How to Spot and Avoid Pitfalls to Engineering Career Advancement I came across an article on this subject recently. It deals with engineering
manager and engineering career. In the following I will only relate the points
about engineers.
Very often our career starts very rosy and then suddenly we hit a roadblock
and our career seems to go downhill from there. According to John A. Hachette,
staff engineer, Loral Infrared & Imaging systems (Lexington, Mass.),
"Engineers fail, and more often than is realized." He warns us about the
following signs that should be heeded:
1. The engineer is shuffled around projects against his/her will because of
real or perceived view that he/she is too disruptive to the team or fails to get
the work done.
2. The engineer is passed over for a number of promotions.
3. Raises are minimal and tasks assigned are trivial. He/she is not given
credit for his/her work.
Hoschette presented the following six causes for failure:
l. Inept or poor communication skills - This is something we, Vietnamese,
need to watch out for since our country of origin cannot be used as an excuse.
2. Poor relations with direct supervisor. This should be no more a problem
for Vietnamese than for others. The only exception is that some of us are not as
involved in sports and may be uncomfortable about office chit-chat.
3. Inflexible attitude. I don't think this should be much of a problem with
Vietnamese.
4. Poor and lax work habits.
5. Too much independence.
6. Technical incompetence.
In "Career Advancement and Survival for Engineers", (John Wiley & Sons,
New York), Hoschette explains how engineers might harm their own career
advancement and alerts technical types to early warning signs of trouble. He
also provides guidelines and recommendations on getting out of trouble. His
career recommendations include:
1. Good communication skills are essential for one's technical career. The
inability to effectively communicate often keeps an engineer from advancing.
Engineers get paid to resolve complex problems using communication skills to
bring together resources, people, and technical knowledge for success. "Lack of
good communication skills will obviously limit the success of the project and
one's career."
By nature and training, engineers focus on technicalities rather than people,
and this often makes engineers poor communicators. From his own experiences as
an engineering manager, Hoschette observes, "Many engineers believe technical
skills are all that count and that they will be rewarded accordingly." However,
while technical skills make up part of the criteria for advancement,
communication skills are also a significant part of the evaluation.
"An engineer who can communicate clearly, both in writing and speaking, and
has good technical understanding, is usually recognized by superiors as someone
with high potential." Clear, concise, and easily understandable writing is
essential because engineers often must write specifications and technical
reports. Poorly written specifications can cause a multitude of problems that
then cause delays throughout a project.
Similarly, clear, concise speaking skills are essential. "Career progress
depends, in part, upon an ability to sell oneself and one s ideas." This must be
done continuously during meetings with management and peers. Engineers must be
able to orally communicate important points contained in technical charts,
graphs, and reports; they must also give clear and concise instructions to their
subordinates and other employees.
Hoschette recommends that engineers improve their writing skills by taking
technical writing courses at a local college, and to look for guidance in old
reports, specifications, and other documents previously generated by other
people in the organization. Speaking skills, he says, can be improved by
observing how people in upper management report, by joining a Toast Masters
group, see 2. Maintain a good relationship with your supervisor. The personal
relationship an engineer has with his supervisor is probably the dominant factor
in deciding success or failure. Many engineers "do not understand this and
greatly underestimate the importance of their supervisor," Hoschette says.
To advance, engineers must have a good relationship with supervisors. They
must be able to discuss problems, report progress or lack of it, identify
solutions, and finally, get the supervisor s approval. Further, the engineer
must understand his/her role on the team and relationship with the supervisor as
one of cooperation and providing assistance. If things are going well between
engineer and supervisor, the engineer should be able to discuss work and
problems candidly.
There are danger signs to watch for in relationships, Hoschette warns. "If
the two of you are usually in disagreement, it s time to realize a poor
relationship exists," he explains, "which can be career limiting." He advises
finding common ground, identifying what you can agree upon, and concentrating on
this. If poor relations are caused by a difference of technical opinion, the
best solution is to at least agree to disagree, and concede that there is an
honest difference of opinion. If you disagree about your performance, it s an
entirely different matter. Essentially, he advises, "you ll have to start
performing the way the supervisor wants you to, and not the way you want to".
3. Become more flexible and understanding. Unfortunately, inflexibility is
taught in college. Engineering students are taught there is only one correct way
to work through a problem. On the job, however, problems are not so
well-detailed and there exists a multitude of solutions. Solving problems on the
job requires a team effort, with ideas and solutions from many people. Often
cost and schedule do not allow you to score a perfect 100. In fact, the final
solution may be far from the best. All of this requires the engineer to maintain
a balance in his work.
Being inflexible can cause you and the team a multitude of problems. Most
people pull away from someone who is too inflexible, and flexibility is the key
to career growth. You must change your style in relation to those around you to
stimulate them as well as yourself to get the best performance.
4. Eliminate poor or lax work habits. Engineers often fail due to poor work
habits and work schedules. If left unchecked, bad work methods eventually will
shortcut a promising career. The reason they are so career limiting is the
dramatic effect they have on the quality and quantity of work an engineer can
accomplish. Being easily distracted, can turn an easy, short task into a major
one. This type of performance causes cost overruns and missed schedules. Jumping
from one problem to another before an engineer completes the last one leaves him
with nothing ever being accomplished.
"Lack of discipline and being disorganized are two major reasons most
projects fail or end in cost overruns," Hoschette explains. "I cannot believe
the number of times experiments or tests had to be rerun simply because the
engineer was not organized or failed to pay attention to details or never
bothered to record test conditions or results." Poor work habits are a failure
mode.
5. Become a team player and contributor. Most engineers are members of a
design team, and team members must work closely with each other and draw from
each other to accomplish their goals. If an engineer becomes too independent,
the team can suffer. Some engineers believe they can do it all and try to take
on bigger assignments than they are capable of handling. Others want to work
alone with no one overseeing their work. Don t be too independent, he advises.
"It is career limiting." Engineers must try as best they can to be team players,
and take the time to share results with other team members. He stresses, "Do not
be afraid to ask questions and get clarification" if you need it. "You may not
have all the solutions, but neither does anyone else on the team," he declares.
To this I would like to add that you should do your homework before asking a
question. I have dealt with certain senior engineers who will spend the time
explaining to you a problem if you can show them that you have seriously thought
about the particular problem. The same engineers will dismiss you if they thinks
that you are asking them to do your job!
If an engineer is a loner by nature, Hoschette agrees that it will take
sometime to make the transition to team efforts. "Take things slowly at first,"
he advises, and at a minimum, "at least show up for team meetings." If the
engineer is afraid to share his work in front of the team, then he should
schedule some time to review his work with only the team leader. The point is
that the engineer must change to survive, and only he can do it, Hoschette says
adamantly. If, however, the engineer is already a team person but is
experiencing problems working on a team, he must find out why. Ask others if
they are having similar problems. Some teams gel and click, while others only
develop a multitude of problems. Remember: There will be another team. The best
way to move up is to do your best on the present task.
6. Continue learning to avoid technical incompetence. Engineers fail because
of technical incompetence, and this usually surprises many people. An engineer
must face technical challenges to accomplish two things: broaden his technical
knowledge and experience base, and technically update herself throughout his/her
career. To neglect either results in failure eventually. Should an engineer, for
example, expect some day to advance to the position of team leader, he/she had
better expand or broaden his/her background to be able to deal with many diverse
disciplines, often non-technical. Should the engineer prefer to remain competent
in one area only, then that individual must periodically update his/her
knowledge in that field. Hoschette warns: Not updating yourself will only result
in failure eventually.
Now for a final paragraph of wisdom. 2a. If you have an insecure manager,
either run away to another group/department/company quickly, or accept his/her
whims. Don't ever fight your manager! 9 out of 10 times you are the loser.
Voting with your feet is the best way to signal upper management that this
particular manager has a problem. Index |