Careers in chemical engineering are expected to continue rising at a rate of 4% annually over the next decade. You need a diverse range of abilities, both technical and interpersonal ones, to succeed in this field.
These are the 7 core competencies that chemical engineers should have.
1. Chemical engineers need to be good analysts
Chemical engineering is a field that requires analytical abilities including critical thinking, logical reasoning, and data analysis. If you can figure out why something isn’t working as expected or why a product isn’t functioning as intended, you must be able to analyse the problem and solve it.
2. Chemical engineers should have excellent maths skills
Those with chemical engineering jobs in Cape Town rely heavily on mathematics in their work. The majority of your day is spent dealing with numbers, especially if you work in a lab and use sophisticated computer programs and comprehensive theoretical models.
Thermodynamics, process design and control, and chemical processes all make use of mathematics.
3. Chemical engineers should be good project managers
A chemical engineer in a management position must be able to effectively assign work, inspire and direct team members, keep everyone on schedule, and guarantee excellent results.
You’ll need this ability if you want to advance in your chosen field. You may hone this talent as you advance in chemical engineering jobs in Cape Town.
4. Chemical engineers must be able to foster good working relationships
The crisis in soft skills is often cited by human resources departments as a major issue in today’s workplace. This discussion also includes interpersonal abilities, or lack thereof.
Many contemporary workplaces lack employees with the requisite skills for effective collaboration, behaviour, dispute resolution, and sometimes even social etiquette. Therefore, chemical engineers need to have strong interpersonal skills despite their reputation for logical problem solving.
As such, if you want to work well with others and eventually manage a team, you’ll need to have strong interpersonal skills.
5. Chemical engineers must be problem solvers
It is important to be able to think critically and creatively in order to solve problems when working in chemical engineering.
Chemical engineers use chemical, biological, and mathematical concepts to the manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, foods, fuels, and a wide variety of other consumer and industrial goods in order to solve a wide variety of problems.
6. Chemical engineers must be able to analyse data
If they are to make use of the vast data stores at their disposal, chemical engineers need to have access to data science tools.
Working with data on a daily basis—from storing it to visualising it—can help you arrive at the appropriate conclusions, write the right code, and carry out the right procedures.
As data is an essential part of any engineering area, it is a technical ability that chemical engineers can easily acquire.
7. Chemical engineers must be skilled scientists
It may seem obvious that chemical engineers require a strong background in science, but there’s actually a lot more to it than that.
By employing concepts from fields such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, and technology, you are, at the very least, following the principles and techniques of science in order to achieve your goals. Therefore, it is crucial to have a firm grasp of these scientific areas.
With the above listed essential skills, your career as a chemical engineer should be plain sailing.
