• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Engineering Management Institute

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
    • Webinars
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
    • Webinars
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

The Perfect Engineering Job is out there for Every Engineer Even if it is not a Traditional Engineering Job

October 24, 2012 By EMI

Many engineers join our Institute for Engineering Career Development to find the perfect engineering job or as I like to say it, create their ideal engineering career.  My question to our members is always, “How do you define the best engineering job?”  In my opinion, the best engineering job for each person is the job that will allow him or her to achieve all of his or her career goals and have fun in the process.

This post was inspired by a lunch that I recently had with an old colleague of mine who I worked with years ago at a civil engineering consulting firm.  He recently found his perfect engineering job by accident. So, for purposes of this post, I will call him Jim.  Jim is a civil engineer who was always been very adept at using the AutoCAD design programs.

Let’s talk a little about Jim’s skills in his engineering career.

Jim and his wife recently decided to relocate so he had to find a new job.  He applied to quite a few civil engineering companies.  One of the interviews that he went on was for a civil engineering manager.  The interview didn’t go so well as they told him that they didn’t think he had the experience needed for this position.  However, they did say to him that they were in the process of creating a new position within the company that they thought might be a good fit for him.

This company was looking to take a competent design engineer and use him or her to serve as an AutoCAD support person for the hundreds of design engineers they had in their company.  They specifically wanted someone with a good amount of experience as a design engineer as well as a lot of AutoCAD knowledge.  Jim jumped at the opportunity to interview for this new position and ultimately was offered it and accepted the position.

The perfect engineering job for Jim

This ended up being the perfect engineering job for Jim.  He gets to use the computer programs that he loves every day and he still gets to help other engineers with their designs, seeing many different projects and problems.  However, he doesn’t have some of the stresses that a typical design engineer has including late hours, deadlines, dealing with clients, staying billable, preparing proposals, marking-up invoices, receivable collections, etc.  Now it’s not to say that those are awful things, in fact many engineers may love doing them, but for Jim he’d rather be doing the computing and the helping of other designers.

Since I started Powerful Purpose Associates and the Institute for Engineering Career Development, I have been on a mission to prove to engineers that they really can create their ideal engineering career, so any time I find one who has, I like to share his or her story.  I hope this story provides inspiration for all of you out there searching for your “best engineering job.”

  • If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

    Download the Productivity Routines


To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success



Related Posts

  • How Important is your First Engineering Job - Engineering Career TV Ep. 25
  • TECC 010: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – Acing the Engineering Job Interview
  • How to Stand out when Applying for an Engineering Job - Engineering Career TV Ep. 20
  • TECC 002: The Engineering Career Coach Podcast – Getting on the Path to Your Dream Engineering Job
  • Getting an Engineering Job after a Hiatus - Engineering Career TV Ep. 26

Filed Under: Career Goals and Challenges, Job Search/Salary/Relocation Tagged With: best engineering job, engineering career development, ideal engineering career

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

And Get Custom Content Delivered To You Weekly

PM Training

engineering management lessons

career readiness

Categories

  • AECT – AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
  • Blog
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • COVID19
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Ethics & Integrity
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Program Management
    • Project Management
    • Travel
    • Work Life Balance
  • Civil Engineering
  • Engineering Career TV
  • Engineering Technology
  • TCEP-The Civil Engineering Podcast
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
    • Communication & Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Ethics/Integrity
    • Infrastructure
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Project Management
    • Women in Engineering
  • TECC Podcast-The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Game Changers
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Project Management
    • Work Life Balance
  • TEPM – The Engineering Project Management Podcast
  • TEQC – The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
  • TGEP – The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
    • Tunneling Series
  • TSEC-The Structural Engineering Channel
  • TWiCE
  • Uncategorized
  • Women in Engineering

TECC Sidebar Featured Final

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

We Can Help You:

  • Build solutions to attract talented professionals.
  • Develop your staff’s people skills.
  • Create career roadmaps for your staff.
  • Provide PM training for your professionals.
  • Build custom development programs.
  • Scale sustainably.

Location:

50 E. Ridgewood Avenue #129

Ridgewood NJ, 07450

800-920-4007

Copyright © 2023 • All Rights Reserved • Property of Engineering Management Institute • Terms of Service • Privacy Policy

SPECIAL DOWNLOAD

33 Productivity Routines of
Top Engineering Executives

x