How Chemical Engineering at Birmingham prepares you for the real world

When you tell people you do Chemical Engineering you get one of two responses: people either nod admiringly or say “wow, that sounds hard.” (my dad still doesn’t know what I actually do). And yes, whilst it is very hard, studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham is more than just equations and heat exchangers; it’s a sneak peak into adulting (scary I know). Here’s the ways I've found that the University sneaks in real world prep while we’re too distracted trying to submit projects on time.

Group Projects

Let’s start with the forbidden topic: group work. You might roll your eyes when you hear the words "group project", but honestly I think it’s the most accurate training you’ll get for life after uni. Whether it’s trying to coordinate 5/6 people’s schedules because people are insistent on an in-person meeting (zoom exists for a reason FYI), chasing someone who hasn’t contributed since week 1 or presenting a project proposal like you totally didn’t finish at 6am the night before… I think that classes us as grown-ups now.

You learn time management, leadership, communication and even the distinguished skill of not crashing out (does still happen) when everything is seemingly going wrong. These are what companies class as “transferrable skills”, lightbulb moment! Employers love this stuff, maybe even more than your actual degree classification (don’t quote me).

Career Fairs

UoB’s career fairs happen not just once a year but at multiple different occasions. In first year these visits consisted of chatting to someone from XYZ company when you had literally googled “what does XYZ do” like a minute before.

These fairs are amazing because they bring in real companies who actively look to employ students. Even if you’re not applying then and there, you get a feel for what’s out there, what companies are looking for and how to awkwardly but confidently say “I’m in my second year and just exploring options” while only just learning what those options are.

Guest Speakers

We’ve had people from all kinds of industries give talks in our lectures, from oil and gas giants like ExxonMobil to finance operations at Amazon. These talks really help connect the dots between what we’re learning (that might feel pointless at times) and where we could actually end up. Sometimes they even tell you about their career journeys (that had multiple unexpected plot twists) which is somewhat comforting when you’re in the middle of trying to decide if you want to stick to traditional process engineering or swerve somewhere else. Spoiler: most people don’t figure that out for a while and that’s okay.

The picture below is from a women's circle with the Head of International Capital Planning at Amazon who also delivered a lecture on project financing to us second years!

Site Visits

Now onto what I thought was quite a fun part of second year: site visits. These aren’t just educational, they’re eye-openers. I chose to visit the PepsiCo plant in Leicester and got to see how crisps are made... yes, CRISPS (we definitely didn’t take one too many freebies…)!! Even though we just stuck to the R&D area there were giant machines and conveyor belts - it felt like we were on one of those behind the scenes documentaries.

It’s one thing to design a process on paper and plan process safety, but actually implementing and seeing it running in real life is so interesting. You realise how much goes into these systems: safety, automation, human operators, quality checks. It makes that shambolic P&ID diagram you constructed feel very real. Majority of the chemical engineers we speak to have at least one story about a near miss…who knew food engineering could be so dangerous!

That being said, this site visit reaffirmed my decision to not pursue a degree in traditional chemical engineering for a variety of reasons that all total down to my personal preferences and what I want out of life. It’s equally as helpful finding out what you don’t want to do than what you do.

Final Thoughts

Beyond the formal stuff, this degree forces you to grow up a little bit. Balancing labs, lectures, internship hunting and maybe even part-time jobs means you learn to manage your time and take care of yourself.

Chemical Engineering at UoB is a hard work I won’t sugar-coat that but every chaotic group project, networking event, speaker session and unexpectedly exciting site visit is designed to prep you for what comes next - whether that’s a big-girl job, further studies or taking a break to figure it all out (my current plan).

So yeah, this degree doesn’t just teach you to be a Chemical Engineer. It teaches you to survive the real world - with a few crisps along the way.