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What one piece of advice do you wish you had known at the start of your career?

Kathryn Bain

Reposted from IET Professional Development



I'm currently working on a blog around starting out in careers in engineering - it got me thinking about the lessons learned from others (perhaps because I spend a lot of my time working with our volunteer mentors).


What one piece of advice do you wish you had known at the start of your career that you know now?


Or, if you're starting out in your career right now, what is the one thing you want to learn more about (and hopefully have planned as part of your CPD)?


Please share your experiences or advice below:


Kathryn Bain, IPD and Mentoring Service Manager, The Institution of Engineering & Technology, (IET Staff)

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  • 0
    I'm not sure if this
    is still true but around the time that I was graduating I believe
    the IEE was advising graduates not to go straight into a job, (I
    forget exactly how it was phrased).


    At the time it did seem somewhat counterintuitive, after all what
    could be better than going from being a student to a being a 'real'
    engineer?


    What they were warning against was the lack of any evidence of what
    have now become known as 'competences'. An apprentice or graduate
    trainee usually undergoes some sort of formal programme of training
    or 'going around the shops' and hopefully will end up with a
    'signed off' record of achievement, something that is nowadays
    virtually essential for career progression and obtaining chartered
    status.


    When I started my first job I was shown a piece of kit that had
    never worked and left to it. I found the faults in the design and
    construction and got it working. From then on I was established as
    a fully competent engineer however when I was short-listed for
    promotion to section leader I was up against someone who had worked
    in every department, unofficially he was 'nice but dim', officially
    he had broad experience in research, design, manufacturing and
    marketing so he got the job. In retrospect that was probably the
    right decision. I should have heeded the IEE's advice, I should
    have left the job that I was good at.


    Perhaps all large organisations are now 'competence' driven and
    won't allow their junior staff to be 'stabled'? If not the lesson
    for anyone wanting to work for others is to gain a record of broad
    experience in the early years, (when one's incompetence is
    overlooked?).
Reply
  • 0
    I'm not sure if this
    is still true but around the time that I was graduating I believe
    the IEE was advising graduates not to go straight into a job, (I
    forget exactly how it was phrased).


    At the time it did seem somewhat counterintuitive, after all what
    could be better than going from being a student to a being a 'real'
    engineer?


    What they were warning against was the lack of any evidence of what
    have now become known as 'competences'. An apprentice or graduate
    trainee usually undergoes some sort of formal programme of training
    or 'going around the shops' and hopefully will end up with a
    'signed off' record of achievement, something that is nowadays
    virtually essential for career progression and obtaining chartered
    status.


    When I started my first job I was shown a piece of kit that had
    never worked and left to it. I found the faults in the design and
    construction and got it working. From then on I was established as
    a fully competent engineer however when I was short-listed for
    promotion to section leader I was up against someone who had worked
    in every department, unofficially he was 'nice but dim', officially
    he had broad experience in research, design, manufacturing and
    marketing so he got the job. In retrospect that was probably the
    right decision. I should have heeded the IEE's advice, I should
    have left the job that I was good at.


    Perhaps all large organisations are now 'competence' driven and
    won't allow their junior staff to be 'stabled'? If not the lesson
    for anyone wanting to work for others is to gain a record of broad
    experience in the early years, (when one's incompetence is
    overlooked?).
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