous students and ask if you can buy them a coffee to talk about their job and get a tour. Most people love talking about themselves, they were in your exact position a few years ago. They want to give you all the advice they can - who/what/how to apply and where to avoid.
Now when that company does have a vacancy they can recommend you. They know you personally, you visit their site, they don't have to sort through 300 applications from everyone across the world who is lying on their resume.
Before you graduate there are maybe some options you can do at your school to improve your resume. Any short courses or training on GMP/GLP is massively important. It's not usually done or taught in academic labs, but maybe you have an analytical research lab or commercial service group, they may have some sort of regulatory compliance like ISO17025.
1
u/Rollsy06 Apr 14 '26
I want to find out of astrochemistry or chemistry would be a good fit for me, is there any way i can find out? i like all sciency stuff and space stuff but i know i'll be in for the long haul if i go for a phd so i want to make sure its right for me
1
u/organiker Cheminformatics Apr 15 '26
What do you mean when you say you like "all sciencey stuff and space stuff"?
What education level are you at? How do you know you'd want a PhD?
Are you trying to choose between astrochemistry and chemistry? Why do you need to make that choice now?
There's really no way to find out besides just trying it. And even then there are no guarantees.
1
u/Straight_Arugula_209 Apr 16 '26
I have an on-site job interview for a chemical manufacturing company with interests in polymers and pharmaceuticals next week for an entry-level position as a BS in chemistry. Almost all of my mentors have only ever worked in academia so they don’t have much insight here as I’m at PUI.
How should I prepare for 5 30 minute interview interviews back to back? I have not been asked to prepare anything for the interview (no slides/research talk).
How should I dress, particularly in the shoe aspect (context woman with bad dress and lab safe shoe options)? I have shoes that are appropriate for professional wear, and I have shoes that are appropriate as lab shoes, which should I prioritize in this case? Would platform Doc Martens boots be inappropriate?
Thank you!!
2
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
5 x 30 minute interviews? As in you have 2.5 hours of job interview, with 5-10 separate people (we never interview one-on-one), for an entry level role...
That's exhausting. I work at a giant evil multinational polymers and pharma company and we never do anything like that.
What I expect is you have a 30-45 minute two-on-one interview and then maybe some group sessions. We do this for mass grad recruitment where we maybe hire 30-40 people at once for our annual intake.
Potentially, skip the group session and we put you into a lab for an hour to follow someone around. It's a big long tour of the facility. It's you interviewing us too. Quite likely at a manufacturing site the lab is old and rusty, it's noisy and uncomfortable, it may smell bad, we need you outside the lab building and walking around a hot noisy factory to collect samples. Could be animals or bugs or forklifts or other scary things you don't get in a regular lab building. It really would take me 1 hour to walk you around my current facility. We want you to know what you are getting into so you don't quit in the first week.
Group sessions you are usually sitting with 4-20 other prospective hires with the session run by usually a senior manager or sometimes a 2nd or 3rd year grad, someone still young but has been working with us for a few years. They ask questions like "work as a team, design a new factory for me that does A->D". Or "here is a situation, someone has been injured at work, what do we do and how do we prevent that from happening again". We usually go around the circle and ask everyone to answer, maybe some light debate, people can ask each other questions.
We know you don't know the answer, we want to observe how you act. Don't be a gorilla and get aggressive, just play along. The coach will try to involve everyone. We want to hire logical robot people, emotional people, team people, solo workers. This is us just writing down how you interact. If you don't know an answer, tell me your guess and where you would look to find the answer (e.g. ask a manager, hire a consultant, search literature, spend 3 months doing calculations).
Wear any sort of closed toe shoes, long trousers and ideally long sleeve shirt. Honestly, even Converse canvas shoes, jeans and a t-shirt or polo shirt will be fine, but probably go more conservative with cotton/wool trousers and a button up long sleeve shirt. You can roll up the sleeves when getting busy and look like a boss. Go buy some cheap stuff from Target or thrift store if required, quite a lot of people will be wearing clothes that don't fit, it's very cute to observe applicants in ill-fitting suits. Be comfortable, this is going to be a long tiring day.
