Chemical Engineer seeking Career Advice?

Question

Graduated with two year diploma in mechanical engineering in 2001 and then Graduated in B.S chemical engineering in 2005 (with average grades).

Worked as an instrument engineer for one year after school in the mining industry. Just recently joined a construction firm doing contruction engineering to the oil and gas sector.

Ambition is to hold a managerial/senior position in a oil refinery down the road. But till now lacking pure technical experience. Most of my work presently involved project/construction managment that includes, estimation, budgeting, cost controling and helping the contruction phase of oil gas engineering as opposed to design.

My question is weather this experience will help me move into managment level at the oil refinery later on down the road or would I have to gain technical experience (which a few people suggest is good, but due to average grades finding it hard to break into the refinining enviroment directly) and plus lots of work politics.

Thx

Answer 1

how about getting an online 2 year mba degree. you should be able to ace the classes. they are less technical than engineering. you can do the work right on the website during your off hours. now instesad of an engneer as you say with mediocre grades looking to move up the ladder, youre an MBA who has actual engineering experience.

Answer 2

The skills needed to be a good engineer and the skills needed to be a good manager are different. There is one school of business thought that says a good manager can manage anything. There is some truth to this but it is also true that, working in very technical areas, such as oil refining, a good understanding of the technology is critical to making good business decisions. This is particularly true when responding to significant technical issues that are impacting the business. Often times (basically always) you do not have all the technical answers you would like to have and, in business, there are times when decisions need to be made on a timeline whether you have all the answers you want or not. In these cases, the best decisions are made on the available evidence and on the best guesses of the technical folks involved. Even technical experts may not agree on the root cause or the "right" answer and the manager's role is to make the decision. good luck