Top 12 Entry Level Chemical Engineer Skills to Put on Your Resume

Landing that first chemical engineering role takes a resume that signals clear thinking and real, hands-on ability. Put skills front and center—software, analysis, and core engineering know-how—so a hiring manager can picture you stepping into a project and adding value without a long runway.

Entry Level Chemical Engineer Skills

1. MATLAB
2. AutoCAD
3. Aspen HYSYS
4. ChemCAD
5. Python
6. LabVIEW
7. SolidWorks
8. Microsoft Excel
9. P&ID Reading
10. ANSYS Fluent
11. GC-MS Analysis
12. Process Simulation

1. MATLAB

MATLAB is a high-level language and numerical computing environment for data analysis, modeling, visualization, and algorithm development. Chemical engineers lean on it to model processes, analyze lab and plant data, and prototype control or optimization workflows.

Why It's Important

For entry-level roles, MATLAB shortens the path from raw data to engineering decisions. You can simulate unit ops, tune controllers, fit kinetics, and communicate results with clear plots and reports—fast.

How to Improve MATLAB Skills

Build proficiency steadily and apply it to real problems:

1. Nail the fundamentals: arrays, scripts vs. functions, plotting, file I/O, and logical indexing.
2. Work like an engineer: code energy and mass balances, VLE regression, pump/fan curves, and reactor ODE models.
3. Use the right toolboxes: Optimization Toolbox, Curve Fitting Toolbox, Control System Toolbox, Simulink, and Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox.
4. Vectorize and debug: practice vectorized solutions, use breakpoints, and profile code to speed up slow sections.
5. Reproduce published figures: rebuild plots or small models from textbooks or papers to sharpen accuracy.
6. Ship small projects: end-to-end scripts that import, clean, fit, visualize, and export results with readable documentation.
7. Model verification: compare simulations against hand calcs and sanity checks before trusting conclusions.

How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume

2. AutoCAD

AutoCAD creates precise 2D drawings and 3D models. In chemical engineering, it’s used for equipment layouts, piping, general arrangements, and the details that keep construction and maintenance aligned.

Why It's Important

Accurate drawings prevent expensive mistakes. AutoCAD helps you translate process intent into clear, buildable designs and clean redlines that project teams can act on.

How to Improve AutoCAD Skills

Get fast, consistent, and standards-aware:

1. Core workflow: layers, blocks (dynamic where helpful), xrefs, and annotation styles.
2. Plant-focused tools: learn plant/piping toolsets where available and align symbols with ISA conventions.
3. Drawing discipline: units, title blocks, revision control, sheet sets, and plotting with correct scales.
4. Smart blocks: build valve/instrument blocks with attributes for tags, service, and size to speed P&ID edits.
5. Practice real layouts: place vessels, exchangers, pumps, and pipe racks; check access, maintenance clearances, and safety egress.
6. Iterate from redlines: incorporate feedback quickly and keep change history tidy.

How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume

3. Aspen HYSYS

Aspen HYSYS is a process simulator widely used in oil and gas, refining, and petrochemicals for steady-state and dynamic modeling of processes and equipment. It supports design, debottlenecking, and operations troubleshooting.

Why It's Important

Simulation turns scattered assumptions into testable scenarios. With HYSYS, you can select appropriate thermodynamics, predict performance, and explore “what if” cases before anyone touches hardware.

How to Improve Aspen HYSYS Skills

Think fundamentals first, then features:

1. Thermo mastery: choose property packages that match your system (e.g., sour service, LNG, aromatics). Bad thermo = bad answers.
2. Clean bases: define components, assay data, and property methods up front; keep units consistent.
3. Build simple, then grow: start with a heater, a separator, a column; add recycles and utilities later.
4. Convergence tools: use tear streams, design specs, and sensitivity analysis to stabilize tricky flowsheets.
5. Validate: back-check against hand calcs, vendor curves, or plant data where available.
6. Try dynamics: model basic control loops, trips, and startup/shutdown to understand operability.
7. Document models: notes, clear stream naming, and tidy flowsheets make collaboration painless.

How to Display Aspen HYSYS Skills on Your Resume

4. ChemCAD

ChemCAD is a comprehensive process simulation suite used to model chemical processes, evaluate alternatives, and support design or operations work across a range of industries.

Why It's Important

It helps you explore options safely and cheaply. Evaluate separation schemes, heat integration, and reaction pathways without tying up a pilot unit.

