The key to getting ahead is not technical..
The key to getting ahead is not technical..
(OP)
I subscribe to Hydrocarbon Processing, and I recently received a newsletter with the follow links on important factors to enhance your career. The primary quote from the newsletter was:
“But for those engineers who are looking to advance their careers, in terms of responsibility, title and compensation, the surprising revelation is that non-technical skills are most likely the ones that will help them stand out from the competition.”
Technical skills are necessary, but there are far too many engineers that expect to advance solely on their technical skills, and unfortunately that may not happen. If you want to stand out, take some of the advice presented in the following links. I have, and it works…
http ://www.spe ctrum.ieee .org/caree rs/careers template.j sp?Article Id=c060704
http://www .eetimes.c om/salarys urvey/1998 /work_comp anies.html
http://ww w.chemistr y.org/port al/resourc es/ACS/ACS Content/ca reers/empr es/nontech _news3.pdf
“But for those engineers who are looking to advance their careers, in terms of responsibility, title and compensation, the surprising revelation is that non-technical skills are most likely the ones that will help them stand out from the competition.”
Technical skills are necessary, but there are far too many engineers that expect to advance solely on their technical skills, and unfortunately that may not happen. If you want to stand out, take some of the advice presented in the following links. I have, and it works…
http
http://www
http://ww
-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades! ![]()
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Thank goodness my school already figured that out 30 years ago, when it made it mandatory for me to take a public speaking class.
TTFN
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
This attitude is why I wouldn't advise anyone to take up a 'technical' career.
corus
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
> you can effectively communicate and disseminate your knowledge for the benefit of your company, so that they can make money and continue to pay your salary
> you can effectively communicate with your customers and demonstrate why your solution and your company is the right answer for their problem.
> you can effectively transition from being an SME on substance A to being an SME on substance B, when the market changes and your company needs to change, which requires being in the loop and recognizing the changing circumstances
> you can solve tangible and meaningful problems for your company, which implies knowing what is relevant to the company and being involved.
None of this is terribly new. Even in the days when "build a better mousetrap and they will beat a path to your door," was prevalent, if no one knew you had a better mousetrap, you'd still starve. Even at that, Henry Ford demonstrated 100 yrs ago that a well built and inexpensive product often trumps an expensive "best" product
Certainly, if you are the type that expects to spend the rest of your life refining substance A in some isolated laboratory, never to be bothered by real world concerns, you're hosed. But there were never that many of those to begin with, and even 30 yrs ago, they were the subject of pity and derision in most parts of a company, being part of the "ivory tower" contingent.
The only real difference now is that there are fewer ivory towers and they're overcrowded.
TTFN
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
If being a CEO is the pinnacle of our careers then it would be much easier getting there by doing a business degree!
They are successful yes, but no more an engineer than a former carpenter running an international company is a carpenter.
csd
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
The one PowerPoint slide that shakes 'em up is a list of skills an engineer should have.
The list shows:
Mechanical Design
Electrical Design
Accounting & Finance
Public Speaking
Writing & Documentation
Sales & Marketing
Diplomacy
A circle appears and surrounds the Mech/Elec Design items and I say that these are the skills that you need for daily work.
Another circle appears and surrounds the remaining "soft" skills. I say these skills are what you will need for career growth.
They're all pretty disappointed when I say that.
ANOTHER story, one of my favorite management episodes was when "Jane" transferred from another department. She had been completely autonomous in her previous assignment, but absolutely dedicated and conscientious in her work. She was completely frustrated and causing a lot of angst & anger in the department, and other departments with her behavior.
I finally had a talk with her and told her flat out: it does not matter how technically excellent you are. It is a good thing, but if you cannot play well with the other kids in the sandbox, you will not be effective or successful. She took the hint and the next day went around apologizing to everyone for her behavior. All was well in the sandbox after that.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
I have known far too many engineers that sit in their cubicles and moan about how unfair it is that they do great technical work, but never get any recognition, and I am not talking about ivory tower people, but rather front line in the trenches sorts of engineers. Then when a colleague manages to step out of the mire and escape cubeville, he or she is obviously a brown noser.
You can whine about the good ol boy network, or you can start networking.
-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
csd
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Some professions use jargon e.t.c. to make a fairly simple job look more complicated (e.g. management and marketing).
As engineers we need to take a complex job and convert it into as simple language as possible.
csd
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
thanks for reiterating my point
TheTick
Again if you don't network or have an agreeable personality I don't care if you found a cure for cancer no one wants to here what you are saying because you're boring. I didn't think I would have to elaborate considering we are all engineers.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
I put considerable effort into writing coherently and speaking at the level of my audience. It is still no cure for receivers' inability to pay attention.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
It's not just for career advancement, either. A poor grasp of grammar and semantics makes for a badly written spec that a lawyer can have a lot of fun with. In an ideal world, the other party also has a poor enough grasp of grammar and semantics that they can be convinced that the spec really does say what we meant it to, but it's still asking for trouble.
