What are the most underrated skills that chemical engineering students should focus on developing for future career success?

Focus on your soft people skills. As a previous engineering manager, I didn’t need an engineer who can calculate anything from the handbooks, I needed a person who could communicate up and down to management, other engineers, suppliers, consultants, and, most importantly, the operators, maintenance, and other line people in the plant that, while not having a degree, having the years of hands-on knowledge that will allow you to quickly and efficiently to finish your project and educate you to how a chemical ACTUALLY works, not how it is supposed to. In the end, they are your real customers as a plant process chemical engineer since at the end, they have to live with your installed. project.