Engineering as a profession:expectations and realities

CECELIA JANKOWSKI

Engineering is the field you have stud-ied for years; you’ve been tested,tutored, trained; you have been lec-tured, mentored, and challenged.Finally you are ready to leave the nestof engineering study and put all thatyou have learned into practice.

Be prepared to enter a world youdidn’t quite expect. Beyond the theoryof practicing engineering as a profes-sion are a variety of applications inmany different disciplines. In those firstweeks on the job, be prepared to dis-cover that mastering the theory of engi-neering is a lot different from the realityof practicing it in the field.

What changes?As soon as you graduate and find a

job, you will see some big changes. Ina sense, many of these changes aretradeoffs. A classroom at your universityis traded for a cubicle in the workplace.Course selections are traded for projectsand assignments in which you mayhave little or no choice. Class semestersand a break are traded for a full year ofemployment and a few weeks of paidtime off. You now earn a salary.

As a new graduate, you may logi-cally expect your first job to be work-ing on a design project with new tech-nology and actually designing a prod-uct or system all of the time. The reali-ty is a bit different. You will likely beon a design project. However, youmay not be spending all of your timeon design. You will find that you needinput from other engineers; designreviews with the team are necessary. Apresentation may be requested toexplaim the work to the team. Therewill be discussions on the design inte-gration and perhaps a request for fur-ther analysis of the project system per-formance. If you are on the lead team,there will be project managementresponsibilities and possibly resourceconsiderations to address.

However, one of the most visiblechanges to you as you transition froma student to an employee will be theneed to communicate. This may havebeen optional as a student but isrequired on the job. Many studentsalready think of themselves as goodcommunicators. Further, they may beunder the impression that, in the engi-neering world, communication skillstake a back seat to design capabilitiesand that many of the presentations arethe responsibility of the marketingdepartment.

The reality is that verbal communica-tion skills are essential any technicaldesigner. The need to communicatedoesn’t end with the completion of adesign project. In many respects, it’s justbeginning. Engineers are involved inmany one-on-one meetings with manyparticipants. Meetings may be heldaround a table in a conference room, ateleconference, or electronically viainternet or in a collaborative space. Youwill be required to give presentationsabout your design to peers, executives,customers, students who may be engi-neers, or nontechnical persons. In addi-tion to formal presentations, you willfind yourself having informal discus-sions about your design. You also maybe given the responsibility of training.

As a skill, written communication isas critical as verbal communication.Numerous e-mails, reports, specifica-tions, standards, and various designdocuments, both electronic and paper,are attached to the technical designprocess. There is documentation of theassumptions made and the process.Your will be sending letters to variouspeople about design specs. Yourresume isn’t a document that should befiled away after you are hired; it shouldbe updated with projects on which youhave participated. This will be sharedwith others in your organization or inother departments to give them an ideaof your background and expertise.Resumes of design team leaders andmembers are regularly included in cus-tomer proposals and project documen-tation. Remember, grammar andspelling count in communication.

Electronic communications and com-municating online require somewhatdifferent skills than verbal and writtencommunications. Electronic messagesare more easily distributed. There is nosuch thing as a private e-mail. Whetherthe form of an electronic communica-tion is e-mail, a Web page, access in avirtual community, or with any varietyof collaboration tools, the value of thecontent is just as high. When you con-

6 IEEE POTENTIALS0278-6648/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE

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sider the size of the audience that canbe reached electronically compared tothe audience size of the average pre-sentation, the impact of electronic com-munication may be more significant.

Think of your communication skillsas tools that will be used by others tomeasure you beyond the technical mer-its of the design. A customer may factorthis into the evaluation process of yourproposal. Your employer includes thispart of your total contributions to thecompany. Impressions of you as anengineer and an employee will beformed by your communications.