If you need to go anywhere on the factory/plant that requires boots, we will give you steel caps, high-vis vest, helmet and safety glasses to wear. Giant cupboards full of that stuff for visitors.
Pro-tip: if you are a person who nervous sweats in interviews, it's fine, you aren't the only one but do your best to minimize it. Get changed into fresh interview clothes in the car park or around the corner and leave your bag at reception. Use that extra double strength perfume-free antiperspirant with double-coat, just for today. Go easy on perfume, I'm trapped in a small room with you and others all day.
Behind the scenes we evaluate based on two main tests. A big 5 personality test and then some logical reasoning tests. As a scientist you are usually going to score a 9-10/10 for abstract reasoning, we give you a problem with missing info such as 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8. Tell me the next number in the sequence. Turns out the answer is orange, because my problems are not simple number exam questions.
Two-on-one personal interview I'm using the STAR interview method, which is a type of behavioural interview. The best evidence of future performance is past performance, so I want to hear of real world things you did in the past. I'll ask about 5 questions and I expect you to give me answers about 5 minutes in length that are short stories. I will interrupt during your story to steer you down the correct pathway if you are getting side tracked or not relevent. For instance, tell me about a time you worked safely in a laboratory. The answer isn't I always wear gloves and this one time I saw someone cut themselves on broken glass. You tell me a story about preparing for a lab class. I read the manual, I listen to the instructor, I use safety equipment like fume hoods, I anticipate risks such as corrosive liquids and I control those by staying back, using small quantities, follow procedures, try not to spill it, if I do spill it I'm wearing gloves and I immediately remove them and rinse my hands under running water. Except, actually walk me through it. In April 2026 I was preparing for analytical lab class. The experiment was GC:MS analysis of protein fragmentation, where I did...
Other good questions are tell me about a time you had to priotise multiple tasks due at the same time (e.g. homework due, exam, family event, part-time job); tell me about a time you failed to deliver a task on time, what happened? Tell me about a time you had conflict with a teammate. It's not all negative, I will ask positive questions like tell me about a time you succeeded at something you initially thought was impossible.
Don't all have to be lab answers, don't all need to be unique. You can re-use the same story about a part-time job or hobby, because you naturally focus on different elements for different questions.
Use lots of "I" and "me" words. I want to know what you did, not what your group or team did. I made 4 new types of molecule containing iodine. I put them in this machine, but the tech put them in that machine, but I did the data interpretation.
Practise by Google a list of STAR interview questions and get a friend or family member to ask the to you for about 45 minutes. You need to practise speaking out loud. Sometimes... the stories in our heads don't come out of our mouths so good. Each answer you give should be about 5 minutes in length, it's not rapid fire Q&A.
Realistically, you tell me about a time you learned a new skill and it will include failures, time management, interacting with others, interacting with tools or literature like text books. I get to see your personality and how you approach problems. I maybe care a little that you know how to handle a corrosive liquid or use big science words, but I can teach that, I want to know how your personality and skills fit into our company.
1
u/Straight_Arugula_209 Apr 17 '26
Thank you!
I got the itinerary today and it’s five 30 min one-on-ones and they have yet to answer my question about preparing anything. I’ve already done two virtual one-on-ones with an HR person and the hiring manager who’d I directly report to (they’re also the last one I’ll talk with at my on-site) I’m just curious what they could all ask me differently over this time (obviously I don’t want to give a single monotone answer to each of them). One of my profs has some insider information and I’m the only local candidate, so the only one doing this onsite, I’d be surprised if it was a group interview situation. They also said dress business casual and no explicit information about lab-safe clothes (I’m planning to dress like this anyway)
2
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Almost certainly we aren't grilling you about technical knowlege. We're taking a really small snapshot of you to gauge your personality.
My team is loud and all teamwork; that other team is quiet and does solo projects.
