This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias
Whether fresh out of school or experienced engineer, it’s never too soon to forge a trailblazer career journey. Avoid the active bystander status and start pioneering your own trail today!
Embrace Ownership Over Your Role, Including Successes and Failures
One way you can become your own career trailblazer is to take full ownership of your job. Sounds quite basic, right? But let’s dissect this for fuller context.
It’s one thing to tell people, “I am a such-and-such engineer,” referring to your title. That’s a great start! But in your day-to-day routine as that engineer, do you:
- Exert your best efforts regardless of the task? (Let’s face it, sometimes it’s difficult for engineers to get excited about necessities like report writing or answering the phone.)
- Make concerted efforts to optimize all resources at your disposal? Examples include reaching out to more experienced colleagues, asking questions, volunteering, researching topics, diving into archives, inquiring about lessons learned, introducing yourself as you initiate conversations, etc.
- Own up to both successes and failures? While it can be fun to share ingenuity or great results, can you be just as honest about failed attempts? Trying and failing is an essential component to take yourself to the next level.
These are just a few ways you can claim more ownership over your role. Regardless of job outcomes, owning your role is about looking back and saying, “I did my best with the resources I had.” No one can fault you for that.
Increasing job ownership raises your value and translates to higher quality work — practical features for any trailblazer!
Offer the Traits You Wish Your Manager Had
[Read more…] about Ready to Become an Engineering Pioneer? Try These Starter Tips
