My ChemEng Career Path: Orla Douds

Process engineer, Assystem

I GRADUATED from the University of Bath in 2017 with a master’s in chemical engineering. I’m now a process engineer at Assystem, which is an engineering consultancy focused on working towards net zero.

Which skills or knowledge from your degree do you use most often?

We do quite a lot of unit sizing, pump sizing, line sizing, that’s probably the most direct thing we use from uni, although it’s worth saying we do often use software for that these days as well. I just think having that underlying understanding of processes of the chemistry involved, of the physics involved, the engineering itself, and then having the correct soft skills to apply that [is important]. So, making sure you can manage your own time, making sure you’re going to meet deadlines, that’s really important. And communicating well with others, because at the end of the day, a solution’s no good if people don’t understand it.

What does your typical day or week involve?

A typical day or week for me would usually include working on some deliverables. Deliverables include things like optioneering reports where you select a piece of technology or select the process that’s right for your requirements. Doing P&IDs or other drawings like BFDs (block flow diagrams) to show the process, system design descriptions or other descriptions to describe the process or technology that we’ve selected and our designing essentially. Making sure that you meet your requirements is really key in doing engineering design. We might also do some process calculations to size pieces of equipment or maybe to assess risk or just to quantify something we’re not too sure about yet. And deliverables can also include hazard assessments, so you might do a HAZOP, but you might also just do a piece of work like an ATEX report to assess the risk of something smaller.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I work on projects that help meet net zero, renewables stuff, and I think it’s really nice that I’m contributing to a more sustainable future and leaving large projects that are going to help the world in getting them done. 

What's the most exciting development or opportunity in your field that you wish more people knew about?

If you just look at nuclear, there’s a lot going on, so there’s obviously a lot of small modular design work happening in the UK right now. There’s the Rolls-Royce reactor that’s going to go ahead. There are advanced modular reactors on the sidelines, which I think will go ahead one day as well – they use things like lead-based technologies which are really interesting. Sizewell C’s got the go-ahead and Hinkley’s just being built, so there’s a lot of kind of commissioning and of building work that’s quite interesting and a bit different, which doesn’t always come around in nuclear. And there are fusion opportunities as well. Obviously, fusion’s going through this massive acceleration with the building of STEP – within our lifetimes, we could see commercial fusion reactors being built in the UK. I think that’s really exciting as well. 

What IChemE resources do you recommend students use to help them take the first steps in their career?

I’m a little biased but I think the best IChemE resource is the National Early Careers groups. I’ve been a part of the UK and Ireland group, which I believe was the first group, for a few years now. I was previously vice-chair and I’m currently the articles lead of the group. And it’s just a really fantastic way to network, to meet people, to learn more about IChemE and other opportunities within IChemE, to kind of keep on top of the webinars and articles that are coming out of the IChemE as well. There’s a lot of kind of continuous professional development that you can do with the IChemE. And being part of that group, I also think gives you a really great young professional network. You can meet people in different careers, you learn a lot about the different careers available and what people do. I think it’s a particularly great one for when you’re at uni and you’re feeling a bit scared and apprehensive about the world of work. But it’s also great for students to learn about what careers are available for them, what other young members are working in and what they might want to work on. 

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Click this link for the full interview with Orla.