So I am a 30+ year professional in the chemical industry, mostly in organic process R&D. I'm 63 and still in the lab, though I also lead a group of chemists. I started out in a large company at a "Research Center". I started doing discovery research with a group of 6-7 other Ph.D's. I transitioned to plant support (they bought a petrochemical plant), then back to product development. When we all got laid off (5 years after a 250 million dollar investment into specialty chemicals) we transitioned into a privately held company in the same building (went from 150 people to 17!). Since then we have grown to 50 and were just bought by a larger privately held company. I would say that my time working for a smaller organization was more fulfilling, in that we got more done. Less meetings, no multi level management layers, etc.. I think that if the larger company would have held on I would have transitioned into technical management. But at the smaller company it was more like a startup, where everyone did what it took to succeed (I worked in the pilot plan moving drums, working on our 100 gal reactor, etc..). Not sure what's going to happen in the future, but I will say that if you are good at what you do, if you don't slack off, these things get noticed most of the time. I worked my way up to be the "key guy" for problems that came up within all areas of our operations. So I knew that my job was secure, in the absence of bankruptcy or other disaster.
Thank you for sharing! I agree if you are the best at what you do you'll be important in the short to medium term, but my fear and suspicion is that long term in 30 years the jobs we do now might not exist anymore.
Could be, but 30 years ago there were chemists, so hopefully in 30 years there still will be. Or perhaps "material scientists" etc.. They don't call chemistry "the central science" for nothing. What I think will disappear (and is currently disappearing) are the large corporate chemical research labs.
So I am a 30+ year professional in the chemical industry, mostly in organic process R&D. I'm 63 and still in the lab, though I also lead a group of chemists. I started out in a large company at a "Research Center". I started doing discovery research with a group of 6-7 other Ph.D's. I transitioned to plant support (they bought a petrochemical plant), then back to product development. When we all got laid off (5 years after a 250 million dollar investment into specialty chemicals) we transitioned into a privately held company in the same building (went from 150 people to 17!). Since then we have grown to 50 and were just bought by a larger privately held company. I would say that my time working for a smaller organization was more fulfilling, in that we got more done. Less meetings, no multi level management layers, etc.. I think that if the larger company would have held on I would have transitioned into technical management. But at the smaller company it was more like a startup, where everyone did what it took to succeed (I worked in the pilot plan moving drums, working on our 100 gal reactor, etc..). Not sure what's going to happen in the future, but I will say that if you are good at what you do, if you don't slack off, these things get noticed most of the time. I worked my way up to be the "key guy" for problems that came up within all areas of our operations. So I knew that my job was secure, in the absence of bankruptcy or other disaster.
Thank you for sharing! I agree if you are the best at what you do you'll be important in the short to medium term, but my fear and suspicion is that long term in 30 years the jobs we do now might not exist anymore.
Could be, but 30 years ago there were chemists, so hopefully in 30 years there still will be. Or perhaps "material scientists" etc.. They don't call chemistry "the central science" for nothing. What I think will disappear (and is currently disappearing) are the large corporate chemical research labs.