community

Growth and Empowerment Through Community

August 30, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Fernando A. Ceballos, P.E.

I’m often asked, “Why do you volunteer so much, aren’t you worried that it’s going to affect your career development?” The answer to that is “NO, why would I be worried — it’s likely going to help my growth.” However, it is a problem if I allow my involvement to distract me from my job and impact my performance. Here are a few things for you to think about.

Find Your Tribe

It is pretty typical for people to mention that it is harder to make friends after college. You either get lucky with good co-workers you enjoy spending time with outside of work or you join some type of social club. I’ve found the easiest way to find people I “click” with is through community organizations that have a cause behind them. That cause unites us and provides the initial filter of knowing that the people you are meeting have something in common with you.

I can attest to this! My wife and closest friends were all relationships that I made after joining an organization focused on a mission larger than myself.

Know the End Goal

5 Reasons to Say YES to Volunteering

August 9, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest post by Lindsay A. O’Leary, P.E., CAE, LEED AP, M.ASCE

Volunteering allows you to bring positive, measurable changes to your community and professional family. You’ve probably thought about saying YES to a volunteer opportunity. But how? When? Does it work with your schedule? You are busy, and what will you get out of it?

My advice is simple: Say YES and say it NOW. And the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.

Here Are Five Reasons Why Community Involvement and Volunteerism Will Improve Your Life:

Getting Involved in Your Community: Start with Diversity and Inclusion

August 17, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Mike Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

Last month, we took a broad look at infrastructure from a policy and enabler perspective, acknowledging the inherent complexity associated with delivering sustainable infrastructure and encouraging us to take risks, expose challenges, empathetically listen, and celebrate incremental success as we find win-win scenarios. This month, we are pivoting from macro to micro, hoping to inform our perspective as we progress community solutions. Unfortunately, the topic of community has led to a case of writer’s block.

This writer’s block started with a policy challenge from my Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Implementing Public Policy course. As I am learning in this course, an action-learning environment starts by defining points of entry. So my first action is to acknowledge that community is a term I’ve struggled with in recent years. Community as a point of entry exposes a polarity in my life. While my strong parents, warm community, and loving wife and children allowed me, with reasonable human errors, to successfully navigate the first three steps of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiologic, safety, love and belonging, the last 10 years have not been spent mindfully addressing esteem and self-actualization.

The last 10 years have been a series of tests: The Great Recession, The Arab Spring, corporate integrated delivery failures, and now COVID19. Supported by my family and benefiting from a commitment to education, we have weathered these continuous storms. Acknowledging this privilege, empathizing with so many who have and are truly suffering, I have no regrets. Yet, I often find myself dwelling on incremental loss of connectivity with my community, my roots.

I yearn for the ease of a childhood where familiar faces at every turn created a sense of belonging. I yearn for the camaraderie of a team, suffering together through the ups and downs of a season. I yearn for the dynamic pressures of my early career, where every day wins and losses affected our development and profitability. I yearn for my expat days, where utter uncertainty created a deeply meaningful network of need for our clients and teams.

Building Community and Your Engineering Career

August 3, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Sabrina Rivera, P.E.

I was going to start with the definition of community, but I have a feeling you already have a few examples in mind. For me, community is something that is created through multiple positive interactions with a group of individuals. Over time, bonds form and community develops, as all members are looking for the betterment of themselves and the group overall.

There are many benefits to being involved with a community, both directly and indirectly related to your career. The obvious one is professional organizations, which provide networking technical enrichment and social functions. Indirect communities can also provide opportunities by introducing you to people who are part of your network but not anyone you had met before or people from different industries who can serve as mentors and friends. Additionally, working with communities indirectly related to your career can provide an avenue for a cross-pollination of ideas and be a source of inspiration.

My first real experience with building community occurred when I served as president of the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) ASCE student club. Although our organization had existed for many years, there were ebbs and flows with involvement. During this year, my fantastic team and I were able to increase membership and excitement for the club. A few steps we took to build community were:

How Mechanical Engineers Can Give Back to Their Community

September 2, 2019 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Nader Mowlaee

As a mechanical engineer (ME), you can look forward to the inherent rewards of a lucrative career. An in-demand job and even job mobility as mechanical engineers typically make above-average earnings here the United States. However, engineers today are looking for more than the monetary rewards that come with this dynamic role. That’s why many mechanical engineers often look to give back to their communities.

Giving back to your community comes with several benefits. Not only do you get to hone your leadership skills as a mechanical engineer, but it also provides you with networking opportunities and gives you the chance to gain new experiences. Whether you’re a senior mechanical engineer or an experienced mechanical engineering manager looking to share your insight, there are several opportunities you can take to give back to your community. Here’s a few of them:

TCEP 082: One Civil Engineer’s Passion for Culture and Community

April 25, 2018 By EMI

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

In episode 082 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Alexis Clark, E.I.T about her passion for culture and community in civil engineering, and several other interesting topics related to Civil Engineering.

Here are some of the questions I ask Alexis:

Tell us how you ended up working for Hilti and what it’s like working for such a large company?
You’re passionate about engineering and culture both, so let’s discuss how the two intertwine.
Do you work outside of the US?
What do you do in your life in general to try and integrate culture?
Tell us about your passion for culture and volunteering, and why you are so interested in them?
Where do you think Civil Engineering is heading in the future?