My next guess is the site you are on has multiple departments. It's like a university campus with different departments that don't talk to each other much. Polymer factor A is over there, polymer factory B is on the other side of the site, they do different stuff and have their own separate teams. This is quite common for a place like a BASF or Dow/Dupont type of mega company. It's really a bunch of small companies all lumped together under one big evil corporate umbrella. We share the same e-mail address and computer software, maybe we occasionaly have some fun joint invited speakers or lecturers, but I'm in no way qualified to walk over to that other factory and get a job there.
Maybe it's operations (the factory), polymer R&D, polymer QC, adhesives R&D, adhesives QC, API R&D, API formulation, API QC, incoming raw material QC, outgoing truck testing QC, environment / waste water, maybe a central analytical chem department.
Your one-on-one is with each department head for a tour of what they do and simple Q&A.
Often what we do is hire you at put you into a rotational program for the next 2-3 years years. 6 months in QC, then over to the next factory for 6 months of R&D, then into a "project" role like assisting with a factory upgrade, then into a safety/health/risk role for 6 months in the next factory. At the end you choose a 12 month rotation in one division of the company. Then after the 3 year mark we throw you to the wolves and you competitively apply for open positions in any division or other site.
30 minutes is not much time. It takes about 15 minutes just for the small talk and introduction from my about what we do here. It's going to be a lot of walk-and-talk and mostly touring.
What happens at the end of this is my, the hiring manager for adhesives & resins, I compile my short list of 20 candidates I like. The HR team then does their magic and next year I discover I have to find jobs for 3 new grads.
1
u/Straight_Arugula_209 Apr 17 '26
Thank you so much!
This has been incredibly helpful. The hiring manager did say they would save all the technical questions until my on-site interview, which is making me a little bit nervous since I have two relevant publications to the job posting—don’t get me wrong, I know my work, I’m just horrified at what they’re planning to ask. The hiring manager also instructed the HR person to ask more technical questions and then sent a copy of my answers to the hiring manager and then the hiring manager said you know because you were able to answer these questions comprehensively that’s why we elected to move forward.
2
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Pro-tip: I don't care about publications. It's a factory, we don't publish here. Try to not sound too academic, pure academic people don't tend to stick around very long.
I care about skills and experience. You may have learned a lot about some material or technique and were never successful in publishing - that's still incredibly value experience to me.
Fun thing about materials is we don't teach it during undergraduate. I don't expect you to know anything about my factory or products. It would be astonishing if you did.
You may have had 6 classes on free radical polymers, which is what, 18 hours of lectures? So about 1/2 of one working week. I'll teach you more about the polymers we make in the next 3 months than even the academics at your school know about.
Techincal skills I do like to see:
What types of chemistry you know. For instance, polymers. Tell me about what you think we make. Free radical polymers, emulsion polymerisation, any sort of catalysts, surface chemistry, etc. If you know any engineering like rheology or solution/melt processing. I may not care about the publication, but you having worked on a type of chemistry for 3-6 months is a nice skill. I' going to be teaching you my own specific area so now I know it takes you 3-6 months to learn and reach a certain level of competency.
Always good if you know what products we actually make and have some examples. I really like it if we are a paint company and you tell me you once painted your bedroom and like feature A but hated feature B. Shows you understand the product and it's real world limitations, even if you don't understand the chemistry that goes into it. I'll teach you both anyway.
Bonus points: read the company website then maybe put words like company name + innovation into google and look for some press releases, trade publications or academic collabs. For instance, maybe I'm working on self-cleaning polymers. You mention those words and you go straight to the top of my list. It tells me you understand enough about polymer to even know that exists, I can skip all the background questions and get straight into the good stuff. You can also Google search for "environmental license breech" and find out what my problems are, get gritty, ask me, how on earth does a big massive well funded company get fined $15k for loss of containment or releasing contaminated water? Why aren't you monitoring it better? You could use technique A, B or C or buy this equipment or hire extra staff to do extra lab tests.
