Freelance Chemical Engineers don’t usually have laboratories like Dexter did, but we should pat ourselves on the back for being chemical engineers like Dexter anyway. Today’s chemical engineers, have the option of freelancing full time, working from a ‘laboratory’ home just like Dexter. The internet helps, but sometimes, in your vocation you will have to travel and work at other locations on temporary contracts.
However, even if you are a full time employee, looking to earn a few extra bucks by the side, or you are a self-employed engineer, simply trying to get your business up and running, there is much scope in freelance work as an engineer. Whatever your preferences, you can be assured that freelance engineering is a career that will give you a comfortable life, and a low stress working environment like your home.
Freelance Chemical Engineer Job Duties:
Your duties as a freelance chemical engineer, will include being able to work with chemicals. You will mostly solve real time problems and sometimes create and discover processes for better utilisation of chemicals, and help others design and specify prototypes. To help, let’s look at what some of your core duties will include:
- Develop safety procedures to be employed by workers operating equipment or working in close proximity to on-going chemical reactions.
- Determine most effective arrangement of operations, such as mixing, crushing, heat transfer, distillation, and drying.
- Prepare estimate of production costs and production progress reports for management.
- Direct activities of workers who operate or who are engaged in constructing and improving absorption, evaporation, or electromagnetic equipment.
- Supervise laboratory studies of steps in manufacture of new product and test proposed process in small-scale operations
- Develop processes to separate components of liquids or gases or generate electrical currents, using controlled chemical processes.
- Conduct research to develop new and improved chemical manufacturing processes.
- Design measurement and control systems for chemical plants based on data collected in laboratory experiments and in pilot plant operations.
- Design and plan the layout of equipment.
- Perform tests throughout stages of production to determine degree of control over variables, including temperature, density, specific gravity, and pressure.
Skills:
Freelance Chemical engineering is a tough career to follow. You need to discipline yourself, develop skills and hone them. You have to want it, but as you do want it and have already read about 300 odd words, some of the skills you should consider mastering include:
- Mathematical skills
- Complex Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Scientific Skills
- Decision Making
- Operations Research
- Operations Analysis
- Coordination
- Active Learning
- Self-motivated
- Able to work remotely
- Systems Analysis
- Quality control
- Deductive Reasoning
- Equipment selection
Freelance Chemical Engineering course, often requiring four years of intensive study. You should work towards a degree or a certification to avoid heartbreaks and get that dream job. However, MIT Opencourseware, AIU, Diploma Guide, College Degree Course And Learncheme offer many options to learn online, either in course or self training video formats, which can supplement your degree.
Being Successful As A Freelance Chemical Engineer:
More often than not, talent is not a determinant of success in any sphere. It is possibly truer for engineers, with the freelance market insisting that talent combined with the relevant experience attracts generous prospective employers.
Hence, to be successful initially, you could:
- Offer to do projects for minimum fees, sometimes for free
- Bid the lowest for a project on freelancer portals
- Get good testimonials for guest blogs, recommendations for work
- Start a blog, back link it to more visible blogs
- Create a website, or at the very least, a web page
- Advertise your services on social media platforms
- Understand the engineering requirement intimately
- Sharpen your Communication skills, as it would help you get more jobs
- Master Engineering Basics
Chemical Engineer Salary:
Most of the revenue generated by you will depend solely on your ability to market your services and your credibility with previous employees.
Usually freelance portals offer various kinds of payment models. In the fixed-price model, the price is usually pre-determined. The hourly model is the most popular and employers usually pay a predetermined sum per hour. Finally, in the project-budget based model, you often need to auction for such projects. Usually a fixed price model may range from $20- $200 and upwards, while you have to pitch for hourly projects, and budget payments, which usually range from $5- $35 an hour, with average payments at $22 per hour.
Finding Work:
Many websites, forums, and portals offer hundreds of jobs to freelance engineers like you. Elance, Odesk, Peopleperhour and Guru offer many opportunities to freelance chemical engineers around the globe.
Resources:
Freelance Chemical Engineering is a graduate level course, often requiring four years of intensive study. You should work towards a degree or a certification to avoid heartbreaks and get that dream job. However, MIT Opencourseware, AIU, Diploma Guide, Collegedegreecourseand Learncheme offer many options to learn online, either in course or self training video formats, which can supplement your degree.
For more information on Freelance Chemical Engineer please visit www.careerlancer.net
