Join the internship programme at Shell oil and gas

Always wanted to get hands on oil and gas industry experience? Well, who's better than Shell?

Shell has its annual internship program called Shell Assessed Internship for which it rolls out the applications around October-December for Indians. For other nationalities, keep checking their website from time to time because I have no idea about their roll outs.

Also, do make it a point to register around November itself and finish up the application as soon as possible because they take down the opportunity once their pre-defined number of applicants is reached!

Here is the link to their website which will take you to the program. Do give it a shot!

Shell Assessed Internship 

Chemical Engineering themed merchandises to buy!

In this post I'll be picking out all sorts of cool chemical engineering merchandises available to buy! Have a look and follow me for more!

Mugs to show off every morning:

Cool Chemical Engineering T-shirts!

Here I would be posting all sorts of cool stuff I find over the internet ranging from T-Shirts, stationary or anything that fancies our engineering brains! Check out this Page for more!! :)

In this posts, I'll be covering up all sorts of cool T-shirts that I find to make you all look amazing amongst your fellow chemical engineers!

Have a look!

Books you MUST HAVE if you want to crack GATE!

There are some books which needs to be bought by every GATE (chemical engineering) aspirant. After reviewing lots of books myself and asking people who scored really well on GATE, I have rounded up on the following books that are a must have:

1. Chemical Engineering for GATE by Ram Prasad, Khanna Publishers

An absolutely amazing book, with all the needed concepts summarized well and good questions for practice. Though you might need more in order to work out for GATE, but this books give a good start as well as a good finish to you GATE preparation. The mistakes are very less compared to other books available in the market. They also have GATE previous questions solved from 2000 to the most recent paper. Do check it out and buy it.

Here is the amazon link:

 

2. An Insight into Chemical Engineering by M Subbu

Another amazing book where absolute correct solutions to previous year GATE papers is given divided subject wise from the year 1990 and before to 2000. They have summarized the concepts well too. This makes it the 2ns book that is a must have in order to lead you to good GATE scores. It doesn't include Chemical Engineering mathematics though.

Here is the link to download it:

3. Objective type questions and answers in Chemical Engineering by OP Gupta

If you want to solve a lot of questions on each subject, this is one big fat book to buy! But there are some errors in the answers given so be careful and trust your concepts. Use this when you are done with other books. Buy this only because it is available in discounted price at amazon most of the times and hence becomes worth buying.

Here is the link:

4. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering by McCabe Smith

 This is considered as the Bible of Chemical Engineers, and for a reason. Be through with this book as most of the Gate concepts and formula used are from this book, especially for Mechanical Operations and Mass Transfer Operations. A MUST BUY!

Here is the link to discounted price at amazon:

Preparations you should make before applying to your dream company for an Internship opportunity!

Here I'll be covering up all sorts of internship opportunities available in India and abroad alike and what you are supposed to do exactly to get into your dream company. This will not only be focused on
chemical engineering streams, but I'll also post management related ones too for people interested in MBA. So follow me for all the updates!

Doing an internship is not only something that helps in making your resume look more good, but is also something that can change or give a direction to your career. It gives you a proper insight as to what actually happens in the industry, what you are good at and where you actually lack professionally and personally. But as you are into grabbing the internship opportunity, here are some preparations you must make before applying. Following these will surely improve your chances of getting selected in a selection based internship.

• Prepare a proper resume. This is extremely important as this is the 1st thing your recruiters will look into. You've got only 30 seconds to impress your employer and hence make sure you go through all sorts of websites on the internet which gives you tips and tricks on developing your resume. Bang on if you draft your resume on LATEX. I'll cover about drafting an amazing resume in my future posts, so keep looking!
• Cover letter: Some companies might ask you for a cover letter. In this you just need to mention why you want to do that particular internship, why you love that company (some corporate ass licking) and in the end what exact skills you have to complete that internship (be straight with this one). Just these 3 simple things, don't extend your letter by writing other crap, because nobody cares. You can make your letter general as people aren't that strict for internships, but always try to draft different letters for applying to different companies.