At least one big machine. Don't care if it's NMR or ICP or GC or anything else. If you know Agilent GC:MS, I can teach you Agilent ICP or FTIR in a few days. Tell me how you calibrate a machine, any types of repairs or troubleshooting, what you do with the data like stick it into a LIMS or process it to find signal-to-noise to characterise something like a C=O bond. Tell me how many samples/day, per week, how simple or complex analysis you do, both have advantanges.
Scale. Factories usually work on the scale of tonnes. Even in a polymer R&D lab we're often making 5-20kg batches of stuff. For API it's often the opposite, micrograms of stuff. It may seem obvious but there are skills for each type of scale and it takes time to learn those. When you already know that it save me time so I like you more.
1
u/Spiritual-Pear-6365 Apr 16 '26
I am trying to find a new job to work. The opportunities have landed have been mostly entry level and maybe a few close mid level. I just don't have the best luck picking out places. There I am on the fence of stay in adjacent role such as QA/QC, I can do these role to a degree, but burnout is real. Nevertheless, I am trying figure out how navigate during this. Any advice you can offered would be appreciated
2
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Burnout. That's bad mental health. Stress, anxiety, depression (initialism is SAD, which is the only funny part, it's really serious otherwise).
What/how does this happen to you? It's exciting starting a new job with all the potential and "newness", I love learning, but then reality hits and you need to do the exact same work as yesterday because it's still a job. Unfriendly colleagues, awful hours, stressful work, long work days with long commutes? Is it even you are sick of the noise of fume hoods and stinky chemicals, along with unflattering lab clothes. You want the life of the stylish accountant wearing nice clothes, sitting in a quiet AC office working exactly 7.6 hours per day. Name your big concerns, there are subtle and obvious ways to find out if those conditions exist at the next employer.
You go see a local family doctor and then start your mental health journey, just like the rest of us. You don't have to jump right into an Eat, Pray, Love situation and relocate to Bali to learn to be a yoga instructor. The burnout problem may have happened at work but you don't fix it with more work, you fix it with mental health strategies, then you go back to work.
Usually, I get bored and seek a new job just for interest. Change is as good as a holiday. Sometimes it's a sideways or even backwards career move, because it looks fun and I I know the next job after that will make up for it.
It's usually not only just the job. It's a combination of life and family too. Sometimes the job is more about what you are running away from, rather than what you are running towards.
Job interviews go both ways. It's you interviewing them too. Big companies will have a lot of info on websites about general work conditions, but specific teams/managers/colleagues you investigate in the interview.
Good news you are getting interviews and opportunities. That's an amazing tool in your toolbox. Let's you be picky.
Moving into mid-career and there are some new features of jobs we don't discuss often. You can often start negotiating with employers about your contract. For instance, moving your work hours, compressed work weeks or working part-time. For instance, asking for 80% salary, but only working 80% of hours. I only want to work 4 days/week for 8 hours/day, but in return you will pay me a lower amount too.
We also start thinking about motivators and demotivators as separate items. What things make me want to go to work today? Colleagues are nice, my desk is neat and new, at least I'm inside where it isn't too hot or cold, I've got some training scheduled next year that improves my skills for future promotions. Then demotivators like this commute is too long, I hate the car park, I hate compulsory Friday team lunches, I hate the stress of quarterly performance reviews, I'm bored, the work neighbourhood has no good lunch places, this type of company is not trendy and I want to work in AI, etc. Biggest demotivators are usually always you hate your boss and colleagues. May not be their fault, the company only gives them limited opportunity/time/training and "the good ones leave" leaving only unqualified mean idiots, but still bad for you today and you can move on too.
Find out your motivators and find employers that match. Maybe someone has tuition reimbursement, so you can pursue a Masters degree part-time. You loved learning enough to get a science degree, you probably still enjoy learning even more. If it's about hours or days, focus on jobs with non-standard hours/days or the opposite, focus only on jobs with office hours so you can socialise at normal times.
