Engineering Management Institute

Credentials

How to Create an Extraordinary Engineering Career – Anthony Fasano’s Complete Engineering Career Guide

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How to Create an Extraordinary Engineering Career – Anthony Fasano’s Complete Engineering Career Guide

JULY 2014 UPDATE: Since I wrote this post in October of 2013, the feedback from engineers has been amazing. This is a very long post that is meant to help you throughout your engineering career, so please bookmark this page. I have also created the following table of contents to make it easy for you to read about the topics you most need help on at this time. The original post begins immediately after the following table of contents:

The Engineer Career Guide
The One Thing You Must Do Before Developing Your Non-Technical Skills
Video 1: Setting Clearly Defined Goals
Video 2: Obtaining the Right Credentials in Your Engineering Career
Video 3: Finding a Mentor
Video 4: Become an Effective Communicator
Video 5: Networking/Building Relationships
Video 6: Being Organized and Productive
Video 7: Develop Your Leadership Abilities

Developing my non-technical skills while practicing engineering was one of the best things I have ever done in my engineering career and life. Since I started Powerful Purpose Associates in May of 2009:

  • My ability to set clear goals has helped me to understand that my mission was and is to inspire engineers.
  • Obtaining the right credentials in my engineering career as well as my coaching career has helped me to be able to rapidly advance my career and grow my business.
  • Finding a mentor was a key component for me being able to become a partner at the age of 27 in a reputable engineering firm.
  • Improving my communication skills has allowed me to write daily and weekly e-mails to engineers that inspire them to grow personally and professionally. They have also helped me write my book Engineer Your Own Success.
  • Improving my public speaking skills has afforded me the opportunity to present in front of over 5,000 engineers, many of whom have told me that my talk changed their lives.
  • Developing my networking skills has allowed me to build relationships that have brought me so many of the opportunities mentioned above and also so many rewarding friendships.
  • Increasing my productivity has allowed me to develop Engineering Management Institute (ECC) brand and The Engineering Mastermind community, now serving thousands of engineers every day — including two podcasts that have been downloaded over 1.5 million times.
  • Developing my leadership abilities has given me the confidence to start to coach engineers one on one and subsequently start my podcast, where I coach them on the air.

Most importantly, developing my non-technical skills has enabled me to build stronger relationships with my audience – much stronger than I could ever have done if I failed to focus on my own personal development, like many engineers do. The phrases that engineers use when they describe their experience with my coaching or one of my seminars include: [Read more…] about How to Create an Extraordinary Engineering Career – Anthony Fasano’s Complete Engineering Career Guide

The Only Stability You Have in Your Engineering Career Is You

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If you are reading this post, you’re most likely an engineer working for an engineering company. You get up each morning and go to work in what appears to be a ‘stable’ job. In reality, though, no matter how safe or stable your job appears to be, your employer can decide at any time to stop paying you and take away that perceived stability. However, your skill set, your professional network, and your reputation can allow you to react to a situation like this and quickly replace that paycheck.  Developing your engineering skills as well as your non-technical skills will give you the tools to truly maintain a stable engineering career. The following are some things you can do in your engineering career to ensure that it is genuinely stable.

Realize the Importance of Your Own Development

Stability in Engineering CareerDon’t get tricked by the illusion that your 9-to-5 job and paycheck create a stable career. Don’t build your entire financial future around that paycheck. Go through your career with a plan B that addresses the question, “What will I do if I lose my job tomorrow?” Having a good answer to this question and a good plan to go along with it is where true stability will come from.



