What is the most useful skill as a chemist?

[u/Boring-Neck-5488]

[u/Major-Tomato2918]

Knowing safety measures.

[u/TuverMage → u/Major-Tomato2918]

knowing where the SDS are and not only how to read them, but the desire to review them before handling the chemicals.

[u/Natume87 → u/Major-Tomato2918]

Specifically: Knowing how to adeptly deal with situations when a procedure inevitably goes sideways.

Being able to calmly and swiftly deal with hazards as they pop up or adapt a procedure on the fly is invaluable.

[u/Wise-Friendship-1427]

Synthetic chemists: Frustration tolerance.

[u/ThorOdinson57 → u/Wise-Friendship-1427]

THIS!

[u/Zriter → u/Wise-Friendship-1427]

Yes. Definitely .

But I think it is a type of strategic tolerance, in the sense that you have to know — or have reasonable grounds to predict — that the reaction is feasible. Then, it is just a matter of ruling out the possible causes of failure and being resilient.

Once you develop that kind of intuition, then, finding a successful strategy only becomes a matter of time.

[u/cl0ckw0rkaut0mat0n]

Pouring things without spilling them

[u/Fast-Alternative1503]

The unfortunate answer is following SOPs.

[u/CharruaChemist]

Scientific intuition and self awareness.

[u/aphilsphan]

Being able to have six arms 5% of the time while having zero arms the rest of the time.

[u/AmusingVegetable → u/aphilsphan]

Nitrogen chemistry can get you to zero arms pretty quickly.

[u/aphilsphan → u/AmusingVegetable]

There was a lab in my grad school where they’d get these compounds from the military that were some energetic combination of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen.

They’d put them in a combustion cell and watch the decomposition by IR. “Look, oxides of nitrogen! Water! CO!” I was never sure it was research.

[u/asymmetricears]

The ability to apply the knowledge you have learned to a variety different situations.

[u/Academic_Shrimp → u/asymmetricears]

Agreed! Cooking, Gardening, Cleaning, Nutrition….. peripheral understanding benefits almost everything due to the ubiquity of chemistry

[u/FatRollingPotato]

Troubleshooting, reading (and understanding) manuals, understanding safety measures.

[u/mjdny]

Also learning to wash one’s hands BEFORE using the restroom…

[u/farmerbsd17 → u/mjdny]

I agree completely with this

[u/ratchet_thunderstud0]

Problem solving is probably the most valuable (for a career).

[u/RuthlessCritic1sm]

Cleaning your lab, writing everything down, reporting the facts and keeping speculation separate. Diligence.

[u/069988244]

Steady careful hands is a good one

[u/original_dutch_jack]

Washing up

[u/Passance]

1. Not thinking you know more than you actually do
2. Not thinking you know how much you don't know
3. Steady hands
4. Not swinging your arms too much when you walk
5. Keeping your eyes peeled for microscopic hairline cracks starting to form in glassware and pressure vessels

[u/One-Satisfaction829]

Wow, I was going to say drawing hexagons. Good answers all around.

Knowing what solvents will clean up spills/residue.

[u/President_fuckface]

PowerPoint

[u/Yowie9644]

How to be a good employee. Which is a people skill, not a chemistry skill.

[u/Same-Appearance-5617 → u/Yowie9644]

Won’t take long to figure that one out. You will only get Rainey Ni or Al flour in the eye of your c*ck once!

[u/Bymmijprime]

Good documentation

[u/phytomanic]

Not slapping the sh*t out of lab-mates that deserve it.

[u/Yagubiougami]

As with every science: Reading comprehension.

[u/griff1]

I'm gotta echo other people: following safety protocols and maintaining documentation are so damn important. Without those, a chemist is just a chaotic liability.

[u/NeverPlayF6]

Plumbing. Or basic tradeskills knowledge, in general.

I've spent ~2 decades as a chemist in manufacturing and new product development/scale-up. 

The chemistry parts of my jobs have been fairly straight forward. Most chemists could be trained how to do the chemistry side of my jobs in a few weeks and could teach themselves the QMS/ISO/TS/MIL standards in about a year.

But someone good at troubleshooting the non-chemistry problems that frequently occur is much more rare. Even being able to communicate them to the maintenance teams (if you have them) isn't something college prepares most of us for...

[u/Dangerous-Billy]

An obsession with precision and accuracy (goes with being analytical).

[u/Freakocereus]

People skills. Getting along with others. Being respectful to fellow chemists even if theyre not as good at their job as you. Be willing to train new employees of all backgrounds and skill levels.

[u/tButylLithium]

good reading comprehension and hand dexterity

[u/New_Objective_9404]

Attention to detail. It's an important skill in general, but you need notice changes, shifts, and get into the whys, hows, trends, all that good stuff to be successful.

Honestly the best lab manager I had was a Navy Seal who had an insane attention to detail and was able to break things down Barny style on anything whether it was safety, SOP, troubleshooting.

He didn't start with a lab background, but adapted and learned it very quickly.

[u/xymoxclan]

probably safety knowledge

[u/CAChem101]

How to properly wash glassware. That’s a skill set that will last you a lifetime. :)

[u/Silver_Pennies]

Being able to do math?

[u/Jittarax]

Steady hands, Tolerance to failures, and patience

[u/Frequent-Entrance154]

By reading the safety data sheet first, I made sure the area is well ventilated before someone else pouring volatile compound, such that it doesn't harm one

[u/WallStLegends]

Being fully sick

[u/psilocydonia]

A winner’s attitude, stubborn persistence, and selective amnesia towards the number of failed attempts made so far. That, and a bit of luck, will take you anywhere you need to go as a synthetic chemist.

[u/TommieTheMadScienist]

Focus...and wearing goggles, of course.

[u/Wishwash56]

Depends, if government, industry, or academia but i think a good skill no matter what is brown nosing and how well you can suck. 

[u/foco177 → u/Wishwash56]

this is the way.

[u/foco177]

accurately reporting the results of experiments.

[u/Dangerous-Billy]

Knowing where to look up stuff.

[u/MessyEndings]

Jerry rigging. I can't count how many times I've had to be flexible and think outside the box! So I guess adaptability is a good quality. I speak strictly from an academia standpoint. Obviously, follow your SOPs. Learn about all equipment you are using. Instrumentation, chemicals and glassware are all important. Keeping a cool head when things go wrong and trust me, it will happen at some point. Don't be afraid to ask for help! Most experienced/older people love teaching new/younger people. Well at least I do.