Re-training should always be considered. It takes time but can be strong motivator to stay in a bad job now for income, knowing you will leave soon. You can maybe do a minor training course to be qualified in something completely different. Do a medical lab tech course and then go work in hospital systems, or phlebotomy and get into blood test labs. Consider Masters degree to get other jobs you cannot now like toxicology or occupational hygiene or supply chain logistics. Masters in chemical engineering gets you far away from labs while still being very technical. A short bookkeeping course gets you into finance pathways.
There is also life outside labs. Local government often has amazing benefits to make up for so-so salaries. Go apply to work at the DMV or something and plan to be there for a year or two, take a break from being in crappy entry level QC lab jobs.
1
u/Spiritual-Pear-6365 Apr 21 '26
Wow Thank you for the insight and honesty. I thinks of pressure of being fed that I need to choose one path and commit for life environment that I have been around for practically my whole college experience makes it hard to be more flexible. I do agree with you about learning better ways to mange mental and I am currently focusing on know myself better. I have learned along the way that money is not everything when compared to the place a person will work day in and out. I haven't done a good job of picking out employer's and ended up in more toxic environment than I wanted to. My last job I was excited about the idea of working there not only for what I could learn, but what I wanted to give to company. Needless, to say it turn out to be a bust. The interview left my with more questions than and I found out that they misrepresented something on job posting. However, the hard part with anything in life is if you need a job, you will have to take what you can get. Despite challenge such not having a vehicle and need more skills and knowledge, I guess maybe I should not give up on looking for an employer that I can be good fit for and vice versus.
1
Apr 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
QC is easy. You can already do that now. It's almost exactly the same as what you did working at Veolia. Testing the same water samples 40 times a day, every day, forever. It's mostly a technician role, even an undergraduate degree is often over-qualified.
Your are fortunate in that the two largest water treatment companies in the world are French-owned. Apply to Veolia or New Suez and they will make you into that person you want to be.
Pivot to engineering and you can work up in company as a scientist. Very valid career pathway. Your paint company or Veolia would let you do it. Get a QC job in a factory and eventually they need someone to go on shift or work in the process.
Masters in chemical engineering or process engineering by coursework is much faster. Two years and you are now the equivalent of a undergraduate chemical engineer. You can now start applying for engineering jobs. Almost certainly, you won't be in a laboratory. You will be in the operations team at the water treatment facility, on a career path to being a site manager or technical specialist.
Head QC scientist is more likely to be someone with a MS/PhD and about 10-20 years on the job experience. That seems like a long time away, but thats only 35-45 years of age, less than halfway through your working career. My favourite person to recruit for this is someone who worked as a field service technician for an instrument company. The person at Agilent who fixes everyone's broken machines.
In your job you will be hands on doing low-level QC work and then we start training you in regulatory compliance. ISO 17025, GMP/GLP, maybe something like EPA or the laws for drinking water quality. This takes a long time to gain sufficient experience.
Validation method scientist is usually a MS/PhD scientist with 10 years experience in regulatory compliance. You need the formal qualification, plus several years hands on experience. Typically, you get this job when you have your first child and want to leave the lab for a quiet simple office job with regular hours.
Once you are qualified in regulations such as ISO17025 or GMP/GLP, then we often hit you with ISO9001 and some legal training. You can now audit any type of method. You don't even need to understand what the tool is, you know what a "good" method looks like and all the tests to prove that method is good. You can apply it to a laboratory, welding operators, legal procedures, finanace - you know what good looks like and what investigations to prove it.
IMHO industry loves a Masters. Shows you are clever and a subject matter expert, but you aren't a R&D-only PhD scientist. We put you in a lab role for 2-5 years then promote you out of the lab into technical non-lab roles. Jobs you have never heard of, those back office middle-management roles middle aged people do and cannot explain what tasks they do. Read reports and send 4 e-mails a day type of job. Procurement, sales, "business management", brand managers, area managers, training specialists, internal auditors, health/safety/risk. Maybe even something like process engineer or process chemist in a manufacturing setting like water treatment. Keeping all the pumps and test equipment running by doing monitoring and hiring repair people as required.
