Chemical Engineer
Tom is a chemical engineer. He studied a lot of chemistry during his bachelor's degree, as well as math and physics. He then qualified as a Professional Engineer by taking an exam. He could have chosen to work in almost any sector, since chemicals are used or produced in many different industries, but he decided to work for a company that produces chemicals for industrial use.
The company that Tom works for also employs research chemists, who come up with new ideas for useful chemicals that the company should manufacture. Tom and his fellow chemical engineers then try to find a safe and cost effective way of producing that chemical.
Tom begins the day at his computer. He is designing a new production process for a chemical that will be used in the plastics industry. Once he has made some progress on his design, Tom goes through his email and phone messages. As usual, he spends the next hour or so returning calls and sending emails. He has many different things to discuss with people who are working with him on different projects, some of which are still at the design stage, others are being tested, while some are being refined to reduce costs. He also talks to chemical engineers working at the opposite end of the production process. They are responsible for quality control, and they can help Tom to refine his designs to reduce any problems that they have noticed.
After lunch, Tom meets with the rest of his team to discuss progress on the design. They are working together to come up with a design that is as safe and efficient as possible.
Tom often has a very heavy workload. He has to deal with all of the different parts of the company, which always has numerous ongoing projects that require chemical engineers. He has to be able to organize his time as efficiently as possible, and to cope with many different projects simultaneously. He occasionally works overtime, but is usually able to go home to his family in time for dinner.
