Engineering Management Institute

Professional Engineer

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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TCEP 137: The Role of Project Management in Consulting Engineering

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Consulting Engineering

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.

Engineering Quotes:

Consulting Engineering

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Ann Tomalavage:

  • How did you get into project management training and how did you become so interested and passionate about the topic of project management?
  • What differences could an engineer expect when transitioning from a project engineer to a project manager role?
  • What made you decide to start a project management training course?
  • You recently talked at an ACEC event on project management; could you tell us about it and the feedback that you received from the audience?
  • What would you say is one of the biggest challenges for engineers in terms of making the transition to project management?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About The Role of Project Management in Consulting Engineering:

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TCEP 124: Technology, Innovation, and Smart Cities – What Civil Engineers Need to Know

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TCEP 124: Technology, Innovation, and Smart Cities - What Civil Engineers Need to Know

In episode 124 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I will be taking you with me to Philadelphia where we will be visiting the offices of Pennoni to talk to Joseph Viscuso, PE, PLS, ENV SP who serves as Pennoni’s Senior Vice President and Director of Strategic Growth. We will be talking about smart cities and specifically about understanding how important it is to embrace technology and to be innovative in your career. Viscuso also elaborates on the next wave of technology which is heavily reliant on the 5G network and also the threats that cyber security has on smart cities. You can also view this episode on YouTube. You don’t want to miss this one!

Engineering Quotes:

Smart Cities

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Joe:

  • I know that you spend a lot of your time traveling to different cities and venues to discuss innovation and technology—why do you think that is important for the future of firms like Pennoni?
  • How do you see innovation/technology changing the everyday landscape in the engineering profession?
  • If I gave you a crystal ball, what would you see about the future of smart cities?
  • If I gave you a magic wand, how would you use it to increase smart city momentum?
  • We have heard a lot about cyber security threats – how can this impact smart cities?
  • What are some of the challenges for cities to adopt smart technologies?
  • What can residents do to move the conversation further on smart city solutions?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About Smart Cities, Technology and Innovation:

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Chief Engineer = Professional Engineer + Manager

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Chief Engineer = Professional Engineer + Manager is a guest blog
by Justin OsborneChief Engineer

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

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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Gaining Experience for Taking the PE Exam – Engineering Career TV Ep. 5

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Q: How do you gain the experience for Taking the PE Exam?

Welcome to Episode #5 of Engineering Career TV. The topic for this episode is Gaining Experience for Taking the PE Exam.

I will 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 topic, Gaining Experience for Taking the PE Exam, which is based on a couple of questions that are going to be answered over two episodes from Tessa who’s a recent graduate, where she asks the following: [Read more…] about Gaining Experience for Taking the PE Exam – Engineering Career TV Ep. 5

TECC 120: A 10 Step Plan for Obtaining Your Professional Engineering License

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Image by 8photo on Freepik

In this episode, I interview Lieutenant Colonel Lagerquist, a career civil engineer officer on the topic of obtaining your professional engineering (PE) license by using a 10 step plan.

Engineering Success quotes:

professional engineering license

professional engineering licenseThe 10 key steps to obtaining your professional engineering license:

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