finally, I have the idea what to write in my blog and it is about chemical engineering.
I just read the article about what is chemical engineering is all about and there is one definition, which I found the best to explain about chemical engineering. It is, manipulating matter by manipulating energy. Yup, that is correct, because all stuffs I learn, it is all about two things, matters and energy. So, it is all what is about. Plus, about the subjects that we learnt, the first year, we are introduced subjects like physical chemistry, organic chemistry and some divisions of mathematics. This is important to enhance our basics first before we are moving into the core of chemical engineering. The next years, we learn core subject like material energy balance, thermodynamics, process control and reactor design. But, from all of these subjects, from article I read, there are two subjects that which we need to master, process control and reactor design. So, it is the basic of chemical engineering.
However, there are few issues that were bring up or discussed and it is about the curriculum. Rethinking the chemical engineering, of course will be a benefit to students because the only way for us to know about the industry is only from internship, but only if you are in a company that really give you full exposure about what you learn. For me, I do have love PETRON refinery because it's always being my dream to work in a refinery but it is just I am not fit or should be in SSHE department because I do believe I fit somewhere. Although I am assigned in SSHE department, I am lucky enough because I can follow engineer from Process Engineer and Computing (PEC) department and just last week, I am assigned in a project. So yeah! another project for me and I am pretty exciting for this one. Although this project is only for short term, I am glad because I learn something and it is technical. Besides, I also learn how to calculate the material balance. It is not like I learnt in material energy balance, which is Input + Generation - Output - Consumption = Production because from what I understand, we are using level of tank to calculated the amount of product yielded every day. So, thanks to level controller and transmitter because of its, we dont have to do the material balance for every section. There are more things to learn, but I am happy, because still have 5 months left to learn and I should use this chances to involved in more projects. and yeah, kitorang rugi sbb we come a month late before the shutdown because seriously, when the plant shutdown, there are a lot of things you can learn. what a waste =)
Also, there are a lot thing going on now. Too many things because just one year to go for studying as final year students, after this will shoot for job. Engineer, In Shaa Allah. But from what I check, just searching for a few vacancies in engineering field, mostly they prefer experiences. yes, at least five years. it is gonna be hard because for the time being, I am planning to work in small company, maybe not too globally company, try to work for one year and after that, will try my luck in dream job. and refinery and offshore, is my priority. I really hope I can =)
and the hard thing to do for final year, is choosing the major. Choosing your major will decide what type of engineer will you be. There are many types of engineer and still, I dont know how to differentiate and what are their job scopes. process engineer, technical engineer, drilling engineer, project engineer and etc. I dont even know what are their job scopes. So, how the heck I will know what type of engineer I want to be and what major should I choose if I want to be that kind of engineer? Still there are a lot things, stuffs to think about and during this internship period, it is the moment, the break that I should choose so that I can think of my future. Enough with the entertainment, I think I need to read more about engineering stuffs, packed myself with the knowledge related with the industry because it will be benefit me and the first thing to do, is to know type of engineers that we have and what they do. Choose one wisely and do happy with the decision that I make because when you choose or have a job that you love, you will be never sigh about it. Ever.
Let's add more. I think this internship period is the best time for me to recap everything that I have learnt in UTP because from the article that I read (http://auroraanalytics.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/what-is-chemical-engineering/) theoritical knowledge is the most important one. You should know the basic things about chemical engineering because never ever forget what you learnt from the past because youa re going to applying it in industry. Trust me, at first it seems tricky but from my senior trainnee, she said that the formulae that you learn in chemical engineering, actually it is applied in industry. So, it is better to have basic knowledges. So, using this internship period to studying all basic things because one more thing, we are going to apply this when designing plant for plant design I and it is a project where we are going to apply everything that learn from material balance to equipment but this time, with help of software called hysys. It is like the same with Icon that I used to study in material balance and energy, but this one is kind majority of people use. I really have no idea how to use hysys but using this break to study about hysys is a bonus. It is a chemical process simulation and I will try to master it before going back to UTP for my final year but to find the software will be a problem, but I already have the tutorial. So, good luck on that.
So, internship is not about you learn more about industry but it is also a break that you should use to recap everything that you learnt in pass and also, to explore more about what you will face in the future. I know it seems hard to achieve this because we go work from 8am to 5pm, back home we are exhausted already and sleep early at night but hey, who said you have to learn everyday? every night? just studying a few will do. good luck of achieving this, I will try my best to prepare myself for the battle with other 100++ chemical engineering students from University of Technology Petronas.
On the other words, what made me want to share this? Three things. First, the article I read is really moving. It motivated me, to be a real engineer, knowing the basic of engineering, know what to do and where to apply this and that. Second, I keep thinking, how can I make myself difference from the other students, so that I am special enough, different from other, because a company that want to hire you, looking for someone who is different. Third, it is a shame when I open a forum which is related to chemical engineering, and you dont know what kind of stuff they talk. It would be nice if you have the knowledges and you can talk with them, share your opinion. Because I feel annoyed because I forgot more than half of stuff I learn from my previous semesters. All in all, it is time to pick up back everything. so, all the BEST.
