Brief Biography
He graduated from Universiti Malaya with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering. Before graduation, he completed his internship in Top Glove Corporation Berhad in 2016 as a Research and Development Industrial Trainee. He started his career in ExxonMobil Research and Engineering as a Process Monitoring and Analysis Engineer in 2017, contributed to various engineering studies, which resulted in margin improvement from increased yields and energy efficiency. Currently, he is working as an Alkylation Process Engineer, leading engineering benchmarking studies to identify margin improvement opportunities across units via improvement on advanced control applications.
Personal experience when stepping into a career
ExxonMobil provides many pieces of training for fresh graduates to adapt to the company. Although the pressure of working is still high despite the training given, as the company is filled with people with extraordinary capabilities, the competitiveness will prompt one to work harder and become a better self.
For a country to grow, we need a strong industry;
For an investor to be attracted, we need solid graduates;
For sustainable national growth, we need well-developed industries.
The graduate engineer must know about the optimization of the industry for the industry to be at its peak.
Tip 1: You can expect a starting salary of RM3000 - RM4000 on average as a fresh graduate.
Brief Biography
She graduated from University of Nottingham Malaysia with a Master’s Degree of Chemical Engineering (Hons) with first class honour. She is currently a senior process engineer in the R & D department at BRB Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd), Shah Alam. At BRB Malaysia Sdn Bhd, she contributed in generating process control philosophy of the entire project and led junior process engineers in completing the deliverables for EPCC bidding.
Mr. Toh Beng Leong
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Are there any training or workshops available to assist the transition from the fresh graduate to work-life?
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Is there any potential job or position available for the chemical engineer in your company?
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In your opinion, would the engineers be replaced by AI in the manufacturing and processing industry?
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This is your Project description. Provide a brief summary that will help visitors understand your work.
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Possibility for the engineers to be replaced in the future
Despite the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence in the industry, the role of engineering in monitoring these systems is still irreplaceable.
Moreover, the demand for resources will escalate following the world population growth, more industries will have to be developed for catering to the increasing demands, this is where engineers will be needed, and thus the role of an engineer will remain significant in the industries.
Personal Advice for the undergraduates and the youngsters
As a university student, it is important to be well-balanced between study life and co-curricular life for one to be well equipped with social skills and knowledge.
The need for pursuing further education (Master’s degree or Ph.D.) depends on one's perspective. One might find that a bachelor’s degree is insufficient for a better career, and one might find that working experiences are more crucial in developing career skills.
Tip 2: The knowledge learned during a bachelor’s degree will serve as the crucial fundamentals during a career. It would be significant to have strong fundamentals before stepping into a career.
Summarised Outcome
General job scope as a Process Engineer
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Involve in the design phase based on the outcome of market survey
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Selection of material of construction (MOC), equipment and instruments must both serve its functionality and economical. Therefore, a precise design and specification selection is important
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Generate PFD for the manufacturing plant
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Perform precise mass balances and energy balances
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Pick the best fitting equipment sizes
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Generate a P&ID diagram with the instruments selected
How much do you think university life and education are related to the actual job scope of an engineer?
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Studies in university provided a strong background in engineering to apply in the workforce, which focuses more on engineering processes and plant designing.
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Engineering knowledge in universities provides a better understanding of the situation, resulting in better performances as a process engineer in the workforce.
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Because of the wide range of career paths as a chemical engineer, the knowledge learned during universities might not be applicable during the workforce, the lucky ones who get a job as process engineers will get to apply more of the university knowledge, where the ones who involved in production team will have to pick up much new knowledge, which differ from what thought during studies.
Do you think your job was difficult to handle when you were a fresh graduate?
The job is not difficult as long as you are willing to learn and be not choosy about the job. It is important to pick up as many experiences and knowledge as possible, especially as a fresh graduate. Nothing is difficult when you have the right attitude to learn, and the right attitude will bring you good adaptation to any situation.
Challenges faced in the manufacturing and processing industries
The common challenge is the lack of guidance from superiors. Superiors often have high expectations for fresh graduate engineers from reputable universities to accomplish the task with a solely rough briefing. Therefore, as a graduate, do not be shy and seek the answer by referring to the superiors. One should not expect to be spoon-fed while in the workforce when everyone is having their task at hand. Spend more time learning to excel at work.
The second challenge is communication issues. While working in big companies, one will often have to interact with foreign workers with different proficient languages, always be patient and interact with these workers. One will notice that the workers will put more effort into accomplishing the tasks given. When encountering rebellious workers, never set an authority above them and force them to work, be friendly, and never give up on communicating with these workers. Trust me, the workers will listen and adhere to your request once they notice your kindness.
Advice as a senior for the students currently studying in university
It is important to not just focus on academic performance, one should involve in different activities to practice soft skills and teamwork spirits, which will come into play during the workforce. In addition, try to understand the theory behind the calculations, the concepts will be remembered and be applied later in the workforce. Sole memorization does help in examinations, but you will not be able to apply in the workforce or when related scenarios occur as understanding of concept and theory is always the key to distinguishing good engineers and average engineers.
