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

Really good post! However, beware that if they're done the wrong way 1, 3, 5 and 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..." Genuinely try to help others who are at the same stage that you are. 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. But absolutely, when recruiting we do all check social media, particularly LinkedIn. In my experience what tends to impress are posts about volunteering and signs of attending conferences / training etc - although if you post about those be prepared to be asked about them at interview and show that you actually learned something. If you didn't learn anything, my personal advice would be don't post about it. (So the points 1 and 2 come into this.)

 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.

Overall I'd suggest that at this stage in your career you don't try to show that you're technically brilliant - you can end up looking like someone who just doesn't know what they don't know. The big thing that recruiting managers are looking for is trustworthiness (along with at least technical competence). That's why we also get interested in work experience which has nothing to do with engineering, if you can show you worked well at a job which you may not have been particularly interested in, then we can probably trust you to work well in a job you are interested in!

Further thought came to me while I was tinkering in my workshop...

Take career development advice from those whose careers you aspire to emulate. What made me think of this was that some of my "be cautious" comments above are pretty much the opposite of all those "Be a winner! Push yourself forward! Nice guys finish last!" messages that have been pushed in career development literature over the last 40 (and more) years. 

If you see engineering as a pathway to becoming a multi-millionaire, then my advice may not be appropriate. You're probably aiming that your early graduate roles are just a pathway before rapidly moving into business development / sales and marketing / product management and onwards and upwards. There you will be selling yourself to a different group of people.

The huge difference is that engineering is about teamwork, becoming a financial high flyer is about being out for yourself. (As everyone else will be! Good luck...) 

On the other side, I also remember being given a lot of early "career advice" from a few grumpy technicians early in my career, of the "never volunteer, just do what you have to, never let them find you out" type. If you get that advice it's worth looking at what their roles are, whether they are happy in their work, and thinking about whether that's where you want to end up. I will say that, in my experience, technicians who are happy in their work tend not to give advice, but will just explain how they personally really like doing what they're doing, and they enjoy the lack of hassle and pressure. I think that's why tinkering in my workshop on a rainy Sunday made me think of it! 

So my addition to the list is:

8. Talk to other engineers, find those who give you the feeling "yes, that's what I'd like to be doing", and look at how they go about their work. Find a role model, and then actually model yourself on them. You'll be surprised how much that will get you noticed - you'll find that you're actually doing the appropriate parts of the first 7 points by instinct without realising it.

I will say that there's a very scary bit of point 8: this can mean admitting to yourself that some (probably a lot) of your habits and attitudes were learned from your family background, and may not actually take you to where you will feel happiest. Some families are very ambitious, some are very unambitious. Don't be afraid to question your own attitudes. Use these early career years to mix with different groups to try to find your comfortable working home.

Further thought came to me while I was tinkering in my workshop...

Take career development advice from those whose careers you aspire to emulate. What made me think of this was that some of my "be cautious" comments above are pretty much the opposite of all those "Be a winner! Push yourself forward! Nice guys finish last!" messages that have been pushed in career development literature over the last 40 (and more) years. 

If you see engineering as a pathway to becoming a multi-millionaire, then my advice may not be appropriate. You're probably aiming that your early graduate roles are just a pathway before rapidly moving into business development / sales and marketing / product management and onwards and upwards. There you will be selling yourself to a different group of people.

The huge difference is that engineering is about teamwork, becoming a financial high flyer is about being out for yourself. (As everyone else will be! Good luck...) 

On the other side, I also remember being given a lot of early "career advice" from a few grumpy technicians early in my career, of the "never volunteer, just do what you have to, never let them find you out" type. If you get that advice it's worth looking at what their roles are, whether they are happy in their work, and thinking about whether that's where you want to end up. I will say that, in my experience, technicians who are happy in their work tend not to give advice, but will just explain how they personally really like doing what they're doing, and they enjoy the lack of hassle and pressure. I think that's why tinkering in my workshop on a rainy Sunday made me think of it! 

So my addition to the list is:

8. Talk to other engineers, find those who give you the feeling "yes, that's what I'd like to be doing", and look at how they go about their work. Find a role model, and then actually model yourself on them. You'll be surprised how much that will get you noticed - you'll find that you're actually doing the appropriate parts of the first 7 points by instinct without realising it.

I will say that there's a very scary bit of point 8: this can mean admitting to yourself that some (probably a lot) of your habits and attitudes were learned from your family background, and may not actually take you to where you will feel happiest. Some families are very ambitious, some are very unambitious. Don't be afraid to question your own attitudes. Use these early career years to mix with different groups to try to find your comfortable working home.