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In this episode, I talk to Mark A. Herschberg, M.Eng, a seasoned executive and cybersecurity expert and author of the book called: “The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You” about the importance of career planning, networking, communication, leadership, and management as an engineer.
Depending on your personality, you are either the type to listen or talk. Usually, people struggle to be good at both. I was the type to talk, to think about what to say next, and sometimes forget to listen to the person I was talking to. I realized that this was due to my fear of having a “boring” conversation or awkward pauses while I reflected on what was being said. It was also ego taking over, since I wanted to be “ready” with a rebuttal when I was debating with someone.
As I write this blog post, I know I am not the best listener I can be, but I’ve made improvements from who I used to be. These changes have been thanks to books, the wisdom of mentors and coaches, and most importantly, practice. You must practice!
It may be a weird concept at first, but you must be able to be intentional at listening. Instead of giving you a long list of tips or tricks to become a better listener, I want to give you two that you can implement today.
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In this episode, our new host, Jeff Perry, MBA talks to Dennis Doran, a leading expert in the construction industry with more than 30 years of experience, and the author of the highly praised book, Soft as Steel, about the importance of valuing and developing soft skills to build relationships and succeed in business and life.
[Read more…] about TECC 233: Developing Soft Skills for a Successful Career in Engineering
Over the last 10 years, remote work has grown in popularity by 91%. Even though the current pandemic has given businesses no other option but to move to remote work, many have seen it as a silver lining. The benefits for employees are clear: flexible work structures, improvement to work-life balance, job satisfaction, and productivity.
But as leaders and managers, you may think: It’s great for individuals, but how do I make it great for the business?
After all, you need to keep goals and projects moving forward, but managing teams and your firm’s operations simply looks different outside of the office. A new set of challenges can arise.
The good news is that with the right tools in place, it is now easier than ever to make this happen and to make it happen efficiently. In this post, we’ll explore the three most common challenges of managing a remote or hybrid office for engineering firms, and the strategies you need to navigate them successfully.
The goal is to have a new management outlook for remote work, so your firm can find its groove outside of the office and empower your team to be productive and grow.
Let’s get into it.
[Read more…] about How to Navigate the Challenges of Managing Remote Work
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In this episode of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk to Dan Oblinger about hostage negotiation. Dan explains how hostage negotiation fits into consulting engineering and also provides five specific ways that engineering firms should look at to evaluate their negotiation and communication abilities.
[Read more…] about TCEP 146: What Does Hostage Negotiation Have to Do With Consulting Engineers?
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In this episode, I talk with Andy Platz, PE, who is the CEO and President at Mead & Hunt. Andy talks about his career journey of how he went from being a fresh graduate to a CEO of a company. He provides some great crisis management tips to civil engineers and also gives very actionable advice to civil engineers aspiring to become leaders in the field. Andy also talks about how he and other leaders at Mead & Hunt are leading their firm through this COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
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In this episode, I talk to Ann Tomalavage, PE, PMP, LEED AP, a licensed professional engineer who has spent the last 20+ years training engineering professionals on how to become great project managers. Ann talks about some of the key points to becoming a successful project manager, and she also discusses the role of project management in consulting engineering.
[Read more…] about TCEP 137: The Role of Project Management in Consulting Engineering
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In this episode of The Structural Engineering Channel podcast, we talk to Marcello Sgambelluri, PE,SE., the Director of Advanced Technology at John A. Martin & Associates. He talks about BIM(Building Information Modeling) and how it is evolving, and also shares his thoughts on the roles that structural engineers and drafters will play during this exciting technological time in structural engineering.
[Read more…] about TSEC 16: BIM and Collaboration Between Structural Engineers and Drafters
Whether you’re trying to connect with customers, a new employer or your partner, or even trying to network with peers, communication is vital for career growth. For project managers and planners, it’s especially crucial because poorly delivered messages can have a considerable impact on the results of projects and tasks.
Communication is also essential for dealing with clients. Without the appropriate message, you might misinterpret the scope of a project, what demands a client has or project specifications.
As an engineering professional, here are five crucial client communication skills you will need to interact with clients effectively:
[Read more…] about 5 Crucial Client Communication Skills for Engineering Project Managers
Nowadays, the engineering market has become more and more demanding and competitive. It’s not enough to get your degree; you need to constantly learn and develop new skills to stand out from the other engineers and work on exciting projects. Therefore, keep on reading to discover what skills are necessary to become a chief engineer and how to acquire them. [Read more…] about Chief Engineer = Professional Engineer + Manager
