You are here: Home / Archives for Career Development

Who Would’ve Considered The Island of Mauritius in My Engineering Career – I Hadn’t

November 16, 2011 By 2 Comments

Featured Guest Blogger: Michael Cassidy

Mauritius is a small island in the southwest Indian Ocean, less than one-tenth the size of New Jersey. Ten months ago I had not heard of the country. Yet from June 2011 to August 2011 I worked for the project management team on the country’s $300 million airport expansion project.

This time last year I was working as a Municipal Engineer for a New Jersey based consulting firm. My day-to-day tasks consisted of coordinating between municipal officials, contractors and residents. I reviewed contractor submittals for compliance with the reporting requirements of federal and state funded projects. I crosschecked payroll and scrutinized slopes along accessible routes. As a detailed-oriented person I didn’t mind the grind and understood the significance of the work. But as the recession loomed and billable hours became more critical I began to feel as though my job was becoming more burdensome than it was rewarding.

In 2006 I enrolled as a part-time, non-matriculated graduate student in a master’s of planning program. At first I was unsure if I would eventually matriculate and obtain a degree. I also had no idea that just a few years later I’d be working on an airport expansion project on the remote island of Mauritius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development

Boosting Engineering Careers Across the Country in October 2011

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have had the pleasure of giving my Engineer Your Own Success (EYOS) seminar to engineers and engineering students in 9 cities in 7 states across the US in the last 5 weeks.  It’s been an amazing experience where I have met a lot of great people, seen a lot of really cool places, and most importantly, given a lot of engineer’s information that they can use to create extraordinary careers!  In this post I want to detail my travels, including the people, the places, and some pictures as well as tell you how you can have the Engineer Your Own Success seminar come to your town, organization, or school.

Prior to my October trip, I’d given the EYOS seminar for the northern New Jersey section of the IEEE in Clifton, New Jersey.  I enjoyed a very nice dinner with chapter president Richard Tax beforehand and had a terrific evening speaking to a dedicated crowd of more experienced engineering professionals.  On September 29th I did a variation of the EYOS seminar entitled Reduce Stress, Increase Enjoyment, and Create an Extraordinary Engineering Career.  Langan Engineering hosted the event in their New York City office, where the audience consisted of a group of younger engineers.  I focused on assisting the attendees to identifying things in their careers that were creating stress for them and then developing a plan to alleviate them. Lots of discussion was held around e-mail management and managing client expectations, both of which can be huge sources of stress. It was an awesome event and I want to thank Andrea Nunez for her help in coordinating this seminar.

Philly ASCE YMF

The following week, I visited Philadelphia to speak for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Philadelphia Younger Member Forum. The event was held in the Elephant Castle restaurant in downtown Philadelphia and we had a great turnout.  I spent some time talking about the importance of your annual review and how and when you should prepare for it. A Q&A session was held on the topic of the interview process where I stressed the importance of finding out the specific needs that a company is looking to fill through a particular job opening so that you, as a potential candidate, can explain to them how you can fill that need. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Engineering Career Tagged With:

Increase Engineering Career Success with Online Learning

October 31, 2011 By 2 Comments

Continuing education is important for any engineer if he or she wishes to be successful and remain in-the-know about the advancing technologies around him or her.  However, taking the time to adequately pursue education isn’t always possible. Engineers often have non-traditional schedules, and very rarely does one have the time to sit down for an online or an on-campus course at the end of the day.

Thankfully learning isn’t just reserved for the classroom anymore, and engineers have access to several online resources that will allow them to learn the skills they need to advance in their careers for free or for a minimal cost.  Below are some resources that may be helpful in developing your engineering career.

Engineering.com

Engineering.com is the all-inclusive resource for engineering professionals.  In addition to resources regarding job placement, the site also offer a large database of journals, magazines, and blogs geared towards the field of engineering.  Here current engineers will be able to find information to help them determine where their field may be headed, or which type of engineering is becoming more relevant in today’s job market.  The site also provides aspiring engineers with how-to tutorials and other lessons to help engineers hone their skills or learn new ones. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With:

Big or Small Company – Which is Better for Developing My Engineering Career?

