Creating Opportunities in Your Engineering Career is Easier Than You Think

The following is a summary of Session 4 of my podcast, The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast with Anthony Fasano, PE. I will summarize the main points in this session here; however, you can also listen to the show through the player below or by subscribing on iTunes.

Engineers have opportunities available to them in their careers on a regular basis, but don’t always realize that these opportunities exist. Many times engineers either are not open to the opportunities because of their methods of thinking or simply overlook them because they are focusing too much on their jobs and not enough on their careers.

In this podcast session, I will help a young engineer reframe his thought process so that he no longer thinks that his success as an engineer is based on his employer’s success. My guest for Session 4 is Robert from Pennsylvania, a structural engineer who is 36 years old.  The key points that I outlined with this young engineer are as follows:

• When you find yourself in an engineering job that you don’t like, it’s up to you to attempt to make it more exciting before moving on to the next job.
• You must look for opportunities in your current position that will allow you to help your company and ultimately fast-track your advancement. For example, perhaps you can go out on your own and generate new business for the company, which will facilitate your growth.
• To transition from technical engineer to manager, you will have to show that you are capable of performing tasks that engineering managers are responsible for, such as delegating, business development, networking, and of course leading a team.
• When your roles and responsibilities in your current position aren’t what you would like them to be, talk to your supervisor and let him or her know you would like to do different things. However, when you do this, have a plan prepared with proposed action steps for yourself. Don’t just present a problem; present a problem and a solution.
• It will not always be obvious to you that opportunities exist in your career; however, if you are constantly open to them, you will see them. Be open-minded with respect to the different opportunities out there.

Implementing these strategies will help you capitalize on existing opportunities and/or create new ones in your engineering career on a regular basis.

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This is a guest post by Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success. Anthony found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website atEngineeringCareerCoach.com and subscribe to the top 3 resources Anthony has used to become a partner in a firm at the age of 27.