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Advice To a New Engineering Graduate

pettitda

What piece of advice would you give (or have you given) to a recent graduate in the engineering field to help them start their career?

 

When I was fresh out of college, an older engineer that I worked with told me that when he was coming up he would spend his lunch hours reading and trying to understand the articles in technical journals.  Then he went on to tell me that there was still time for me to go back to school and become a doctor or a lawyer or anything other than an engineer.  Overall, I'm glad I didn't take the second piece of his advice.  image

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  • The main thing is to be diverse and versatile.  Being a great engineer alone wont get you very far unless you work for a small company or something you own.

     

    You may have to work as a programmer or a data analyst at times.  Learn programming and modern frameworks.

     

    The #1 key to success in big companies is politics.  I've seen people do nothing and move to the top, and truly brilliant people get left behind.  You can do both but you have to understand that people have to like you and you need to be able to communicate.  If there is a business person who you talk tech babble to you may not last too long. If you try to act like they are stupid, get ready to find a job.  Putting things in terms lay people can understand without making them feel like lay people is very important and a skill once mastered will make you very valuable.  You can be a mediocre engineer but with these skills you can go very far.

  • in reply to screamingtiger

    I've seen people do nothing and move to the top, and truly brilliant people get left behind.

    A lot of people get into Engineering because the technical aspect is enjoyable. But often, to be able to keep doing what you enjoy you will need to be good at communicating and working with other people.

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