First assignment—communication project

If you aren’t as confident in yourcommunications skills as you wouldlike to be, don’t consider your firstcommunication assignment for the com-pany a mission impossible. The likelyscenario is that you will need to workwith your team on a project and maybemake a presentation to them aboutyour contributions and responsibilities.Draw on the skills you used as a stu-dent to get the job done. Apply yourregular problem-solving methods, dothe necessary research, and identify andlocate resources as needed to be surethat you are prepared. Ensure youunderstand your managment’s expecta-tions; communicate with your teamabout the project, and ask questionsabout any aspects of the project ordesign process that you don’t under-stand. The easiest presentations arethose for which the presenter knowsthe material and is well prepared.

These communication assignmentsare important and very interesting.Companies are multimnational, teamsare multidisciplinary, and the workplaceis diverse. There will be many opportu-nities for interaction with coworkerswith varied professional and personalbackgrounds. Being able to communi-cate effectively with coworkers andmanagers is a critical skill.

Career impact There are many nuggets of informa-

tion in the world of engineering thatmight be considered common sense,however, they are worth knowing andpursuing. Here are some thoughts forgraduating students to consider.

• The value of a bachelor of sci-ence (B.S.) degree or your entry leveldegree is for you to learn to apply basicengineering and scientific theory and

explore some advanced concepts. Italso is training for you in the use ofproblem-solving techniques when con-ducting hands-on or laboratory designwork. The B.S. credential helps to openthe door for employment or pursuingan advanced degree and research.

Some realities on the job• Design work and new technology

are not a daily endeavor. It is yourresponsibility to stay current with newtechnologies.

• You will want to network withcolleagues to learn of opportunities fornew assignments within the companyor for job prospecting in other compa-nies; no one will do this for you.

• Promotion into supervisory or pro-ject management positions involvesmore nontechnical skills and may leadto hands-on use of technologies.

• Nontechnical challenges: timemanagement, project management andscheduling, cost estimates.

• Skills that pay beyond technicalknowledge and experience:

• budgeting• time management • team leadership• communiction skills• hiring and human resources

experience.

What gets new hires noticedAs most students understand, when

a company has an opening to fill,resumes will be screened for goodgrades, years of experience, and tech-nology keywords. Hiring managers readresumes and interview candidates forinidcators of other capabilities, poten-tial, and elements of the total package.Communications skills, leadership quali-ties, and personal integrity are high onthe list. Experience working on a teamalso adds to your value as an employ-ee. When you combine all that withpersonal accountability and the abilityto relate well to others, you are anattractive candidate to a potentialemployer. Involvement in communityprojects or volunteering for a techical orprofessional organization both increasevalue for an employer that is trying tomeasure potential in a candidate.

Making a habit of reviewing careersources regularly is a good way to keepon top of what employers want. Checkout various Web sites that offer careerguidance and information about theindustry and various technologies. TheIEEE Web site <www.ieee.org> has career

information for students and young engi-neers. The Wall Street Journal offers cur-rent technology business perspectives andcareer informaiton. There are a number oftechnical trade journals and newspapersfrom which you can learn who the indus-try leaders are and understand moreabout the emerging technologies.

So, you already have a job? Make your-self indispensable to your company.Flexibility, taking the initiative to seek outdifferent assignmentsto broaden the scoreof your knowledge and understanding ofwhat it takes to resolve issues and conflictsin the workplace are attributes thatemployers seek in employees. Be willingto work as long as it takes to get the jobdone. To be successful think of yourself asa nonstop student absorbing information.

As a newly hired youngprofessional, you will bean unknown entity at yourcompany. But there areeasy ways to gainrecognition, increaseyour visibility andbuild a trackrecord. Learning

MAY/JUNE 2006 7

CAREER PATHS

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(continued on page 17)

to think and talk on your feet increasesyour contact with and exposure to col-leagues in your company and in othercompanies in the industry. Don’t over-look the value of building relationshipswith internal and external customers andsuppliers. Involvement with professionaland technical societies also offers oppor-tunities to meet experienced profession-als who may become mentors, advisers,or future supervisors. The same holdstrue for cultural and civic groups.