How to Improve ChemCAD Skills

Ground your simulations in good data and clear intent:

1. Property methods: match the thermodynamics and physical property methods to your chemistry and pressure ranges.
2. Unit ops by first principles: understand the theory behind columns, reactors, and exchangers so you recognize bad outputs.
3. Recycle and convergence: master recycles, tear streams, and solver settings to stabilize complex networks.
4. Case studies: re-create textbook examples, then layer on plant realities like fouling or off-spec feeds.
5. Sensitivity and optimization: probe key levers—reflux, stage count, catalyst activity—and quantify impacts.
6. Model hygiene: consistent tags, versioned files, and embedded assumptions keep future edits safe.

How to Display ChemCAD Skills on Your Resume

5. Python

Python is a versatile programming language used for automation, data analysis, modeling, and quick tooling across engineering tasks.

Why It's Important

It glues workflows together. Parse lab files, crunch datasets, train simple models, or stand up small tools that cut hours of drudgery to minutes.

How to Improve Python Skills

Build muscle with the scientific stack and real projects:

1. Core language: data types, control flow, functions, modules, and error handling.
2. Scientific libraries: NumPy, pandas, SciPy, Matplotlib/Plotly, and scikit-learn for light ML.
3. Jupyter workflow: notebooks for exploration, scripts/packages for production; track environments with venv or conda.
4. Automate the boring: unit conversions, stream property lookups, report generation, and batch calculations.
5. Numerical methods: implement root finding, linear algebra, and ODE solvers for reactors and control studies.
6. Small portfolio: a data-cleaning pipeline, a mass-balance solver, or a dashboard that trends process KPIs.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

6. LabVIEW

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment for data acquisition, instrument control, and automation—ideal for test rigs, pilot units, and lab setups.

Why It's Important

It bridges instruments and insight. Build reliable measurement systems, log clean data, and close control loops without reinventing the wheel.

How to Improve LabVIEW Skills

Design for clarity and robustness:

1. Dataflow mindset: understand how wires dictate execution; keep diagrams readable.
2. Drivers and DAQ: learn instrument drivers, channel configuration, scaling, and calibration.
3. Architectures: use producer–consumer, state machines, and queues/events for responsive UIs.
4. Error handling: wire error clusters everywhere; log, surface, and recover gracefully.
5. Control basics: implement and tune PID loops; simulate first, then connect to hardware.
6. Data logging: consistent file formats, timestamps, units, and metadata for traceability.

How to Display LabVIEW Skills on Your Resume

7. SolidWorks

SolidWorks is a 3D CAD platform for parts, assemblies, and drawings. Chemical engineers use it to design equipment components, skids, enclosures, supports, and to check fit, access, and fabrication details. With add-ins, you can explore basic structural or flow scenarios.

Why It's Important

Well-detailed models and drawings de-risk fabrication. You’ll communicate intent crisply, catch interferences early, and hand vendors packages they can quote and build.

How to Improve SolidWorks Skills

Model with intent, not just geometry:

1. Sketch discipline: fully defined sketches, sensible relations, and clean feature trees.
2. Assemblies that behave: smart mates, subassemblies, interference checks, and motion where useful.
3. Drawings that inform: GD&T basics, section views, weld symbols, and clear BOMs.
4. Configurations: design tables and configurations for size ranges and options.
5. Manufacturability: sheet metal, weldments, standard hardware; export STEP/IGES cleanly for vendors.
6. Light simulation: use built-in tools for sanity checks on deflection or flow—then hand off to specialists for high-stakes analyses.

How to Display SolidWorks Skills on Your Resume

8. Microsoft Excel

Excel is a powerhouse for tabular data, calculations, and quick visualization. In process work, it’s the go-to for sizing sheets, cost rollups, and ad hoc analysis.

Why It's Important

It’s everywhere. When time is tight, Excel lets you structure data, test assumptions, and present findings without ceremony.

How to Improve Microsoft Excel Skills

Focus on speed and consistency:

1. Formulas that matter: lookup/index-match, conditional logic, text/date handling, array formulas, and dynamic arrays.
2. Data structures: tables with named columns, clean validation, and tidy units.
3. Analysis tools: PivotTables, charts that tell a story, Goal Seek, and Solver for optimization.
4. Automation: simple macros and VBA snippets for repetitive tasks and report generation.
5. Power Query: import, clean, and combine messy data without fragile manual steps.
6. Templates: reusable calculators for heat duty, pump sizing, or material balances with clear inputs/outputs.

