“From Graduate to Professional: 7 Practical Ways Early-Career Engineers Can Build Credibility Without ‘Years of Experience’”

However, done the wrong way 1, 3, 5 7 can (and will) just get you a reputation for being extremely annoying!

The most important thing is to focus on what needs to be done to deliver the work. I've worded that carefully, it's slightly different from focussing on what you've been told to do. The difference is, if you spot a better way of doing it then (politely) suggest it. If you spot something that needs to be done that hasn't been done then offer to do it. But don't let either of those get in the way of also delivering what you've been asked to do.

So on those problematic points:

1. Ask if it's ok to present things (internally, to an IET group, on LinkedIn etc) as part of the business. Just doing it for yourself can get you the reputation of being more interested in selling yourself than getting the work done. And in the worst cases can get you in bigger trouble for making things public at the wrong time (or at all). But most  organisations love the idea of their staff promoting the business, and a good manager will be keen to support this to improve your communication skills. However, don't let it get in the way of the day job, you may (at least initially) need to do it all in your own time even if it does help the organisation - after all, it isn't what they are paying you to do.

3. Same risk as 1, you also have to be very careful to come across as knowledgeable, thoughtful, but not arrogant. It's a good thing to do, but prepared to admit how little you know. And DON'T just post Wikipedia-style posts with lists of facts on subjects, they don't genuinely demonstrate your knowledge or your interest. (Engineers who actually know about their subject don't waste their time posting stuff they know on social media for no reason.) Think about your readers, much better to post "you probably all knew this already, but I was surprised and interested to discover that..." And (this winds me up on these forums for example!) if you end up posing a question, respond if people answer it. Otherwise it suggests you were only posting to improve your online footprint, not because you were genuinely interested in the subject, and people will see through that straightaway.

 5. Be careful about that word "often" when it comes to feedback, it's very annoying as a manager to be constantly asked "how am I doing?" (And it should be pretty obvious from my posts on these forums that I'm the type of manager who does far more mentoring than average. So if I find it annoying, you can imagine how other managers find it!). The secret is to mostly not ask "how am I doing?" but ask "can I just check this piece of work with you?" So you're making sure that your work is achieving the organisation's aims - not getting others to build your self esteem. You'll notice that theme is coming through all these points. Of course occasionally you do want to ask "how am I doing?", but save that for mentoring meetings or line manager reviews - and it's fine to request those every month or so.  

7. As in my opening point, stay curious while delivering the work. Pick your times to ask. Ask a senior engineer if they can explain a piece of work to you over a coffee break. Find those who like talking - but then be careful to manage your own time and bring the conversation politely to a close when you need to get back to work. (As someone who will talk about my work for literally hours, I can spot the rising stars in our team because they will approach me to ask me about it, but after 10-15 minutes will thank me but say they need to get on with their work.) 

Overall, a manager is always looking out for those people who make their life easier, who come to them with solutions rather than problems, who listen when they are set a task and come back with just one or two sensible questions when they get stuck, basically those who the manager learns to know they can trust. Oddly, the ones that managers become wary of trusting are those who are very obviously after the next job. Which leads to the interesting situation that those who sell themselves the most can find, to their surprise and disgust, that they keep getting passed over! A good manager can tell the difference between someone genuinely interested in doing a better job, and someone who wants to appear keen for their own purposes.

I'm not just writing this from a manager's viewpoint (although of course I partially am), this is also my own experience of what works. In a 45 year career I've been promoted on average every 3-4 years, even though the last time (in fact the only time) I actually applied for a promotion was 1983 - which I didn't get! Being genuinely interested in your work, and wanting it to be done better, really pays dividends.

However, done the wrong way 1, 3, 5 7 can (and will) just get you a reputation for being extremely annoying!

The most important thing is to focus on what needs to be done to deliver the work. I've worded that carefully, it's slightly different from focussing on what you've been told to do. The difference is, if you spot a better way of doing it then (politely) suggest it. If you spot something that needs to be done that hasn't been done then offer to do it. But don't let either of those get in the way of also delivering what you've been asked to do.

So on those problematic points:

1. Ask if it's ok to present things (internally, to an IET group, on LinkedIn etc) as part of the business. Just doing it for yourself can get you the reputation of being more interested in selling yourself than getting the work done. And in the worst cases can get you in bigger trouble for making things public at the wrong time (or at all). But most  organisations love the idea of their staff promoting the business, and a good manager will be keen to support this to improve your communication skills. However, don't let it get in the way of the day job, you may (at least initially) need to do it all in your own time even if it does help the organisation - after all, it isn't what they are paying you to do.

3. Same risk as 1, you also have to be very careful to come across as knowledgeable, thoughtful, but not arrogant. It's a good thing to do, but prepared to admit how little you know. And DON'T just post Wikipedia-style posts with lists of facts on subjects, they don't genuinely demonstrate your knowledge or your interest. (Engineers who actually know about their subject don't waste their time posting stuff they know on social media for no reason.) Think about your readers, much better to post "you probably all knew this already, but I was surprised and interested to discover that..." And (this winds me up on these forums for example!) if you end up posing a question, respond if people answer it. Otherwise it suggests you were only posting to improve your online footprint, not because you were genuinely interested in the subject, and people will see through that straightaway.

 5. Be careful about that word "often" when it comes to feedback, it's very annoying as a manager to be constantly asked "how am I doing?" (And it should be pretty obvious from my posts on these forums that I'm the type of manager who does far more mentoring than average. So if I find it annoying, you can imagine how other managers find it!). The secret is to mostly not ask "how am I doing?" but ask "can I just check this piece of work with you?" So you're making sure that your work is achieving the organisation's aims - not getting others to build your self esteem. You'll notice that theme is coming through all these points. Of course occasionally you do want to ask "how am I doing?", but save that for mentoring meetings or line manager reviews - and it's fine to request those every month or so.  

7. As in my opening point, stay curious while delivering the work. Pick your times to ask. Ask a senior engineer if they can explain a piece of work to you over a coffee break. Find those who like talking - but then be careful to manage your own time and bring the conversation politely to a close when you need to get back to work. (As someone who will talk about my work for literally hours, I can spot the rising stars in our team because they will approach me to ask me about it, but after 10-15 minutes will thank me but say they need to get on with their work.) 

Overall, a manager is always looking out for those people who make their life easier, who come to them with solutions rather than problems, who listen when they are set a task and come back with just one or two sensible questions when they get stuck, basically those who the manager learns to know they can trust. Oddly, the ones that managers become wary of trusting are those who are very obviously after the next job. Which leads to the interesting situation that those who sell themselves the most can find, to their surprise and disgust, that they keep getting passed over! A good manager can tell the difference between someone genuinely interested in doing a better job, and someone who wants to appear keen for their own purposes.

I'm not just writing this from a manager's viewpoint (although of course I partially am), this is also my own experience of what works. In a 45 year career I've been promoted on average every 3-4 years, even though the last time (in fact the only time) I actually applied for a promotion was 1983 - which I didn't get! Being genuinely interested in your work, and wanting it to be done better, really pays dividends.