1
u/kaaram015 Apr 17 '26
Books similar to that of Giancoli for chemistry
There's an excellent book called PHYSICS PRINCIPLES WITH APPLICATIONS by
DOUGLAS C. GIANCOLI for introduction to physics. I was wondering if there are equivalent good books for chemistry?
1
u/Ok_Staff_711 Apr 17 '26
I have gotten admitted to a Masters program in Chemistry at a Canadian grad school. Was wondering if anyone has any advice or tips. I am pursuing this because I am passionate about the field and want to be eligible for higher level roles, but the anxiety about the job market is making me overthink everything. Do I realistically have a chance at a good job, if I play my cards right? For context, I am interested in doing research in Chemical Biology. Any advice and tips are appreciated. TIA!!
1
u/aymanL04 Apr 18 '26
Hi.I am a biology student in Italy and I'm getting a degree.My plan is to become a molecular biologist,but i realized I probably more interest for the job prospect of a chemist than a biologist.Both field required a longer journey and not just a undergrad degree and I'm thinking of at least taking single courses(basically a minor in chemistry) to make my chemistry knowledge stronger.But I do not know I want to work in a lab for the rest of my life.The pay for the subject i'm interest is not very good unless you go into bio tech or pharma and gain experiences and maybe PHD.
My question is...knowing that I definitely tolerate math and physics(I even like thermodynamic quite a bit) and salary and versatility are important,should I do ChemE?
What If I do not like the engineering of it?I saw a lot of it regretting for reasons that will may be mine in the future,but I also saw people praising the versatility and the money and stability that gives them.I dont know what to do.
Yes I am very confused.
2
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 23 '26
Sad fact: engineers earn a lot more money than scientists, they have more job opportunities and better job retention.
ChemE is an engineering degree. By coincidence it happens to be engineering for factories that make chemicals.
Most ChemE stop taking chemistry or science subjects in about their 2nd year. It's mostly mathematics and logic subjects. You know, engineering.
Less known is there are research ChemE. About 25% of scientists will go to grad school, but only <5% of ChemE will. The ones that do are doing regular interesting fun research careers.
Hybrid, in the middle is materials science/chemistry/engineering. Less mathematics than ChemE, but still a lot more than most chemists/biologists will encounter.
1
u/a_black_rabbit Inorganic Apr 18 '26
So, I'm going to earn my bachelor's degree in ~2 weeks (Chemistry BSc). Ideally I'd be heading off to join a PhD program next... except I was rejected from all of the places that I applied to.
The general advice I've heard is to spend the time between cycles working and trying to improve your CV, but I'm struggling to figure out where to even start with that. A lot of research work seems to be for those currently working on higher degrees or postdocs, and I'd prefer to get a job in the meantime that'll actually contribute to my chances as opposed to, say, working in marketing.
I guess my question is, where do I even go from here? I certainly don't want to just sit on my ass for the next 6 months, but I'm feeling really lost right now.
1
u/rileymorgn Apr 18 '26
Hello all,
I am currently a chemistry undergrad student in the US, and I was wondering if anyone here could give me any advice or information on good places to work and live.
For some background, the top 3 fields I would like to go into (in no particular order) are environmental, rad, or polymer chemistry. I speak English, but I also know a good amount of German, and could learn more. I am also open to learning other languages. I am also interested in pursuing a master's degree, but probably not a PhD.
I am specifically looking for somewhere that I can get a good salary and low cost of living (of course). I have heard that there are places in the US that fit these categories, but I would also like to go elsewhere. I have heard good things about Germany, Switzerland, and Japan.
If anybody has any insight to this kind of thing, please give me your thoughts.
Thanks!
