Engineering Management Institute

Mindset

Four Skills Engineers Can Learn From Entrepreneurs

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This is a guest post by Patrick Sweet, P.Eng., MBA, PMP, CSEP

Whether you plan to launch a business or work within an existing organization, approaching the world from an entrepreneur’s perspective can be incredibly valuable for engineers. At their core, both engineers and entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. By approaching the world from the mindset of an entrepreneur, engineers of all disciplines can become stronger in their fields.

Here Are Four Skills That Engineers Would Do Well to Adopt:

1. Entrepreneurs See Opportunity

Entrepreneurs see the world in terms of opportunities. They are able to identify problems and pain points that, if solved, would create incredible value for people. Where many people see problems and are content simply to complain about them, entrepreneurs are able to see a world where that problem is actually solved and take strides to make that world a reality.

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TECC 265: Finding Career Fulfillment in Your Engineering Career

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Finding Career Fulfillment in Your Engineering Career

In this episode, Jeff Perry, MBA talks about how you can find career fulfillment. He shares a framework that will help you on your journey and some actions that you can start taking right away to get on the path to engineering career fulfillment.

Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Finding Career Fulfillment:

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Increasing the Efficiency of Your Civil Engineering Firm’s Field Work

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This is a guest blog by Nick Heim, P.E.

Whether it be construction administration for a new design project or gathering information about existing conditions on a renovation project, some amount of field work is required on most civil engineering projects. From notes to photos, a large part of field work is data collection and interpretation that can be streamlined depending on what is to be accomplished. Today, I would like to share three tips on my field workflows — and how they could help you increase your efficiency in the field:

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Understanding and Optimizing the Long Game That Is Your Engineering Career

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This is a guest post by Jacob Valentien, PE 

Understanding and Optimizing the Long Game That Is Your Engineering Career

As I reflect and think about the various blog topics that I could write about for the Civil Engineering Collective, I wanted to start off by summarizing one of the biggest concepts that I see young engineers struggle with in their first few years after graduating college and starting their career. The issue is that your engineering career is quite the long game, and it has only truly started. Engineering school is step one and obtaining your professional engineering license should be the step where everything accelerates (and not slows down).

Establishing a challenging and rewarding engineering career is very important to me, and I hope to break down some foundational concepts so that you can set off on your own challenging and rewarding engineering career. I think the following four major components are most critical to take into consideration for your career development:

  • Mindset
  • Experience
  • Continual learning
  • Goal setting

You can find tons of content on each of these topics from all kinds of sources, both internally focused on the engineering field and externally. I think there is value in immersing yourself in these topics early and often to continually remind yourself of the value of each.

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Getting Ahead of the Next Curve as a Leader and Team

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This is a guest blog by Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

What We Need to Know About Human Disaster Response and Trauma 

There is no doubt that we as leaders and team have been going through a season of much higher fear, anxiety, and trauma with the COVID-19 crisis and the very visual revealing of racial injustice and inequities previously ignored.  

Our stressors are also multifaceted and connected with different concerns.  

On one hand, our concerns are related to health, economics, isolation, and an uncertain and non-uniform re-opening. On the other hand, our concerns are related to seeing large gaps in long-standing social constructs associated with equality, justice, and inclusion.  

Concurrently we begin to work through the “peaks,” medically and in terms of concerns over our organization’s near-term financial health, and as we begin to better listen, understand, and take new actions as citizens and society, the fact is that we will not — and must not — just return to “normal.”  

Between then and now, however, there are things we need to know and steps we need to take to help ease concerns and come out of these periods of crisis stronger, better, and more resilient.  

What We Need to Know 

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TECC 228: How to Stay Safe and Keep Healthy During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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How to Stay Safe and Keep Healthy During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In this episode, I talk about how you can stay safe and keep healthy during the coronavirus pandemic by changing the way you think and doing things differently daily. During this pandemic we are indeed dealing with tough times, but if you can adapt a positive mindset, you might just find that even within these uncertain times, there are always opportunities out there.  

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About How You Can Stay Safe and Keep Healthy During the Coronavirus Pandemic:

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TSEC 06: The Emotional Side of Structural Engineering

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Image by tonodiaz on Freepik

In episode 06 of The Structural Engineering Channel podcast, we talk to Zohaib Alvi, P.E. who is a civil, structural, and forensic engineer and principal of za/engineering. We talk about sustainability in structural engineering and more specifically about the emotional side of structural engineering and how important it is to embrace and understand it as an engineer.

Engineering Quotes:

Emotional Side of Structural Engineering

Here Are Some of the Questions We Ask Zohaib in This Episode:

  • Where did your interest in sustainability come from?
  • In terms of policies, guidelines and regulations – has it been reflected in codes and guidelines in the recent history?
  • Can you give us an example of how resiliency needs to start with us?
  • How does smart technology play into all these trending issues?

Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About the Emotional Side of Structural Engineering

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TECC 200: How to Develop Business Thinking Skills for Engineers and Techies

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How to Develop Business Thinking Skills for Engineers and Techies

In this episode, I talk with Ram V. Iyer, an engineer with a business degree, an MIT grad, who realized that his engineering and business education were inadequate to succeed in business or to attain executive positions in business. It took him a stint as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and four startups to figure out that business thinking is the one missing ingredient. He will discuss what business thinking is and how you can develop these business thinking skills, and he will also talk about the techie mindset and how it can help and hurt us.

Engineering Quotes:

Business Thinking Skills - Ram V. Iyer Tweet this

Business Thinking Skills - Anthony Fasano Tweet this

Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Business Thinking Skills for Engineers and Techies:

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TECC 193: What Prison Has Taught This Young Engineer and How it Can Help You

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What Prison Has Taught This Young Engineer and How it Can Help You

In this episode, I talk with Jim (a false name used to keep our guest anonymous), a young engineer who had to spend some time in prison soon after he graduated college. We talk about everything he went through while in prison as well as the things he learned and how his experiences have contributed to his success in his career.

Engineering Quotes:

Here are some of the key points discussed about Jim’s time spent in prison:

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TECC 165: Opportunities for Engineers and Technical Professionals in the Gig Economy

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In this episode, I talk with Diane Mulcahy, author of The Gig Economy about opportunities for engineers and technical professionals in the current and future economy. The Gig Economy is a shift in the economy from people working 9 to 5 jobs to people performing freelancing or independent work. This is something that can be very applicable to the engineering world and already is very prevalent.

Episode Quotes:

Opportunities for Engineers

Opportunities for Engineers

Here are the key points discussed on opportunities for engineering and technical professionals in the ‘Gig Economy:’

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