Do you depend on other people to help you succeed in your engineering career? If so, it is time you stop doing this and take ownership of your career in a big way. The more ownership you take, the more successful you can be in your career. What does it mean to take ownership of your career? Well, you can get out of a bad situation such as receiving less-than-adequate pay, working for a bad boss or working a job you hate.
Here are some tips for making your engineering career better by taking charge of it.
Make a List of What You’re Good At
Sit down and ask yourself a couple of questions. What am I good at? What are my best accomplishments? What are my best skills? What are my best qualities? Start making a list as you answer all of these questions. Do this for about 20 minutes, writing down everything you do better than others. Once done, organize the list into groups of accomplishments, skills, qualities and more. You will now be able to sell yourself to employers.
Start Being Proactive
If you really want to take ownership of your engineering career, then you must start being proactive immediately. Being reactive in your career will get you nowhere, and it has probably already happened, or hasn’t happened. When you are reactive, you wait for your boss to promote you or you wait for a recruiter to contact you about a potential job opportunity. Turn this around by asking about a promotion or contacting a recruiter about what they have available. Or go out and get more education in an area of interest, then looking for a new contract job elsewhere.
Meet New People
The old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” is incredibly true here. Take time out of your busy schedule to meet new people who can help your career. This means attending conferences and other networking events on a regular basis. Or taking on temporary engineering jobs to find a better company. Even if you are not yet ready to make the switch to a new job, having new people in your corner can make the move much easier when the time comes.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
Part of being proactive is leaving your comfort zone. People often don’t take steps forward because they worry about what others think of them. Make as much of an effort as possible to meet new people, attend events and schedule informational interviews. Do all of this with people who are like-minded so you can pick their brains and figure out how they are taking ownership of their careers.
Start taking ownership of your engineering career today by putting some of the tips above to good use.