          Your body of cover letter should contains following things ONLY:
1. Your formal introduction about your college and year of study.
2. 1-2 lines about your actual career goals.
3. 3 lines about why you want to do this internship, as in, how this internship will help you achieve your career goals.
4. 3 lines on how much you like that company. Go through their website and mention some notable things and praise it.
5. 3 lines on how you are the perfect fit for the internship. Try figuring out the skills required to complete that internship and mention those as your strengths.
6. Close by writing how you look forward to work with them.

I'll put up my cover letter soon to give my readers an idea on how to ace your cover letter.

• Email-content: If you are applying for the internships by sending emails to the HR of your dream company, then you really need a good not-too-big and not-too-short content for the email that you'll be sending. 

          Here you only need to mention following in short:
1. Your name, college name, year of engineering and current semester in 1 sentence.
2. Your duration of internship you wish to apply for (1 line).
3. Mention why the company and the internship excites you in 2-3 lines.
4. Mention why you are fit in 1-2 lines.
5. End by saying how you look forward to joining the company.
And you're done. No other crap. Do not forget to end the email with your name, college name, contact details like you do in a letter. I'll post my email content in future posts, so subscribe me!

So in all, these things are some per-requisites needed to start your journey on grabbing that dream internship of yours. Keep following for updates as I'll be posting opportunities soon!

About ME!

I am Harshala Chavan, a Chemical Engineering student. I started this blog out of love for Chemical Engineering field and wish to give back to this field by helping out in whatever way I can to my fellow Chemical Engineers!

For any contact or corrections of my posts, please feel free to email me at:
chemicalists1@gmail.com

If you've got something that you feel can help this initiative of mine grow, then do submit your ideas, information or articles!

Happy Blogging!

Books you must buy for your GATE preparation

During my preparation itself, I had gone through various news and reading materials, not sure always which book to follow for references. So here I have posted the most recommended and used books for each subject that you MUST refer. You can look for other books as and when you are done with these. I have attached links for easy buying of these books as well.

1. Chemical Engineering Mathematics

BS Grewal is the most trusted book for this purpose. Practice questions from this book and you'll be done. GATE mathematics is actually very easy for our branch and the questions asked are simple too, through the syllabus is very vast.
You can buy this book at Flipkart by clicking Here

Get this book at at a discounted price at:

2. Thermodyamics

Look for no other books than these two. If you wish to clear up your thermodynamics concepts, Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics by Smith, Van Ness and Abott is the book for you. Everything is explained in a very easy way and detailed at the same time.
For GATE preparation, K.V Narayanan will be enough. You can consider this as a book you will refer after going through Van Ness, for a quick revision of concepts. Do look at the MCQ's given behind the book and make sure you solve them.

For more questions, I would recommend Schaum Series for Thermodynamics as well.It is worth the buy too. There are solved problems as well which will guide you.

For Flipkart links Click below links:
Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics by Smith, Van Ness and Abott
Textbook of Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics by KV Narayanan

Here's the link to buy them:

3. Fluid Mechanics

Lick the whole book of Unit Operations McCabe Smith Fluid mechanics chapter thoroughly. For clearing of concepts you can try RK Bansal as well, it's a good book to start with.
For problems, again Schaum series is great, with all solved and MCQs to help you prepare well. To study pumps throughly, there is this book which taught me pumps really well. It's a must buy to learn the concepts of pumps as it is one of the most important topic in GATE and a hot topic for interviews.

Here are the link for all the books mentioned:

 

4. Mechanical Operations

Understanding filtration topic is really important as this is GATE paper setters favorite question probably. Read Unit Operations by McCabe Smith thoroughly as most questions are from here. You can also read Kulkarni but it is not easily available. Geankoplis is another book which is good with the concepts.