October 25, 2011 By 7 Comments

I have been asked by many engineering professionals, especially engineering students and younger engineers, “Is it more beneficial to my career development to work in a small or large engineering company?”  This is an excellent question, but unfortunately one that doesn’t have a straightforward answer because it really depends on so many different things.  First and foremost it will depend on your career goals and which situation will put you in the best position to achieve them.  It also depends specifically on which companies you are looking at as not every small or large company offers the same benefits or drawbacks.

That being said, in this post I will offer some advice from my own experience as well as some information I recently received from an executive at a large (the largest) engineering company.

I spent most of my career working at small to mid-sized engineering companies.  When I graduated, I worked for a company that had about 5 employees total.  This was a great experience because it allowed me to get involved with every aspect of a project including fieldwork, office work, and team/client coordination.  I learned so much about the engineering industry in this position.  One of the major drawbacks was that the benefits were not as good as those at a mid-size or larger firm.  For example, there was no reimbursement available for graduate school or other courses that I wanted to take. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Professional Development

Engineering Students Making a Difference in the World While Setting Themselves Up for Engineering Career Success

October 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

I had the opportunity recently to give my Engineer Your Own Success seminar to the engineering students at Clemson University.  While I was there, I sat down with a few of the graduate students to discuss their current work and their engineering career plans.  One of the students that I met, Jeff Plumblee, told me about an amazing project that he happened to fall into, which now consumes most of his time.  Jeff oversees Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries (CEDC).  CEDC consists of nearly 40 students who are volunteering to help design and oversee the construction of several infrastructure projects in Haiti.

This is not a project that was started through an organization like Engineers Without Borders, someone simply asked Jeff to visit Haiti and asked him if it was a project that he would consider undertaking.  Three years later, 40 students, whose majors include civil engineering, financial management, English, environmental engineering, electrical engineering, sociology, and animal and veterinary sciences are part of the team.  The group has expanded from their water treatment and distribution system in Cange, Haiti, and is now addressing water and sanitation needs in 6 villages near Cange.

Some of Jeff’s day to day tasks include working with interdepartmental faculty, visiting Haiti from time to time, working with his team to ensure the safety and productivity of the engineering students that are currently in Haiti, and holding weekly classes with the entire team.  To create some structure for the volunteers, Jeff and the other team leaders have created 4 groups or departments: Current Operations, Projects, Design Component Specialists, and Communications and Training.  These groups help to ensure that all aspects of the projects are covered and the students are actively engaged.  Fluor employee David Vaughn, the group’s industry advisor, participates in multiple team meetings per week, offering expertise ranging from management to latrine design.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Leadership Tagged With:

How to Get a Job in This Economy if You Are Not a ‘Straight A’ Engineering Student

September 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Every engineering student has heard that ‘an engineer will never be out of work’; it’s a generally accepted belief that our scarce skills will always be sought after. Unfortunately, the recent recession has resulted in large companies grounding major projects, and all of a sudden that perfect graduate job is not so easy to land as expected. In a globally competitive world, if you’re not a top-student, what options do you have to help you stand out from the crowd?

Industry has identified that graduate engineers often have poor communication, leadership and interpersonal skills and an inability to work independently or in multidisciplinary teams. So how can students gain these critical skills and outshine the competition? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Networking Tagged With:

Book Review: The Power of Slow – 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World

September 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I recently read a book entitled The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World by Christine Louise Hohlbaum.  This was a very powerful book as the author discusses our relationship with TIME and talks about how slowing down can actually help us to get more of a handle on our time management.

We live in such a fast-paced world full of technology that is always pushing us to move quickly and expect others to do the same.  If we don’t get something instantly, we think it’s too slow.  In this book, the author provides alarming statistics that show how addicted human beings are to technology and then provides very practical ways to take your life back by slowing down!

