Leadership 101- A New Paradigm?

This is a guest blog post by Croft Edwards  Congratulations, you have been such a great engineer that management has decided to make you a leader and give you a team of engineers to lead. Shouldn’t be too difficult to do, after all people are just like engineering problems and in your 4 plus years […]

What’s An Ambivert? It’s How To Move Others Throughout Your Engineering Career

For the longest time through my engineering career I labeled myself an ‘introvert’.  You know, the typical engineer stereotype: reserved, shy, maybe a bit nerdy.  OK, maybe seriously nerdy. In any case, I just considered myself the stereotypical engineer introvert. This was despite the fact that I was leading people, talking in front of groups […]

To Move Ahead In Your Engineering Career You’ll Need To Travel

A lot of members of the Engineering Career Community love to travel, both for work and for play.  They understand that to grow in their careers and as individuals, they have to get out into the world and mix it up.  Experience life, experience developing relationships, and yes – experience being uncomfortable.  This last point […]

5 Things You Can Do To Increase Focus in Your Engineering Career

One of the challenges I hear about from a lot of engineers is how to stay focused when there are so many distractions vying for their bandwidth.  I can relate, the same problem exists for me!  I think that any engineering professional today is going to have to come up with ways to protect their […]

Boost Your Engineering Focus By Eating A Frog Every Day

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” ~ Mark Twain Normally I end my articles with a quote, but this time I’m starting with one instead.  We’re […]

The Worst Action You Can Take In Your Engineering Career Is Inaction

I am planning to take the PE exam in the future…. I am thinking about getting a master’s degree…. I am considering taking some core skills courses…. I may read this great book I heard about…. Have you said these things before or made other promises to yourself or others related to your engineering career […]

Fire, Aim, Ready…Seizing the Initiative in Your Engineering Career

One hurdle that many engineers experience in their careers is taking action on the challenging professional projects that will enable them to move forward and up.  I’ve had a lot of conversations with engineers who talk about their desire to earn a certification or find a new, better position. In fact, the conversations are the […]

Using Key Performance Indicators to Manage Your Engineering Career and Life

“What gets measured gets done.” ~ Unknown Management Yoda Ever heard this phrase? More than likely you have and if you haven’t, stick around in the industry long enough and you will. Although this phrase gets thrown around each time there are discussions about organizational performance, it happens for a good reason: it’s true. Management […]