Long-Term Prospects

Long-Term Prospects

Job Satisfaction

59%

General quality of life statement

The feeling of jubilance that graced you the first time you blew up the kitchen is likely to stick with you as you science your way up the career ladder. Chemical engineers are happy with their jobs more often than not (on more often than people in general).

If you become the director of Research and Development at a large corporation, you can look forward to world travel, stock options, and the prestige of speaking at seminars and trade shows. It's not all about the money and perks either. A lot of that job satisfaction is probably because they feel they are making a real difference in the world. Also because they still get to do science experiments as a grown up.

However…

If you've got nothing but moolah on your mind, you're in luck. Chemical engineers make some major dough over the course of a career (and not just in food science by developing stronger leavening agents). If you want to move into management oriented positions, you could make a lot of money. 

Sure it's a little more separated from the creative end of the job, and you may not have as many warm fuzzies at the end of the day, but you will have money. Which can usually buy warm fuzzies at least.

25th Percentile Salary

$60,000

Median Salary

$86,000

75th Percentile Salary

$120,000

Stats obtained from this source.