The author provides strategies for:

  • Breaking addictions to cell phones and e-mail,
  • Saying NO when you have too much on your plate,
  • Eliminating procrastination and moving forward in your career and life,
  • Actually enjoying your free time.

I thought this book would be especially helpful for engineers and technical professionals as we are always “connected” 24-7.  Christine provides statistical data showing that slowing things down and even eliminating multi-tasking can help you to be more productive.  Would you believe that?  I can confirm that it’s true because I have implemented some of her strategies and they really work!

Check out this book if you are looking to take your life back from technology, slow things down, and still be more productive than ever!

In fact, I enjoyed this book so much that I will be interviewing the author Christine Louise Hohlbaum on an upcoming radio show on September 26th.  Please mark your calendars and join us to learn more about The Power of Slow.  If you are reading this post after September 26th you can listen to the show right now on our archives page.

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With:

Computer Skills that An Engineer Should Have to Advance their Engineering Career

August 24, 2011 By 2 Comments

The below video is in response to a question that I received on our facebook fanpage asking, “What computer skills should engineers have?”

This is a great question!  Especially for younger engineers and recent graduates, you will need to be very proficient on the computer.  You must know how to use the Microsoft Word and Excel programs so that you can do calculations and prepare reports.  You will also need to be very proficient in AutoCAD (Computer-Aided Design), especially for mechanical and civil engineers because you’re going to use a lot of AutoCAD right from the beginning of your engineering career. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Engineering Career, Uncategorized Tagged With:

Engineering Career Advancement – 3 Steps to Get Your Company to Reimburse You for Your MBA

August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The above video is in response to a question that I received through twitter from an engineer.  The question was: How can I help my company understand that me getting an MBA is good for them too? (I am seeking education reimbursement.)

There are three steps I recommend taking to secure education reimbursement: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Engineering Career Tagged With: ,

Engineers: Remember, It’s Your Own Success

August 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

Featured Guest Blogger: Charles J. Gervasi

Staying independent is key to engineering success.  Engineers are independent by nature.  An engineer who spends too much time focused on someone else’s goals can become resentful.  Pursuing only your own goals is not as simple as it sounds.  Many years ago I had a supervisor say, “If you’re dedicated to being a top engineer, you should apply for a job with title XYZ in the group ABC within our company.”  The contra positive of that is that if I did not jump through their hoops, I was not a dedicated engineer.  I had signed up to solve this manager’s engineering problems and I wanted to accept the things he said, but I realized this particular premise was wrong.  A manager, even a more experienced one, cannot set my goals for me.  If I had gone along with my employer’s program, I would have felt resentful every time something did not go my way.  I might have felt like I turned over my professional development to them and they mismanaged it.  If I had done that

I would share some of the blame because it’s impossible to turn over responsibility for my life to someone else.

Plan to Job-Jump 

Thirty years ago job-jumping was looked down upon.  In today’s word, changing jobs every couple years, especially for a beginning engineer, is perfectly normal.  The most important reason to plan for job-jumping is that when you get into a situation where something at your job is not working for you, it is easy to respond dispassionately.  It is much easier to maintain a positive attitude toward your colleagues if you do not feel trapped.  They may be doing something you think is completely asinine, but you can stay positive and open to working on future projects in areas where you do agree.

Another side-benefit to job-jumping is that most companies give annual raises of 3% to 6% but pay 15% to 20% over someone’s current pay to entice them to switch.  It does not matter whether you’re currently toward the bottom or top of typical engineering salary, you can move up in pay much faster by job-jumping.  Once a new employer wants you, there’s nothing wrong with negotiating.  If you’re up for a raise next month and new employer is offering you a 12% raise to switch, point out that this is only a 7% raise over your pay as of next month.  If you currently get more vacation time, a new employer will sometimes match what you currently get and find it easier to negotiate on vacation time than on salary.

Keep in mind the raises are just a side benefit.  The main benefit of job-jumping is to learn more technology, meet more people, and be exposed to new ways of doing things.  That will bring far more money than manipulating corporate payscale systems. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Career Development, Professional Development Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »