The prototypical engineer is analytical, logical, accurate, communicative, creative, and, most importantly, confident. However, that’s not to say that a person must be confident to become an engineer. In fact, many of the traits seemingly intrinsic in engineering students are actually acquired during the course of their educations – confidence included. Several studies have found that education is imperative for bolstering self-esteem and to eliminate insecurities.
Here are a few ways education has been shown to eliminate insecurities and build confidence in students – especially engineering students:
Familiarity
Knowing the answer to a question is one of the most satisfying feelings. By participating in an educational program, students gain knowledge in specific fields, allowing them to answer questions faster and with greater accuracy.
Simply by attending classes, engineering students will become familiar with the information and skills they’ll need to succeed in the field, and that familiarity will slowly but surely increase their confidence. Plus, initial education sets a foundation upon which students can continue to learn, continuing to bolster their confidence and their careers.
Decision-Making
Anyone can make decisions, but the best decisions are backed by knowledge. Education provides the knowledge people need to make the right decisions at the right times.
Engineering is a field that requires extensive decision-making skills. The decisions made in engineering must be accurate as well as precise; the repercussions of poorly made decisions are disastrous, affecting millions of people and costing millions of dollars. The knowledge that engineering education provides is enough to gift engineers with confidence in their decision-making efforts. Plus, advanced engineering programs, such as biomedical engineering online, can provide diverse knowledge to augment decision-making capability and enhance confidence.
Challenges
The more obstacles a person overcomes, the more confident a person feels about their ability to overcome obstacles. Education is filled with challenges, from completing assignments on a deadline to working in teams to balancing family and work responsibilities with school. This exposure to challenge allows students to cope better when faced with challenges in the real world, providing them confidence in the face of adversity.
While the challenges engineering students face in school are less considerable than those in the real world because most academic projects have known solutions. Whereas real-world engineering tasks do not. The relatively low pressure in engineering educational environments is ideal for slowly building confidence.
Feedback
On one hand, receiving negative criticism on a project can reduce a person’s confidence. On the other hand, that criticism typically gives the person the tools to improve the project better than they could imagine, showing them that they can produce amazing results. Education is filled with feedback, negative and positive, but with the right attitude, all feedback is valuable for enhancing confidence.
Engineers especially should seek feedback – not just in their studies but in their careers. While feedback can have temporary detrimental effects on confidence, over time feedback proves vital for personal and professional improvement.
Career Opportunities
A person’s career options are severely limited when that person lacks education. To employers, education credentials prove that a prospective employee has the necessary skills and experience to excel in certain positions. When a person has greater opportunities, it is easier to feel confident in one’s abilities.
Engineers must have educations to find work. Nearly all entry-level engineers are required to have a bachelor’s degree in an appropriate field as well as licensing with the appropriate agencies. By completing an education and achieving licensing, engineers have the basic prerequisites to excel in their careers. This should give them the confidence to cooperate and compete with their peers in the real world.
Social Standing
Education is the key to social mobility. In study after study, researchers have shown that advanced education allows people to escape poverty thanks to dramatically higher income and connections to more influential individuals. The higher a person rises on the social ladder, the more easily confidence comes.
Though more accurate estimates depend on the engineering field, engineers typically earn a starting salary above $60,000. Later in their careers, most engineers earn six-figure salaries and the top 10 percent of engineers in growing fields like hardware and software development earning nearly $200,000 annually. While confidence cannot be bought, financial security is certainly useful in developing confidence.
About Tiffany Rowe: 
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Please leave your comments, feedback or questions in the section below on how you think you can eliminate insecurities and build confidence as an engineer.
