Mapeando as competências do engenheiro químico no Ceará: presente e perspectivas futuras

Abstract

As a generalist professional, the chemical engineer plays diverse roles and possesses varied competencies in the manufacturing industry. Like other professionals, they are constantly subject to changes in the industry. The state of Ceará, with its growing industrial parks, represents a significant scenario for innovation and demands for new skills for these professionals. Additionally, with the substantial growth of Industry 4.0, we can observe that technological innovations are shaping the landscape of chemical engineering, bringing the need for new hard and soft skills for professionals who want to stand out in the market. Given this scenario, there is a need to map the crucial hard and soft skills for the success of present and future chemical engineers to understand the skills required for professionals and anticipate the skills that will be demanded in a 5-year horizon. This way, it will be possible to guide current and future professionals according to the trends in the industry in Ceará. To achieve this, a study was conducted based on the project "Professional Profiles for the Future of the Ceará Industry," developed by FIEC, to identify the sectors related to chemical engineering and the skills associated with each proposed profile. The 15 main existing skills and the 15 skill trends were listed based on these skills. These lists guided the development of an online questionnaire directed to chemical engineers who are graduates and active in various industrial areas in the state of Ceará, resulting in 52 responses. This aimed to understand the perception of these professionals regarding the necessary skills in their fields of work. Consequently, it is possible to identify the main valued hard and soft skills in current chemical engineering, as well as investigate trends and changes in the industry and technology that are shaping the necessary skills for future chemical engineers. This way, it will be possible to identify the gaps between current skills and those anticipated for the future of chemical engineers working in the state of Ceará.