Here is the link to download the above mentioned books:

5. Mass Transfer Operations

Although Robert Treybal is considered as the Bible of Mass Transfer Operations, I personally prefer BK Dutta due to its simple language and MCQs given behind end of each chapter to solve. Have both of them together and all your concerns for Mass Transfer will be over. Also, McCabe Smith should also be looked upon for carefully after you finish off each chapter from previously mentioned books.

Here is a link to download the above mentioned books:

  

6. Heat Transfer Operations 

The best books to refer would be Heat Transfer by BK Dutta. The standard books like Kern, Richardson and Coulson (volume-6) must be referred. JP Holman is also a great book. Again, Unit Operations by Mc Cabe smith must be throughly followed.

Here is a link to download them:  
 

Why give Graduate Aptitude Test Engineering (GATE) for Chemical Engineering?

GATE is the most underrated exam in engineering stream, overshadowed by the shiny prospects of an MS at USA or other nations. But half of those people who head to US are merely following the herd without comparing or even thinking about benefits of giving GATE. So here I am, done with the thinking and been through the same dilemma of choosing GATE or GRE writing a post here on why I choose GATE and I've not regretted my decision.

• Concept Clearing: If you love chemical engineering and wish to become an engineer, trust me, preparing for GATE will drastically improve your knowledge base. Not only this, you'll fall in love with Chemical Engineering, on how easy and interesting it actually is. I started preparing for it around start of my final year, and couldn't have had scored in Semester 7 and 8 without it. It changed the way I look at a problem and the load GATE puts on you brushes up all your 4 years engineering concepts. It was worth it if nothing else.
• Interview Preparation: Due to GATE preparation, I easily cleared all aptitude tests of companies during my placements. The kind of cross questioning and conceptual questions are asked by consultancies and MNCs alike can be answered once you get a hang on GATE. Some firms will ask chemical engineering based questions on aptitude tests as well and they are mostly GATE questions for TOP companies. I have covered this in future blog posts as well. Do check out!
• Public Sector Unit (PSU) jobs: Almost all PSU's consider GATE score an an entry criteria for interviews and scrapped off their individual tests. These firms easily pay around 5-14 lpa with other benefits. If you're interested in the secure plus high paying PSU jobs, then you HAVE to give GATE.
• Mtech/MS admissions at IIT/NIT/Other colleges: If you're planning for higher education and cannot afford an MS abroad, this is the perfect place for you. If you're interested in Research and wish to enter R&D position you must join these programs. As far as placements are concerned, you need to be the best. Period. So your placements depend on YOU and not the college. 
•  Junior Research Fellowships: If you qualify GATE, you are eligible for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) at CSIR laboratories. A stipend is also paid which varies between Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 for CSIR laboratories.
•  MS abroad: GATE score is eligible for admissions at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University at Singapore as well as universities in Germany. For an insight, Click Here.
• Teaching Jobs: If you have an aptitude and liking for spreading knowledge, you become eligible for teaching jobs which easily pay around 5-7 lpa. 
• NITIE admission: If you're interested in a Master in Industrial Engineering, then this is the top university in Asia - National Institute of Technology in Industrial Engineering. To be eligible for admissions, you need to get a good GATE score. Return on investment is huge as average salary is around 15 lpa for a fee of 2 lakh per year. 

How to search content for your review paper for MS applications: PART-2

This is the part-2 of the series on How to write a review paper for your MS applications . I have already covered the 1st step towards your goal : How to choose the right topic for your Review Paper - PART-1 . In this post I will continue our journey by giving steps on how to search for the content of your paper and then listing out the available resources over the internet for the same.

STEP 1: Once you are done narrowing down your topic, let's say Biodiesel then the first thing you need to do is ofcourse to put your tentative topic name and description on the google search bar. Go through whatever content you find over it for the next 20 or more pages thoroughly following each link (No missing of any links here!). Then you go to the News tab of google homepage and read all the possible latest news that are available for your topic.
While doing do, write down and bookmark whatever keywords you find and list them. Take a print of whatever important articles you find.

