Designing equipment is more of a chemical engineers job. Mechanical designs pumps etc. Most equipments already been designed to its max because of the petroleum industry. That’s why I’m recommending just getting as much experience as you can. Experience is what makes you different from the next person.
I’m from Hampton Roads and it would take a lot of money to get me to go back there.
It’s a great place if you love the government and drunk military.
That said, cannabis grows insanely well in Virginia, specially Hampton roads and the lack of a cannabis community means there are very few pests and molds compared to cannabis dominant states, no PM ever, only ever had white fly back there.
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Hey, thanks for the advice! A lot of people are suggesting I utilize my engineering degree, but I’m not sure there is a path for me there (barring a personal connection, anything is possible). I just looked up an engineer position at Green Mill and I am laughably under qualified considering they need 3-5 years experience in mechanical design and drafting programs. I’m sure entry level positions exist, but my focus was on biomedical engineering and I cannot see that translating any time in the future.
I’m unfortunately stuck with slogging through tech positions until I’m “noticed”
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Honeywell will hire you as a Production Supervisor in the Richmond area for 90-110k. Also look into AdvanSix in the Richmond VA area. Neither are the greatest places to work, but the pay is good and you can move from Production Supervisor to Production Engineer in 18mo.
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The best teams I’ve ever witnessed in a lab was a mechanical engineer + chemist. Do what you will with that information…
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After reading what you’ve said, there needs to be more mechanical engineers in the industry. Chemists do not know how to work machines, work with pumps, test for vacuum… Most don’t even know what calipers are. There is more than enough room for mechanical engineers.
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Hire a chemical engineer? heh
keyword: engineer. If I was a chemical engineer in this industry, I’d be asking for 200k+ because that is how much the knowledge is worth. To have your lab operating seamlessly, you need both fields covered.
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All of my coworkers were chemical engineers at my previous company; don’t hire fresh grads unless you’re willing to teach them the industrial side. They show up woefully unprepared (“What’s that?” “It’s a pump” “ohhhhhh”) to apply their knowledge.
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Speaking as a chemist, I think the skillset in this industry really applies to a mechanic or engineer. It is helpful to understanding the chemistry for a process, But a lot of the work is really production labor.
I know there are entities doing reactions and synthesis for the minor cannabinoids, but once these methods scale up and become efficient for industrial operations, I question just how favorable the labor market will be for degreed chemists. By and large most of the work in this space is running some kind of machine/apparatus, being able to wrench a bolt and turn valves on an extractor seem more valuable than pushing electrons on a white board at this juncture. At some point, when this industry matures, I anticipate we will stop using the word “Lab” to describe what is really a Production Facility.
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This is a huge issue with undergrads not having experience and I don’t blame them at all. The education is in no way focused on practical applications as professors train you to be little professors (most of which never had any industrial experience). There is roughly a 10% placement rate over the board for undergrad engineers which puts most of them in jobs they were not trained for. I understand not knowing about pumps is a face palm moment but I don’t think that should disqualify someone from a hire considering it doesn’t take long to figure out what a pump looks like. It’s a super hard catch 22 to swallow for a young professional.
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818-943-1156. Let’s chat.
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Good firms recognize potential above experience. Good firms are hard to find. Even tougher with the cannibis busness crowd. Look everywhere and be open to paths currently unknown.
What distinguishes you from peers? I have worked with plenty of practicing engineers in the building field and just like every other profession there is a slim margin of folks killing it…most just show up.
Smart, passionate, and hardworking…most folks can make a great go at anything if they have 2 of the 3…if you got it, keep looking hard and you will find your spot.
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Good companies are hard to find and people working there stay at those jobs. Like I said before only about 10% of the engineers being pumped out of the school system every year are getting jobs as engineers. There’s a wealth of talent and very few places for it to go.
What distinguished me from my peers I though was going to be my good grades at a top university. I was wrong. Factors more powerful than skills and knowledge: family wealth/connections, personality, race/gender.
From my experience about 1/3 of my peers were smart and would count as the “slim margin of folks killing it” the rest were just slightly above average intelligence as you mentioned and just show up.
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Candid observation and not hating…trying to help…sounds a little like a mix of entitlement and excuses.
Hardwork plus smarts and passion will over come all the “reasons” or “excuses” you have stated above.
I’d be careful with placing blame on others birth rights rather than fruit of your own passions and labor.
Blaming others for our own misfortunes, will never lead to personal success.
Own your shit and tirelessly pursue what you care about. The rest will come.
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Well Kala, I appreciate your feedback but I disagree. You can’t just make enough opportunities for everyone and you can’t just will yourself into a better job. I don’t know what to tell you but this is my experience and the experience of almost every single person my age is that when shit hit the fan, only the ones with connections survived. Everyone else was scrounging for the scraps (not to say there weren’t or still aren’t opportunities).
Honestly, you were also pretty rude and dismissive of engineers which upset me. A ton of super smart and talented people are working day jobs that don’t pay well and have no advancement. I can’t tell you how many friends from college have just given up and are not even looking anymore and it kills me. Please have maybe a shred of empathy for people who’s lives did not turn out anywhere near where they thought they would be.
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Huh, doesn’t look like they singled out engineers at all…
But I agree with you that the idea that we live in a meritocracy is a full on lie perpetrated by those unwilling to see how their own priviledge (skin color, name, education etc) help them in many ways.
I also agree with the person saying that personal preference and effort are a key to success…
What is the truth is that some people get handed things that others have to bust ass to get…
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This is where I took offense. It’s hard to understand what they are saying here but I take it as most of the engineers they encounter are checked out and just “show up”. Also re-reading this it seems their only encounters have been with building engineers who are not exactly what I consider engineers as they don’t need degrees and don’t actually design anything.
Maybe this will sound a bit harsh, so take it as you will, but I think you should change your attitude a little bit. I’ll tell you right now, I’ve always applied to jobs where I didn’t meet the job posting criteria.
“Requires Masters degree in Chemistry” I have a bachelors, too bad I’ll apply anyway. Got the job.
“Requires XXX experience” Well, I don’t have direct experience with that, but I am confident in my ability to self teach, I understand the theory, and I can figure it out as I go. I’ll apply anyway. Got the job.
What I’m trying to say is, you would be surprised how many companies will put stuff on public job postings for the sole intent of turning away people who might not be confident in themselves or their own ability. As many others here have said, often employers look for potential. That’s why the interview itself is so important.
I would say, apply to all of those jobs, regardless of what they state are the requirements. Sure, some might be quite a bit of a stretch, but I would wager there have been a few job postings out there where you told yourself “I don’t have the qualifications they want…but the job description is something I could definitely do”.
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I don’t have a college degree but the way I’m passionate of what I do and how hard I strive to make our company successful stands me out from the crew. I’d say stay where you work now, learn as much as you can about the industry and every product that’s manufacturable and someone will notice you for your talents an passion not so much for your degree. I’ve spoken to gentle man with high education levels and it’s pretty cool when they ask me where I went to school because they think I have a degree in chemistry or something just by the way I present my self and my work. I read some people saying how some worker just show up, that’s very true. So don’t just show up, show up and put in work. I started off @ 15$ an hour now I have equity and get paid double that. Just saying bro keep on pushing and make connections. Communication is key.
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