Engineering Management Institute

UPCOMING WEBINAR

The First Step to a more Stable Engineering Career in 2018

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The First Step to a more Stable Engineering Career in 2018 is a blog post by Nader Mowlaee

Stable Engineering CareerAccording to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January 2016 the median number of years wage and salary workers had been with their then-current employers was 4.2. This was down from a median number of 4.6 years in 2014.

What does this tell us? The era of working for 20 years at one company is over.

Yet there are still many unhappy employees who continue working for the same employer. They’re sticking to their jobs because of a fake and empty promise of security.

If you’re thinking about establishing a more stable engineering career this year, you’ll need to start setting a few goals and brainstorming a few lists of potential companies.

Goal setting is the first step to finding a more stable job with more growth potential in 2018.

Your Next Step:

[Read more…]

TECC 157: Does it Matter which Path you take in your Engineering Career?

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In this episode, I am going to talk about whether or not it really matters what path you are taking in your engineering career. I will focus on using the 80/20 rule, goal setting and a quote taken from Alice in Wonderland.

Engineering Quotes:

Path you take in your Engineering Career

Here are the key points discussed about the path you take in your engineering career:

[Read more…]

Applying the 80/20 Principle in your Engineering Career – Engineering Career TV Ep. 7

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The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch – A Book Review

Welcome to Episode #7 of Engineering Career TV. In this episode, I talk about a book titled The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch.

I spend most of the Engineering Career TV episodes answering questions that have been submitted from engineers around the world on how to rapidly advance their careers and live the lives they want to live.

You can submit questions for the show by clicking here.

Let’s jump into today’s book, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less, which is the first in a series of book reviews where I discuss the following: [Read more…]

When Accountability Is Not The Best Strategy To Achieve Your Goals

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This is a guest blog post by Daniel Hayes, PE, PMP

goals

Accountability is all the rage.  Goal setting literature is full of articles, features and columns, touting the benefits of finding an accountabilibuddy, one whose job it is to keep you on track, moving forward on your goals, performing what you planned and promised.  While I agree that having someone hold me accountable makes perfect sense, the idea has never worked well for me.  I have always struggled being on the hook to someone else; so much that resistance to accountability often pushes me off course.  I find myself pushing back on accountability because of this.


I’ve always wondered if there was something wrong with me.  Why do I push back on those trying to support me?  Why does my work suffer when I am held externally accountable?  Does this inclination and behavior of mine have to sabotage my career and personal development?

[Read more…]

TCEP 023: Goal Setting for Civil Engineers – A Whole Brained Approach with Author Stu Walesh

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TCEP Ep23

In episode 023 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, civil engineer and author Stu Walesh walks us through 5 points that every civil engineer should consider in setting clear, powerful goals and also provides us with some indications to help us see that we need goals or need to rejuvenate our current goals.

Here are some key points discussed in this episode:

Indications that we need goals or rejuvenated goals: [Read more…]

TECC 90: Vision Setting and Blueprinting for Long-Range Vector Setting for Engineers

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Vector Setting for Engineers

In this episode, Chris Knutson and I dive into long-term goal setting or vector setting for engineers and give you some actionable steps on how to do it.

Vector Setting for Engineers

Key points:

The best way to shape the future of your engineering career is to design it.  Here is a summary of this episode which can help you to design your ideal career.

A vision is a statement of what future success looks like and is not tied to a timeframe (the question of why).

5 Steps for Bringing Future Predictions into Existence [Read more…]

If You Set Lofty Goals, You Will Engineer Their Reality

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I often talk to our Institute for Engineering Career Development (IECD) members about setting lofty goals in their engineering careers. When I say “lofty,” I mean really big goals, goals that on first thought might even seem unreachable. Once you set these types of goals, it is imperative that you remind yourself of them over and over again, ideally on a daily basis. This can be done through a journal or some other tool capturing your thoughts and goals. I am not just telling IECD members to do this because it is written about in many books, I am telling them this because I have seen it work firsthand in my career and life. In this post, I am going to share three real-life examples from my own experiences.

When you set goals and then keep them fresh in your mind, you start to train yourself both mentally and physically to constantly move towards those goals, whether you realize it or not. At times, actions may even be driven by your subconscious mind because you have trained it as to what direction you want to head in your career and life.

Obtaining My PE License

I knew from the day I graduated college—in fact, I knew before that—that I wanted to get my professional engineering license. Because this was such a clear goal of mine, I was always preparing myself for the exam, even years before I took it. I kept a very good record of all of the projects I worked on from as soon as I started my career. I made sure that I was clear on the kind of engineering work that the state board expected on a PE application, and I made sure that was the work I did. Early on, I obtained an application from a colleague was previously approved to sit for the exam to ensure I completed mine in the same format. Then, when it came time to study for the PE exam, believe or not, I typed out the words Anthony Fasano, PE, and taped them to the top of my computer monitor so that I stared at them all day. Not only did this remind me of my goal, but whenever I tried to come up with a reason not to study, my goal was staring me in the face driving me to do so. The bottom line is that I took and passed the exam on my first attempt and became one of the youngest people to do so in the State of New York at the age of 24. [Read more…]