Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
(OP)
Everyone talks about getting involved in professional organizations related to one's industry. I am a structural engineer, and I am genuinly interested in contributing to the industry I am in. And, that way expand my knowledge and get a broad perspective of various things related to the field. So far I emailed three well known professional organizations enquiring about any opportunities they may have. Four weeks, and I am a still waiting the hear from them. I can't help but conclude couple of things from this experience. Either the organizations have more people volunteering than what they actually need. Or, they don't want to do more than what they are actually doing. I would like to know your opinion and experiences in this regard, before I change gears and start minding my own business.





RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Every industry or profession is always undergoing changes both internally driven and in response to external forces.
If you care about your profession and its future then it is always advisable to become a member of whatever organisations there are.
The primary benefit is that you can keep yourself informed about what is going on.
How involved you then get is upto you.
I'm pretty sure almost any organisation would be wary of any unknown suddenly announcing a desire to take part. For the most part the influential and active members are well known and respected in the industry and often co-opted or invited to take up positions on committees and working groups. It is often a lot of work with no recompense. Many members are active members because their companies will pay their fees, pay for them to attend conferences or pay for them to spend time working on various projects for the organisation. Why? because there are sound commercial reasons for wanting to be influential in such organisations.
Sure, there is a need to maintain professional standards but don't forget the commercial imperatives. In the end it is about how easy it is to operate in an industry. Professional bodies influence this.
Professional organisations like to organise events, conferences and social events at which you can network and to publish periodicals in which they sell advertising.
It provides you with a platform to make your views known and to let other people assess you and get to know you.
The first thing such organisations need are members who will pay a subscription and receive information, newsletters, announcements and so on.
You need to do become a known factor. They need to size you up before letting you loose in committees and working groups.
Offers of participation can be regarded with suspicion if they come out of the blue from unknown entities. No-one ever really wants to do things without some ulterior motive. The most easily understood motives are commercial or private advantage.
The couple of organisations I belong to I mainly receive information, it is how I keep in touch with what is happening and what activity there is that might affect me. But because I have contributed articles/advertorials to their publications and because I have earned, I guess, a certain credibility, I have also been invited to give papers at various conferences.
Most recently I have been able to initiate a working group to look into a particular aspect of the industry.
Naturally I have commercial interests and interests in influencing how the industry responds. I'd like to see certain outcomes but what I expect is that the outcome will be a compromise between the various interested parties getting together and working out a solution. It may or may not then deliver a benefit to me commercially.
What I take care to do and, I'm sure, what the organisation takes care to ensure, is that private commercial/personal interests are aligned with the interests of the organisation and industry as a whole, that those interests serve the industry and do not try to wag the dog.
An enquiry for membership would be treated with open arms... here's a form, fill it out and send us your cheque. Once we get to know you you may be invited to join certain groups.
A sudden desire to "do good" will arouse suspicion. An out of the blue offer to do some sort of voluntary work would, I suggest, raise some eyebrows.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Search out the local chapters and find out their meeting schedules. Many of the topics discussed are very interesting. They are usually once a month, however many of them break in the summer and start up again in the Fall.
If you're not in the US, I have to believe there are similar set-ups in other countries.
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Your best bet is to follow the advice above--get active locally. Go to your local meetings and talk to the section officers after the meeting. There are always unfilled positions that are starving for help. When I was section chair of our local SPE section I had 5 committee positions that were either not done (Webmaster) or were done haphazardly by other committee members (scholarship chair, new member chair, etc.). Every so often I'd have someone come up and ask if there was any way they could help. I always had a couple of jobs in my hip pocket for them--usually they said they'd call me and never did, but sometimes it worked out well. The local sections are not nearly as sexy as the national stuff, but once you are active locally it is a tiny jump to participating in the national level (they have a ton of committees that are always short of people).
David
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
As noted above, go to a local chapter meeting as a start. As David notes, there are always things to be done at the local level, publishing the local news letter, arranging for speakers and PDH courses, web master, etc.
If you want to be involved nationally, go to the organization's annual meeting. Identify one or more technical committees that interest you and just go to the committee meeting. Say "Hi, I'd like to get involved." That's all it takes.
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
"Do they need us?" I'd say "yes" but they need more a society that values engineers more than they are now.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
My local NCSEA's were filled with the bottom of the barrel type engineers who were just there to get some CEU's.
I had the opportunity to attend a few local NCSEA meetings in Texas and they were worthwhile, so it depends entirely where you're situated. I'm assuming there are more worthwhile organizations in California as well.
Where do all the good engineers go in other areas of the country? From what I can tell, they've given up wasting their time. Good luck and learn what you can from your peers at work!
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
Maybe it will do better this year, but they have a lot of rebuilding to do. Any section can be an asset or a liability, it all depends on the locals running it.
David
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
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RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??
If nothing else, that's got to be worth something.
I knew some guys in one industry who didn't bother with an industry organisation, they just got together to share. Of course, there is a line that has to be regarded and that is where what you share should not be commercially sensitive, but everything else is fine.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Professional Organisations - Do they need us??