Build a Very Strong Professional Network

A company can always take your paycheck away from you and end your employment with them, but they can’t take away your relationships. If you build strong relationships in the industry, it is very likely that should you lose your ‘stable job,’ you will be able to quickly find another one. I can’t stress this point enough, as many engineers rank networking low on their list of things to do because they feel that they can lean on the relationships of their company. WRONG. If you take this approach and lose your job or decide to relocate, you will not be able to lean on the company’s contacts. Also, having a strong network gives you a direct avenue to potential new business for your employer, which is like gold, especially in today’s economy. [Read more…] about The Only Stability You Have in Your Engineering Career Is You

Credentials Can Act as Keys to Opening Doors of Opportunities in Your Engineering Career

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Credentials in Your Engineering Career Development

While I never try to belittle the importance of being yourself and bringing your intangibles to the table every day in your engineering career-development efforts,there are certain accomplishments or accolades that are a must in order for you to succeed in achieving your goals in your engineering career—and credentials are among them. By credentials, I mean licenses, certifications, awards, education, publications, etc.

We have discussed this topic a lot recently in the Institute for Engineering Career Development forums, and I thought it warranted a full post here. There are unique skills and talents that you must develop to be considered among the best at what you do, such as your ability to connect with people, present information, be responsive, and stay productive; however, oftentimes in addition to all of the above, there are certain credentials which your goals will not be possible without. For example, let’s say you want to achieve partner in an engineering company, and the company requires a master’s-level degree and/or a professional engineering license; well, no matter how great you are at business development, you will have to gain one of those credentials to achieve your goal. While all of your skills and business accomplishments can walk you through that door to partner, having those credentials is the key that must first unlock the door before you can walk (or run) through it. No matter how fast you are going in your career, without that key, you will run into a locked door, every time. [Read more…] about Credentials Can Act as Keys to Opening Doors of Opportunities in Your Engineering Career

The Importance of Computer Technology in Your Engineering Career

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This is a guest blog by Nancy Evans

Computer Technology

One might think that computers and engineering are distinct technological pursuits, as people often equate engineering with large macroscopic projects while computers are seen as producing effects that are contained on microscopic chips. However, since the 90s we have increasingly seen a merger of the two fields, which is not only resulting in a rise in software engineering jobs but in the widespread adoption of computer-aided technologies into traditional engineering fields. As a result, engineers are seeing a significant expansion of options in how they can pursue work. Here are a few different ways young engineers can integrate computer technology into their careers: [Read more…] about The Importance of Computer Technology in Your Engineering Career

How to Pass Any Test in Your Engineering Career

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This is a guest post by William Merunka, EIT, LEED AP.

How to Pass Any Test in Your Engineering Career

While we may not like it, we face many tests in our engineering career. These may be exams for specific certifications, a test of your negotiation skills when trying to land a major client, or even your debate skills when trying to convince a town to approve a major construction project that you have spent countless hours on to develop the best environmental and economic design. No matter what kind of test you are faced with, if you are not prepared, your chance of passing will not be that great. In this article I will discuss a few steps that you can take to get prepared. While my examples will relate closely to the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam that I recently passed, these steps can be applied to any kind of test.

Know the rules/guidelines: It is important to know the rules and guidelines that need to be followed. Familiarize yourself with these guidelines so you know exactly what you are expected to do and how you need to do it. What tools/references are you allowed to bring, and which ones are you not allowed to bring. For academic exams, it is important to read admission guidelines. It would be terrible to spend countless hours studying for an 8 hour FE (also referred to as the EIT) exam only to be turned away because you arrived too late or you leave your admission ticket and/or personal identification at home. [Read more…] about How to Pass Any Test in Your Engineering Career

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

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Computer Skills

computer skills

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

The Importance of the Non-Technical Professional Component of Engineering Education

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Featured Guest Blogger: Merlin Kirschenman, P.E., CPC, M.ASCE, M. AIC

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has been a leader in “raising the bar” for the education of civil engineers.  In 2001, ASCE established the Task Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice.  During a decade of work on raising the requirements for a professional engineer, this committee accomplished a lot, and in 2008 it published the Body Of Knowledge Second edition (BOK-2). This establishes the education requirement of a master’s degree in engineering, or equivalent, to qualify to be a licensed professional engineer.  The BOK-2 addresses  the necessary  non-technical topics, but it lacked emphasis or depth of knowledge in the non-technical, professional areas of the education phase; which is necessary to prepare the graduate engineer to function as a master builder and meet the requirements for ASCE’s Vision 2025.   The 5th year of the BOK-2 is dedicated to technical knowledge topics; making it similar to a current advanced technical engineering degree.

Many engineers believe the “raise the bar” effort for engineering education should include significantly more professional preparation especially in leadership, management, business, communication and public policy. During the preparation of the ASCE BOK reports, some of the committee members with industry backgrounds tried to get more professionalism into the 5th year of the CE curriculum. They proposed that the 5th year should be a professional engineering degree instead of more technical knowledge. However, they were not successful in obtaining this level of professionalism in the BOK reports.

The following are a few comments and suggestions on how the concerns of those who want more professional aspects in the education process can be addressed while still addressing the concerns of those who want the primary emphasis to be on the technical aspects.  This debate has been going on for quite some time and it doesn’t appear like a resolution of the differences is forthcoming. [Read more…] about The Importance of the Non-Technical Professional Component of Engineering Education

Recommendations on What to Bring to the PE Exam

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What to bring to the PE exam

pe exam

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of my book Engineer Your Own Success: 7 Key Elements to Creating an Extraordinary Engineering Career.

You are allowed to bring as many books to the PE exam as you wish, which is why on the day of the exam people will literally show up with wagons full of books. While I understand it can be tempting to have every possible piece of information with you, you must be careful of placing too much emphasis on your reference materials. The most important aspect of passing this exam is budgeting your time. You have to answer 40 questions in each of the two 4-hour sessions so you will need to be judicious with your time.

My point is that the more books you plan to use, the more time it will take you to browse through them searching for the answer. This takes away from the examination time resulting in answering fewer questions. My recommendation is to purchase an engineering reference manual for your discipline and do all of your studying using this guide. Michael Lindeburg is the author of many good engineering reference manuals. Taking this approach allows you to really get to know one complete manual, which you most likely will be able to use to answer 75% or more of the exam questions.

Preparing for the PE Exam?

Here is a summary of this PE Exam Prep Guide.

Download the FREE guide for resources that can help you in your preparation for the PE Exam.

[Read more…] about Recommendations on What to Bring to the PE Exam

Credentials Bring You Credibility

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CredentialsThe following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of my soon to be launched book Engineer Your Own Success: 7 Key Elements to Creating an Extraordinary Engineering Career:

Your credentials represent measurable accomplishments in your career, which include your degrees, licenses, certifications, and any awards you may have won. Credentials are essential for several reasons, but the most important thing that credentials bring you is CREDIBILITY!

Whether you are trying to secure a job with a new employer or obtain a new client for your company, the more credibility you have, the easier it will be. This seems like an obvious point, but so many professionals fail to recognize the importance of credentials, therefore they don’t pursue them, which in turn drastically impedes their career development. [Read more…] about Credentials Bring You Credibility

The Battle Between Excel and MathCAD

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Featured Guest Blogger: Robert MoteThe Battle Between Excel and MathCAD
Motagg’s Blog by Robert Mote
Let’s connect on LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/robertmote

One of the interesting habits I’ve seen along the way through my career is the abnormal attachment some structural engineers have for MathCAD and leave Excel a bit aside. I understand some of the reasons, it may be something learned at university and the interest kept alive. It might be that it adds value intrinsically to the experience, the engineers enjoys using it because it is supported by many examples. The MathCAD software library is loaded with engineering examples so it seems a natural extension of oneself as an engineer.

As an engineer, I have used MathCAD in pursuit of research, calculating free-convective heat transfer properties or the Boussinesq Bulb of Pressure. I must admit I would never use it to calculate the theoretical wind load to be applied to a piperack in StaadPro. If truth be told, in a profession where the only mathematical excitement may be an occasional square root; as a practicing engineer, I haven’t yet found a power use for MathCAD. [Read more…] about The Battle Between Excel and MathCAD