STEP 2: Now that you've got a start, head onto Google Scholar. This is a very good place to start off to deepen the knowledge of your topic. For starts, type again your tentative topic name and you'll find a tons of research and review articles. Go through all of those papers. It will take time to read but you've got to do it! That is why choosing the topic of your INTEREST is more important. You've got to read things you enjoy, afterall.
Further, type out all the keywords you had listed down one by one. Repeat by reading all the content you find.

TIP: you'll see a filter on the publishing year on the left side of the page. Use it to narrow down your searches if you're interested in older or newer articles.

Now, there will be times when you won't find the research paper available for downloading, but you'll get to see the abstract only. In order to get access to these papers without paying for them you can do the following:

• If you're a student, then ask your librarian or some professor if he/she has access to the journals, articles or books.
• If 1st step doesn't work, then Facebook is here to help! (The only proper reason to use this otherwise time wasting site :P). Join numerous groups which share research articles available on FB. There are some kind people who share research articles and books with people who have no access to paid journals. Join every group possible just post the link of your required article and you're done. Also, don't forget to say thanks to them! :)
• Academia.edu An awesome website to get access to research papers.
• Directory of Open Access Journals is also a good site to get hold of all sorts of open access articles.
• JURN another good website to start your search.
• Free full PDF  This site searches all those articles whose free PDF are already available on the internet.
• Elsevier Open access  Open access articles by the journal Elsevier.

Here are links to some popular journals that publish good quality research papers: List of scientific journals

Keep reading as much as you can and then trust me, you'll automatically start narrowing down your topic further as you progress. A brief structure of your paper will start coming in mind and don't forget to list it down as it happens!

Follow me for further updates! :)

How to choose the right topic for your Review Paper - PART-1

This is the part-1 of the series on How to write a review paper for your MS applications . As mentioned, the 1st step is: choosing the right topic of your interest. This is a very crucial step as you wouldn't want to keep changing your topic again and again and repeating the process. Here are some tips on choosing the right topic:

• In case you've been already given a list on topics as is mostly the case while participating in symposiums or paper presentation competitions then make sure whatever topic you choose suits your career goals. For example, if I'm interested in an MS in renewable energies, I'll narrow down my topic on Energy sciences and engineering. In this 1st step keep the topic very broad and don't directly jump into narrowing it down further as your wouldn't want to miss out on information.
• Now that we are done with our main Topic, we will start dwelling deeper into it again based on our career goals. In case I'm interested in MS, I'll go about reviewing trends either in the most recent developments in Energy sciences or review the conventional technologies associated with it. I'll focus more towards the technical aspect of it. In case if it is an MBA you're planning then focus more on the current trends in market conditions, technology scale up, environmental/life-cycle impact assessments, etc. 
• Now that you've narrowed down, start searching deeper into it either on Google or Google Scholar. If you want the latest news and articles then keep googling. Simultaneously, open up google scholar and type whatever interesting keywords you find while googling and read detailed research papers on the same. (P.S Google scholar is the best site to access research papers for a start on a particular topic. I've covered upon the topic on resources for finding information on further blog posts.)

1. For MS compatible review paper:

Here are some ideas on the basis of which you can start structuring your paper:

• Review on technology scale up aspects of the most recent technology you've found during your search for your topic.
• Review by comparison of latest technologies available for your topic. The comparison could be on the basis of economic costs, energy efficiencies, raw materials or any comparison criteria that you would like to define. You'll start defining it yourself when you read detailed papers.
• Review on comparison on conventional and recent technologies available.
• Review on how a particular technology has developed since past and its current status.
• A review on advantages and disadvantages of a particular process or technology.

2. For MBA or any management side compatible review paper:

• Review on environmental impact assessment or life cycle assessment
• Review on market conditions of a particular product or technology.
• Review on economic aspects of a technology scale-up.
• Comparing economics and costs of conventional and new trends in technology.

I'll keep updating this blog post as and when I get more ideas!So keep following :)