Hg
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
"The problem isn't that the key to getting ahead isn't *just* technical, its that technical expertise only counts for 30% and the soft skills count for 70%."
I don't think the scales are tipped that much, but I think the shock truly comes from the working world is completely different then the university. Also, if anyone has read "The World is Flat" by Frieman, you have to continually expand not only your technical knowledge, but your communication skills. You think it is hard communicating with people within your company... hahahahahah, try explaining the failure modes of your design to an chinese manufacturing firm. I am not sure how much this relates to the original post, but I think the need for engineers to be effective communicators, no matter how difficult people can be, is why I get paid more than most of those difficult people. Engineering departments are where the product is born, where it evolves, and where at the end of it life is put to rest.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
My current place has a lot of academically/technically brilliant people, many in fairly senior positions. However, many soft skills are severly lacking.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Being employed by an engineering firm, technical skills are a must to move into management, if that's what we call getting ahead. To be "project manager" you must do your time as a staff engineer, then lead engineer, first. Whether you understand budgets, critical paths, work break down structures, and other 'project management' type things appears to be irrelevant. SInce we engineers are sooo brilliant, we can easily learn all that other junk on the job as PM. (I am slightly sarcastic because we have some PMs who are completely baffled by a project schedule. That doesn't work out well when the client's other sub accuses you of delaying their work and the PM doesn't understand enough to defend us appropriately.)
I think that companies who are not solely engineering may give more weight to the soft skills, and 'getting ahead' might mean getting out of engineering all together.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
I've known people who were reasonable engineers but the further they got into management the less you'd have known it from decisions they made.
Not sure I can give the rationale just anecdotal evidence.
Maybe it’s that they’re trying to look at the bigger picture, not just the technical details. That said they often seem to get caught up on certain points and seem oblivious to others, so maybe not.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Hg
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RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
It's a funny thing that as an engineer begins to climb the greasy pole of the corporate ladder (I think that may be a mixed metaphor), one of the resentments that he/she will begin to experience from the engineers he/she has left behind is based on their idea that he has lost his/her technical knowledge.
I have worked really two sorts of manager (broadly speaking). The first is the type who is only ever looking up (and these guys have no further use for their technical knowledge, the ability to say 'Yes Sir' is far more important) and the second are those who are looking around (these tend to be able to combine both technical and management skills, and after that the better ones are the ones who are able to blend the two streams together most fluidly). No need to say which I have preferred to work with
PS When it comes to being resentful, I am well able to do that should the need arise
Kevin
“Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule” Nietzsche
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Most of the upper level managers and vice presidents that I have known (with some very specific exceptions) appear to lack the most basic technical skills that I would deem necessary for an undergraduate engineering curriculum. And these are usually the people who get to make the decisions that all of the engineers who work beneath them in the corporate ladder have to learn to live with. Is it any mystery why the decisions made by accountants, marketing professionals, and business majors often don't jibe with the technical requirements of the project?
Maui
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
If you dont like it, work for a smaller company.
csd
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
But for a boss ,less speed or wrong orientation,which would be prefered?
undoubtedly,in a company,prompted engineer would choose manager as the future.
We are always available to help each other.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
During my review in April of 2006 my boss told me I wasn't assertive enough (translated: I wasn't aggresive enough with getting others to go along with my ideas) he would actually make me change designs just to argue even if it wasn't the right way to do it.
So he signed me up for executive leadership training. I actually enjoyed the training and learned alot about my communication skills.
But in the end I knew that I would never get promoted no matter how assertive I was (just based on others who were in similar positions as me). I have since found another job.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Engineers do not have to sacrifice their technical skills in order to improve their business and social skills.
social and business skills are irrational at best and engineers are trained to be rational. Throw in a couple of lawyers and let legal worries run your buiness and you'll see what counts and it isn't engineering skills. I've seen the least skilled engineers talk to a judge or jury stating opinions that absolutely wrong and they "win".
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
You will absolutely love it if you work in a "high tech" industry.
Just to whet your appetite.
Putts first law
"All companies eventually undergo a competence inversion where the people who can't do the hard stuff float to the top like the dross, because the living is easier there for them."
"All technology is managed by two groups.
1 Those that understand what they do not manage.
2 Those that manage what they do not understand.
"
The cast of characters include Dr I. M. Sharpe
Its a hoot. And every last word of it true.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
Soft skills, communications, people skills, marketing skills etc ate the superstructure that defines how far you can advance above the foundation.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..
But maybe that's just part of the human condition and "people skills" wouldn't change it. On the other hand, I don't believe neurolinguistic programming has been attempted on any kind of a serious scale - could be worth a go.
RE: The key to getting ahead is not technical..