How to Display Microsoft Excel Skills on Your Resume

9. P&ID Reading

P&IDs (Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams) depict equipment, piping, instruments, and control logic. Reading them well means understanding the process, safeguards, and how the plant actually functions.

Why It's Important

P&IDs are the single source of truth for process connectivity and control. Design reviews, HAZOPs, commissioning, and troubleshooting all start here.

How to Improve P&ID Reading Skills

Make symbol fluency second nature and follow the flow:

1. Standards: learn ISA symbology, tag conventions, line types, and valve/instrument bubbles.
2. Trace the process: follow streams end-to-end; note utilities, drains, vents, and relief paths.
3. Control loops: identify measurements, controllers, final elements, interlocks, and trips.
4. Cross-reference: line lists, instrument indexes, equipment lists, and cause-and-effect matrices.
5. Revision awareness: compare rev clouds and change notes; verify against as-builts in the field when possible.
6. Practice: annotate a P&ID with normal operating conditions, setpoints, and key alarms to cement understanding.

How to Display P&ID Reading Skills on Your Resume

10. ANSYS Fluent

ANSYS Fluent is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver for modeling fluid flow, heat transfer, and reacting systems. It’s used to probe mixing, pressure drop, fouling risks, combustion, and more.

Why It's Important

When experiments are costly or impossible, CFD offers visibility inside equipment. You can test designs virtually and narrow options before moving to hardware.

How to Improve ANSYS Fluent Skills

Good CFD is careful CFD:

1. Physics first: pick appropriate models (laminar/turbulent, RANS vs. transient, species transport, multiphase, radiation).
2. Mesh quality: resolve boundary layers, check skewness/aspect ratios, and run mesh-independence studies.
3. Boundary conditions: realistic inlets/outlets, wall treatments, and material properties with temperature dependence.
4. Solution control: monitor key variables, use under-relaxation wisely, and verify steady vs. transient assumptions.
5. Validation: compare with correlations, experiments, or plant data; be skeptical of pretty streamlines.
6. Post-processing: compute meaningful quantities—UDFs, surface integrals, residence time—not just screenshots.

How to Display ANSYS Fluent Skills on Your Resume

11. GC-MS Analysis

GC-MS combines gas chromatography for separation with mass spectrometry for identification and quantification. It’s a staple for trace analysis, impurities, and complex mixtures.

Why It's Important

You get specificity and sensitivity in one run. For quality control and troubleshooting, GC-MS tells you what’s in the bottle and how much—credibly.

How to Improve GC-MS Analysis Skills

Method discipline drives reliable results:

1. Sample prep: cleanup, concentration, and derivatization when needed; manage matrix effects.
2. Column choice: length, ID, film thickness, and stationary phase suited to volatility and polarity.
3. Method development: inlet mode (split/splitless), temperature program, carrier flow, and injection volume.
4. MS tuning and calibration: optimize source parameters; calibrate with appropriate standards and internal standards.
5. QC practices: blanks, spikes, duplicates, and continuing calibration checks to confirm system health.
6. Data analysis: use libraries judiciously, confirmions/ratios, and peak deconvolution for coelutions.
7. Maintenance: liners, septa, ferrules, column trimming, and pump service on a regular schedule.

How to Display GC-MS Analysis Skills on Your Resume

12. Process Simulation

Process simulation uses software to model material and energy flows, unit operations, and control interactions. It supports design, optimization, debottlenecking, and training.

Why It's Important

It’s the sandbox for engineering choices. You can test assumptions, compare flowsheets, and quantify trade-offs before committing time and budget.

How to Improve Process Simulation Skills

Treat models like living documents:

1. Define scope: purpose, fidelity, and boundaries; decide what to model in detail and what to approximate.
2. Pick the right thermo: property methods and component data that reflect your chemistry and conditions.
3. Build modularly: verify unit ops one by one; add recycles and complexity only after basics balance.
4. Calibrate: reconcile against plant or lab data; document adjustments and rationale.
5. Probe sensitivities: find the parameters that move the needle and quantify uncertainty.
6. Scenario management: keep clean cases for design points, turndown, off-spec feeds, and upsets.
7. Version and annotate: changelogs, embedded notes, and consistent naming so others can pick up your work.

How to Display Process Simulation Skills on Your Resume