Zeon Chemicals L.P.

Chemical Engineering Co-Op

January - May 2022 • Louisville, KY

What I liked

There were a lot of things that I really enjoyed about my time with Zeon. I found the work to be extremely interesting and challenging, as I was given several projects and the freedom to go about it how I thought best. The workers are incredibly kind and helpful, which helped me settle into the new experience. Additionally, the culture at Zeon is team-oriented and focuses on collaborative efforts to solve problems. I never had issues with asking people for advice and I was always treated with respect. Finally, I loved the way that they encouraged the Co-Ops to work together and get to know each other. Having a sense of familiarity with people in a similar situation as you was very helpful and Zeon made sure to give us plenty of opportunities to learn together.

What I wish was different

I wish that I had a better understanding of my duties from the beginning, so that I could dive even deeper into my projects. While I was afforded freedom in my duties, I also didn't receive much feedback. Having no experience in the field, I was unsure of the quality and speed of my work, which led to a hesitant pace. I wish that I knew what was clearly expected of me, so that I could feel more confident in my work. Although I am happy with what I did with the time and resources available to me, it is very easy to feel as if nothing was ever going to be enough, since I didn't know what to strive for.

Advice

A piece of advice that I would share with someone going into this experience, is that you will get as much out of it as you put in. If you aren't passionate about engineering, you don't want to try new things, and you aren't motivated to do any work, then you absolutely won't learn. However, if you pour your energy into the job and genuinely try to do good work, you will learn so much and your skills as an engineer will get much better. If you are going into this experience because you feel like you are supposed to, instead of wanting to gain practical knowledge and develop skills in the work place, you will be wasting everyone's time. I urge you to try your best, laugh at your mistakes, celebrate your successes, and ask questions! There is so much to learn and all you have to do is show how enthusiastic you are to give it a shot.

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