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Note: I have the flu and I don't feel like studying for my calculus test so I decided to write in my blog.
I don't have much of a clue about what I want to do with my life. I'm a senior in high school with one semester left, and it's really scaring and stressing me out. As of now my plan is to attend Texas A&M and get a degree in engineering, but I've been doubting this plan for a few months. I'm taking AB Calculus and I really don't enjoy it. It's not appealing to me and I suck at it.
My dad is an avid home-brewer and I've sort of been his "apprentice" in the ways of beer. In the few days that I spent with him I've sampled over 15 different kinds of craft beer, including his own homebrew. His love and passion for beer has been passed on to me, and I think my heart's desire is to work in the beer industry. I've been having so much trouble in trying to decide with what I want to do with my life because I've never really been interested in anything. Like, there has been nothing that I've ever really wanted to pursue. And then I realized how much I really like brewing and beer in general. There's a whole industry for beer and I would love to get paid working with and doing something that I'm very passionate about.
Now the problem is that I don't know what kind of major could assist me in getting a decent job in this industry. I'm well aware that having a degree in no way guarantees you a job, but it should certainly help. I'm also aware that experience and internship goes a long long way. I've heard of specific schools for brewing and I wouldn't mind at all to get my hands dirty. But I want to eventually work in a higher-up position in an office or something. For example, my girlfriend's mom's cousin is a Vice President of Management for a very popular corporate beer company. This dude makes bank and I'm jealous. I would LOVE to have his job.
TL;DR I don't know what I want to do with my life after high school. I'm very passionate about beer and I'm really interested in having a career in that industry so I think I'm going to pursue that.
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One of my roommates in college was majoring in mechanical engineering and interning with Anheuser-Busch. Chemical and industrial engineering seem like they'd be very important to the beer industry as well. There may be easier fields of study available, but you can definitely pursue a career in beer without completely changing your plan to be an engineer.
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Why so rushed into getting into the beer industry? Would it not be better if you got an engineering degree first and then worked your way into the brewery, and in that way you would have knowledge of two sides of industry?
Also, you could always have brewing beer as a hobby, while if you have it as a profession, that becomes increasingly difficult...
Food for thought
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I can say from the past 2.5 years of experience, Texas A&M is an awesome place to be and one of the best for engineering if that's what you want to do. Industrial could be a good option for you, but just to warn you, until your Junior year you'll still be taking the same classes every other engineer has to take (IE a mechanical class, an electrical class, thermodynamics, physics, etc). My girlfriend is doing IE and she has hated having to take those classes. As far as other degrees that could lead to brewing, it really depends on what you want to do in the beer industry. You could go the Business route and do some sort of Management, Marketing, or MIS (Management information systems, essentially the Business side of computer engineering), all would potentially work IF you want to work on the corporate side of things. On the other hand, if you want to work in the breweries itself, it would probably have to be some sort of Mechanical Engineering maybe. I'm not entirely sure what they would ask for to run the machines in breweries.
I'd also point out that if you're looking for more of a microbrewery like, say, St. Arnold's, Shiner, etc. as opposed to Anheuser-Busch or something more global, your specific degree may not matter quite so much as they may not have as specialized offices just due to their size.
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I have a friend who was CS who is working for whoever brew's foster's in australia. Then again, he's very very loosely related to the beer.
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Over here we have special brewing and engineering studies but they are hard as hell. Only fifteen percent or so make it.
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Somehow I don't think people who enter "brewing studies" are likely to be the most academically-minded students. 
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Chemistry or Biochemistry will enable you to get a job in one of the bigger breweries that have labs.
Or something in the food technology field, since i doubt america has special education for becoming brewmasters.
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There's lots of professions that are important to the brewing industry, beginning with the financial stuff (some economics degree) over logistics to biology and chemistry and of course process engineering.
Maybe you should just send an e-mail to people in the industry that you know or to some recruiting departments of brewing companies about what kind of people work there. Seriously, you can't go wrong, they'll be either delighted by your enthusiasm or at the worst just wont answer, which is not a big loss.
GL for your future!
edit:
On December 13 2012 18:26 LaNague wrote:
Chemistry or Biochemistry will enable you to get a job in one of the bigger breweries that have labs.
Or something in the food technology field, since i doubt america has special education for becoming brewmasters.
yeah I'm still confused that there is no degree you can get by being an apprentice in a small craft company. How do you become a carpenter in the US? ^^
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Awesome. Your chances of success will increase so much if you genuinely care about the industry you want to get into. So do some research, contact some breweries and find out what they are looking for, what kind of positions they have on offer, the competition etc.
If you still feel its the business for you then you should have gained an idea of what you need. Also, is becoming an entrepreneur with your dad an option? Open your own micro-brewery.
I'm sure there are qualifications that are essential, such as being able to produce beer in conditions that meet trading standards, food hygiene etc. May check these out.
I love brewing beer too, so good luck - why don't you blog what you brew??
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EPT
