Julie’s profile
I am a Principal Process Engineer working on a manufacturing site for a major pharmaceutical company (GlaxoSmithKline). I get involved in plant trials, detailed design, hands-on commissioning, software specification, environmental improvements, compliance with health, safety & environmental legislation, managing a budget, troubleshooting and optimisation – and all of this is to make something which improves people's lives. I have also mentored junior engineers over the past few years. I find this develops me in terms of understanding what is important to young graduates and in improving my leadership skills.
At school, my preferred subjects were chemistry, physics and maths. My chemistry teacher suggested chemical engineering. The course profile and the variety of work appealed to me. Strathclyde University had a good reputation for chemical engineering at the time (and still does) so it was my first choice.
Prospects in chemical engineering are very good. A Chemical Engineering qualification means having skills which transfer easily across a wide variety of industries. If you want a challenging job with plenty of variety this is an ideal career. Chemical engineers are highly technical but require good communication skills to work with a broad range of people, such as operators, contractors, other technical workers, accountants and managers.
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