lawseph:
yeah tnx amare, I represent MEE for life.

rhymz: The only aspect of engineering that can be compared to Mech Eng is Electrical engineering.
Even in the Universities, the engineering faculties are usually led by Mech and Electrical departments. Those departments usually take applications from the best prospective engineering students, FACT! It is in these two departments that one finds the créme de la créme of the engineering faculty.
Chemical engineering is good no doubt but not as good as mechanical engineering in so many regards. Really?


1. Mechanical Engineering has wider applications than chemical engineering. You would be hard pressed to go to any kind of factory or engineering firms without mech engineers or department.
What gives you the impression that mechanical engineering has wider implications? It will interesting you to know that there is hardly any process that does not involve chemical/process engineers. While I appreciate the importance of every engineering discipline I would appreciate it if you let me know the core guys behind large-scale manufacture of pharmaceuticals, waste-water treatement, biomedical and biomedical engineering, polymer product, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, refining, steel manufacture, cement manufacture, just to name a few. The simple truth is that for virtually every product you use on your daily basis, process/chemical engineers are involved at one stage or the other

2. You are twice more likely to get a Job in today's Nigeria with a degree in mech Engineering than with a degree in chemical engineering. While one has limited job search, the other has a wider job search opportunities.
How? Nigeria is not a manufacturing country and core technical services are sourced from abroad, except you are referring to mechanics and electrcians and I know for sure that paper knowledge does not translate to technical competence

3. It is easier to switch jobs from one area of engineering field to another especially when you have a background in mechanical or electrical engineering.
On what basis? Guess on theoretical knowledge that is half-baked

4. With mechanical engineering skills, one can easily set up a mechanical workshop and be self-employed without having to worry about securing a huge loan to set up like would have been the case if it were chemical engineering skills.
Guess I understand you better now cos mechanical workshop to you is the koko

5. And I beg to disagree with a poster that claimed that chemical engineers make more money than mech engineers in thesame firm, that is so not true. If you go to production, manufacturing firms or any other engineering firms, most of the times, engineers in thesame levels recieve thesame salaries in thesame range.
Apart from specialist IT/software engineering guys and petroleum engineers in offshore, no other catergory of engineers earn as much as chemical engineers. Google it and you will find out more

Unlike chemical engineering with limited areas of specialization, mechanical engineering has more specializations that can only be compared to say electrical or computer sciences. Chemical engineers can't work in the absence of mech engineers but the reverse is very possible and that is because to an extent, chemical engineering is subsumed in mech engineering, most of what one sees in chemical engineering is a branch in mechanical enginneering known as thermodynamics. I can go on and on
Chemical engineering that I know of today is so wide in terms of specialization (nuclear, pharmaceutical, environmental, energy, process systems, biomedical, biochemical, genetic, nanotechnology, matrials, etc) to the extent that people in one area hardly know anything in other areas.......

UzohBlaise: Chemical eng is all abt processes involving maintainace and operation of chemical plants. Both are versatile. but dont underate a chemical engr when it comes 2 labour market. Am proud 2 be a process Engr.

The_Matrix: Chemical Engineering = applying Chemistry to Mechanical Engr, its just an offshoot/branch of Mech ENgr... Its like trying to compare a fruit with the main tree>>>NEXT plsss

jomonic: Both are good. but the mechanical engineer is more vasertile because he can also become a chemical engineer or a process engineer and can adapt very well in the construction industry. The chemical engineer can do same but from the university they seem to be biased towards management of chemical processes in the chemical plant. this to me is overspecialization for a discpline that has drawn equally from the same body of knowlegde as the mechanical engineer.

jonnycheddars: The last time i saw such a comparison was over a decade ago while we were still trying to fill JAMB form in hard copy......its the jet age,most disciplines are intertwined now....grow up!

No Qualms:

Are you a FUTArian?

Integrafamoo: They are just big names. With the level of Nigeria job viability, chemical is preferable but i will rather advise people to go for any building related course: Less tedious but more lucrative.

UzohBlaise: Chemical eng is all abt processes involving maintainace and operation of chemical plants. Both are versatile. but dont underate a chemical engr when it comes 2 labour market. Am proud 2 be a process Engr.

paooxide: This is the most inspiring topic.. I have encountered so far about careers on NL...
@ mechanical engineers,., so u guys are even many, and u do not even show up to answer any questions that the upcoming mech. Eng graduates nd students ask (thats bad o)..But wait am a mechatronics stud. <And i need some guardiance,..please Any mech. Engnr that can help me on it>

MECHATRONICS ALL

THE WAY JOOR

ocelot2006: Oh well, Electrical & Electronics engineering rules over all

eelvismd:



In summary, all engineering disciplines are important and I don't subscribe to the idea that one of them is more important because engineering is team work and in every product/system is contribution from all members of the family

Kelvin0: Mechanical Engineers are saddist....Chemical rocksssss

rhymz: Guy do you have any industry experience at all?
If the argument was about which of the two is more difficult to study then of course my answer would have been Chemical Engineering cos I know it deals with a lot of in depth mathematics and chemistry.
It depends because what is easy to one may look difficult to another. Again I cannot say one is easier than the other


But in general terms with regards to which one of the two comes handy in industries generally, it is a known fact that mechanical engineering has wider applications in industries, even industries strictly limited to chemicals and pharmaceuticals still use mech engineers, go figure. Whereas you wont need a
chemical engineer in a machine design and instrumention industry for instance.
I think you are getting it all wrong because you are only looking at it from the hardware point of view. The truth is that for every machine designed by mechanical and electrical engineers, contributions invariably come from other members of the engineering family. Have you thought about the materials design at micro/nano scale, including corrosion prevention and/or the best coatings to be used, because the machine you are referring to has to operate in an environment and you certainly want a minimum service life before talking about overhaul.

Compared to the Mechanical engineering field that very vast, versatile and old in study, chemical engineering is relatively new and still expanding, hence the field has more Research and Development grants, with loads of researchers in the field.
In as much as I agree with you that mechanical engineering is older, you certainly cannot refer to a discipline that is more than a century old as relatively new. As for chemical engineering still expanding, you are absolutely right. In fact, chemical engineers are going to be major players in ensuring sustainable development for the future (i.e. meeting rising energy demands while preserving our environment from excessive pollution)


In terms of Job opportunities especially with regards to the Nigerian industries, mech engineers get 3 times more Job placements than their chemical engineer counterparts. It is easy cos most of our engineering firms are into assembly/packaging aspect of engineering, the parts that would have needed the expertise of chemical engineers usually are done by abroad before they are used here in Naija industries.
I agree with you on that because Nigeria is not an example to use for objective comparison of the constituents part that make up the engineering family. Besides, the real aspect of core engineering is not even the hardware but the thinking process behind the hardware


What they need most of the times are maintenance engineers (who are usually mech and electrical engineers) to maintain and sustain production and equipments.
I guess you are definately not referring to a plant that has to run 24/7 for more than a year continously because you will centainly need process engineers to keep it running smoothly.


I agree that sometimes the chem Eng earns a little more tham Mech Eng but not in all cases though.
And yes, one can easily be self employed with a mech eng skill than with chemEng skills irrespective of how you want to look at it.
Again, you are looking at the hardware which happen to be the least/last aspect of what constitutes engineering. Have you thought about consultancy service with your technical know-how and some piece of softwares in your system? Engineering should not been seen from the view point of bolt and nut because that is far from the koko of engineering