1
u/mommy_jpeg Apr 19 '26
I am graduating with my bachelor's in bio in May. I work for this outreach program at my university that is offering me a grad fellowship that includes tuition waiver + 1k/month stipend. I honestly am more into chemistry than biology (thank you orgo), but realized so late into my degree switching was not an option. I want to go into cosmetic science. I think mayber R&D or raw materials or something. I am honestly looking at QC as a way to get in since I did a certificate in it during undergrad. Anyway I wanted to go to grad school for cosmetic science specifically, but since I'm being offered the fellowship I guess a free masters in chem would make sense. I am asking you all because I don't really know anyone in a like science/lab industry to ask but does a masters in chem make sense for me?? I didn't really imagine myself going straight to a masters after undergrad but with this fellowship it feels silly to risk this kind of funding even if its not the perfect program. I am so stressed about it because I would want to do a thesis masters but the research my university does is so biochem/medical focused and idk I'm not into it. Do you think that my research not being more aligned with what I want to do is an issue for my longer term goal? Not being into that kind of stuff is why I want to switch to chem in the first place, but also I don't want to fumble an opportunity. I am open to any wake-up calls/hard truths. I'm also just not in a cosmetic science or biotech hub so I'm not overly anxious to enter the job market. Please I need insight/your experience/anything
1
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Industry loves a masters. If it's free tuition and you aren't worried about cost of living, definitely do it.
Brutally honest, right now is a terrible time to start the job search. Not many open jobs, since nobody is recruiting. You can apply for this and it buys you a few extra months to do job searches. You can always quit the scholarship at any time, it's a wonderful safety net for you right now.
About 50% of people who start grad school won't complete. For mostly good reasons too. It's perfectly normal to apply because you don't know what else to do or have any offers for jobs. You are allowed to change your mind after starting. Lots of people realize they hate academic lab work only after they start. Normal.
Unfrotunately, for cosmetics you don't need a degree at all. There are plenty of DIY cosmetics makers at the farmers market.
We also don't teach anything about cosmetics in university, at any level. The only people who get close are chemical engineers and pharmacists who take a single class, and they earn more money doing other jobs.
Biology is very big in cosmetics R&D right now. All the new hot sexy cool molecules are biomolecules. We all want cells or bacteria to make raw materials, feed it some sugar and it farts out the magic new hotness. Cool new enzymes or proteins. It's a gold rush right now.
Analytical chemistry for QC is common route. The Masters is very nice, since you will be competing against PhD scientists. I'll note: QC jobs pay poorly. Being the lab manager or quality specialist can be very nice, but there are way more entry-level low-salary jobs.
PhD in materials, inorganic, organic hemistry and you end up in R&D. You won't be making cosmetics. You will be trying to make new polymeric thickeners to make toothpaste costs $0.05 less per unit, or find new molecules to act as sunscreen, or new coatings to make pigments cheaper. It's really interesting and challenging, but you won't be touching the products like making lipstick. Your salary and expertise is too valuable elsewhere.
Formulation, or making stuff, that's all taught hands on by industry. Since nobody learns it at university, each industry does the teaching themselves. Chemists are easy to teach, but they will take any scientist. Biochemists, physicists, geologists, anyone who can read "science" words and use "science" machines.
Why we love a Masters. You are a subject matter expert but you aren't a hard-core R&D nerd who lives for research. We can hire you, put you in entry level lab roles for 2-5 years and then promote you out of the lab into other business roles. Things like sales, or procurement, or logistics/supply chain, or brand management.
We don't specifically care about your thesis subject. It's incredibly rare for any academic research to translate directly into industry work. We do care that you learned something in depth. The learning tools you discover we can use and point towards our industry problems.
IMHO find some "cosmetic companies" and search on LinkedIn. You can search by degree type. Have a look at your favourites, do they employ science masters grads? What are their job titles? When you google that job title, does it sound fun?
1
u/Aware-Emu-9146 Apr 20 '26
Just saw this job posting at Purdue pharma, paying $10.50/hr (technical services/pharmaceutical technology scientist). That pay rate can't be accurate can it?
Technical Services/Pharmaceutical Technology Scientist https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=3a469a54f52a6a30&from=appshareandroid
Job Summary Primarily responsible for transfer and validation of new products/ processes into production, scale-up/manufacturing development, product transfer, and optimization. The major objective is to ensure successful new product transfer to production and proper training of production personnel in any new process and/or equipment. Key objectives include troubleshooting and reformulation of problem products, providing technical expertise and support to production Quality investigations. Other key objectives include generation, execution, and reporting of products, cleaning, and equipment validation protocols. Additional objectives include new production equipment selection and evaluation, rework evaluation of rejected batches and new/existing raw material evaluation.
