When I was asked to write a blog for Careers Week, I started to think about what all the engineers I know have in common and every engineer I have met has talked about coming to engineering because they had a curiosity, an interest in finding out how things work and how to make things better.

This curiosity and learning doesn’t leave you when you gain your qualification, or even when you gain a particular level in your career and because of the changing nature of engineering you will find that you are always learning and finding out more.  Not only does this learning ensure you are able to get access to different opportunities, but it also keeps you employable – and this is why continuing professional development (CPD) is so important.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

CPD, or Continuing Professional Development, is the process of acquiring new skills and knowledge that relate to your profession, job role or industry. It allows you to:

• Stay up to date with the latest innovations and best practice and enhance your performance, productivity and efficiency at work.
• Boost your credibility and reputation as a professional and maintain your standing as a member or professionally registered engineer
• Identify and address any gaps or weaknesses in your skills or knowledge and plan for how to bridge these.

It’s not just a good idea to undertake development, but by planning what you are going to do it will make you more likely to achieve career goals and allow you to structure and plan your career for when opportunities arise.  Research shows that writing down your goals means you are more likely to accomplish them than just thinking about them and sharing these with someone you respect, such as a line manager or mentor can boost your motivation and commitment as they can provide you with support, feedback and keep you on track.

Thinking about what CPD to do, or how to start can be difficult so we’ve tried to make it easy by creating a list of the types of CPD Activities that you might want to undertake.

(video showing the different types of CPD Activities available)

We use the helpful acronym TWAVES to help you identify and record the different activities?

• Training courses
• Work experience
• Academic study
• Volunteering
• Events and seminars
• Self-study

And if you're interested in keeping CPD Records you can use IET Career Manager to plan and record your CPD.

Tell us your CPD Stories

I always love to hear from engineers what got them interested in engineering in the first place, or what they have learned along the way so do feel free to share in the comments the CPD you’re doing at the moment to boost your skills.

Want to share your own Career journey with the EngX Community? Let the team know at community-online@ietengx.org .