Realities of engineeringLearning doesn’t stop when you grad-

uate. To the contrary, the learning cycleaccelerates. In your new job, you willbegin to understand just how challengingand rewarding an engineering career canbe. Developing technical innovation,practicing creative leadership, and build-ing strategic alliances are among thetasks that an engineer will encounter ona daily basis. Deployment of variousresearch technologies and knowledge ofinternational and business markets willbe important areas to master as an engi-neer. The scope of what engineers needto know is continuing to increase. But, ifyou can think of engineering as beyond

pure technology and design, and if youunderstand that soft skills are in demand,if you take responsibility for your careerdevelopment and advancement, and,most importantly, if you build on yourcommunication skills, you will have asuccessful and rewarding career as anengineer. What may be most importantfor those just starting out in the job mar-ket to understand is that engineering isall about new challenges presentingthemselves to you and how you respondto them.

About the authorCecelia Jankowski is managing

director, IEEE Regional Activities, and isresponsible for IEEE’s membershipbusiness activities. She also providesoversight for the administrative support,communications, and program develop-ment for IEEE geographic units—Regions, Sections, Chapters, Councils,Student Branches, and Affinity Groups.She is a Senior Member of the IEEE andholds a B.S. degree with honors in elec-trical engineering from the State Univer-sity of New York at Stony Brook and anM.S. degree in electrical engineeringfrom Polytechnic University. Prior to

joining the IEEE staff, she worked atNorthrop Grumman Corporation in avariety of technical and managementpositions. While at Northrop Grumman,her areas of technical focus includedapplication and integration of comput-er-aided engineering/computer-aideddesign into the aerospace and avionicssystems design and analysis process.She holds three patents for signal pro-cessing hardware and has written andpresented technical papers at confer-ences of the IEEE, AIAA, SPIE, andSWE. She is one of several speakers inthe IEEE’s Student Professional Aware-ness Conferences (S-PAC) program whoare available to address Student Mem-bers about professional topics. S-PACsare planned, organized, and implement-ed by the Student Branchesof the IEEE. For moreinformation, visit<http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/membership/s t uden t s /s c _ o ncampus.html>.

IEEE Student Membership can helpgive you a competitive edge and placesyou as part of the professional body.Use your ieee.org e-mail alias to showthat you are connected, while you arein school and after you graduate. Stu-dent Members are the future innovatorsand will be leaders of the IEEE. There isno better time to start your professionalcareer and development than now. Thekey is to stay connected.

About the authorLaura J. Durrett is manager of the

IEEE Student Services Department inRegional Activities. She manages thestudent programs of IEEE and pro-vides support to over 1,400 IEEE Stu-dent Branches, organized at universi-ties and colleges through the world.She also manages the programs forIEEE Student members, includingawards, professional awareness otherbranch activities.

MAY/JUNE 2006 17

Employers rate the importance of skills

Some 250 employers participated in The Job Outlook 2006 survey, which is

conducted by The National Association of Colleges and Employers. According to

the NACE, U.S. employers have a lengthy list of qualities and skills that they use to

judge a job applicant’s potential.

NACE reported that of those employers responding, 48.4% were service-sector

employers, 40.8% were manufacturers, and 10.8% were government or nonprofit

employers. The responses were also organized by region: 33.2% of the responses

were from employers in the South, 27.2% of the responses represented organiza-

tions in the Midwest, 22.4% of responses came from companies in the Northeast,

and 17.2% of the responses were sent in from employers in the West.

Employers rated the importance of 13 skills on a scale of 1–5. Engineers who

are about the enter the job market should consider the results. Here is a list of how

those 13 skills were ranked in importance to employers who are interviewing

employee candidates. — Emily M. Smith

engineering as a profession(continued from page 7)

CAREER PATHS

Communication skills 4.7

Honesty/integrity 4.7

Teamwork skills 4.6

Strong work ethic 4.5

Analytical skills 4.4

Flexibility/adaptability 4.4

Interpersonal skills 4.4

Motivation/initiative 4.4

Computer skills 4.3

Detail oriented 4.1

Organizational skills 4.1

Leadership skills 4.0

Self-confidence 4.0