Primary Responsibilities Coordinate the scale-up batches of new products and processes including such tasks as batch record preparation, scheduling, raw material acquisition, supervising batch manufacture, etc.
Identify potential product/process improvements of existing commercial dosage forms. Present proposals to optimize formula and product flow and implement changes after management approval.
Responsible for development of potential product/process activities for new products. Will present proposals to optimize formula and product flow.
Provide technical assistance to Production, as needed, to solve problems as they occur on the shop floor. This responsibility includes both troubleshooting of active products on the shop floor and potential rework procedures for failed batches.
Responsible for new equipment evaluation. Will interface with engineering and equipment manufacturers to ensure proper installation and operation of the new equipment. Will be responsible for coordination of all activities to transfer new equipment to production, including training as required for both supervisors and operators.
Evaluate and qualify alternate sources of raw materials. Maintain compliance with Controlled substance documentation and accountability procedures while maintaining high level to diversion and theft possibilities.
Coordinate, develop and prepare protocols for process / product validation studies, including cleaning and equipment validation.
Prepare validation reports, including data analysis, conclusions and recommendations.
Coordinate the execution of validation studies with production scheduling. This may also include review and execution of protocols developed by other individuals. Perform other related assignments and duties as required and assigned.
Education and Experience BS degree in Chemistry, Biology or Engineering with a minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in the fields of Pharmaceutical Product Development and/or Process Development; Master’s degree and 4 years of experience. Necessary Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Advanced knowledge of process development methodologies, including current validation concepts, with a strong working understanding of cGMP requirements and FDA and DEA regulations. Demonstrated expertise in the operation and oversight of pharmaceutical production equipment, including high shear granulators, fluid bed processors, solution preparation systems, weighing and dispensing systems, milling and blending equipment, tablet compression machines, and encapsulators. Ability to direct batch manufacturing activities, ensure compliance with SOPs and safety standards, and provide hands on guidance to production operators. Comprehensive knowledge of pharmaceutical unit operations, particularly as they relate to solid oral dosage forms. Proven capability to apply sound scientific judgment and make timely decisions during process development, design of experiments (DOE), and batch manufacturing activities. Demonstrated ability to develop original, data driven solutions to optimize formulations and manufacturing processes. Proven experience coordinating and executing process scale up activities, recognizing that scale up strategies vary by product and require customized technical and operational approaches. Strong capability in protocol development, including selection of appropriate study designs to demonstrate process consistency and product acceptability. This requires independent research, technical originality, cross functional collaboration, effective use of internal resources, and strong time management skills. Proficient in the preparation of technical reports, including analysis and interpretation of data against specifications and acceptance criteria. All documentation must comply with cGMPs, FDA regulations, clinical requirements, and current validation practices. Responsible for investigating, documenting, and justifying all process deviations, discrepancies, and variations Periodically, the Scientist may encounter unexpected production problems as well as process deviations during the execution of studies.
1
u/Indemnity4 Materials Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Something is certainly wrong...
Engineering with a minimum of 5-7 years’ experience
That's at least a $150k if not $250k / year salaried job in NC. At the lower end a quality specialist will be getting approx. $100k. It should not have an hourly component. I would expect you pay more than that hourly rate just to have this person on-call.
Check the Purdue careers website.
1
u/Playful_Bad8891 Apr 25 '26
hi i am in my second year of Bsc in chemistry . everyone in my batch is aiming for IIT JAM chemistry but lately i have realized i do not like pure chemistry i want to work in interdicsplinary things like AI/ML in drug dicovery or healthtech . i thought of switching my field to engineering but i do not how as in India for mtech we need msc . tell me as per my above mentioned situation which exam i should prepare now and tell me according to my intrest what are high paying jobs in india
7
u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment