Interesting Things about this Career

Some of the methods that a professional Quality control chemist uses were either very similar or identical to the labs that I perform at school. Examples of this are titrations, chromatography, and using the pH meter

The job may actually be very monotonous, repetitive, and somewhat boring. This was surprising to me, as I thought that working in a laboratory environment would be exciting and filled with unexpected, surprising reactions

It is actually a job that has long hours; usually 8 hrs a day, but in the high season, a QC chemist works at least 10 hrs. I thought working as a chemist would include less work hours

There is actually a lot of communication involved. Not only does a QC chemist work in the lab independently, but he or she must inform the supervisor, work with other chemists, and people from other departments to resolve any issues or challenges

Some of the chemicals that the chemist uses are familiar to me, a high school student. These chemicals such as NaOH, HCl, and H2SO4 are used in school labs as well

The work of a QC chemist is very different from that of a chemical engineer. I always thought that the chemical engineer did everything, including QC, but they do not.

QC chemists not only work alongside chemical engineers, but also mechanical and electrical engineers. This is especially when there is a manufacturing problem

Although it seems dangerous for a QC chemist to be exposed to potentially life threatening chemicals everyday, accidents are very rare due to safe practice

Despite all the highly advanced technology available, Joe still uses traditional methods such as manual titrations, working with beakers, pipettes, etc.

A "high season" actually exists for this field, and that is usually during the summer time when the demand for cleaning and hygiene products increase

Writing is involved in this job; the chemist must fill out sample reports properly and clearly. Not only is chemistry/math involved, but writing is an essential skill as well

Interesting that not only the product prototypes in mid-stage are tested, but the raw materials as well. Initially, I thought QC only worked with the actual products

The QC chemist is an important person to contact when trying to trace the issue with a product. However, this is one of the most challenging aspects of product production

There are actually a lot of opportunities to advance, such as moving across sectors, and moving up into supervisory positions

QC tests are considered generic and "universal" which means that they can be applied to many sectors (food, pharmaceutical, cleaning, etc.)