So far you’ve enjoyed a rewarding career as an engineer but want to take things to another level. Displaying leadership potential in your current technical role is great way to keep your career trending upwards. It positions you for additional professional growth, with a move into a true engineering management role becoming a real possibility.
With an eye towards developing the right managerial acumen to attract the interest of the executive team at your company, here are a few tips on how to take advantage of the latest managerial techniques in the technology world. Leverage these concepts to put your career growth into overdrive.
Following Agile Management Techniques
If your company already uses Agile or something similar as its project methodology, you are probably familiar with the role of the ScrumMaster. If not, understand they essentially serve as a project manager, with the responsibility to act as a conduit between the technical team and business stakeholders.
Agile project teams tend to be dynamic, so step up to the plate and take on some of the duties of a ScrumMaster – as long as it doesn’t interfere with your engineering work. Ultimately, serving as an engineering team lead puts you in a good position to ensure a project’s success by making sure everyone stays on the same page. Anything to display your leadership potential is a plus, but be sure not to step on any toes.
Fostering Collaboration Is Important
Whether your engineering company takes on software development projects or not, it stands to benefit from following the principles of DevOps when it comes its regular engineering work. DevOps, while being somewhat related to Agile, focuses on strong collaboration, which is a worthy approach for any technical organization.
Fostering teamwork, while still in a senior engineering role, tends to attract the attention of your bosses. It also raises the morale of your co-workers, since everyone gets to contribute to the project’s success.
Ask Your Company to Add a Leadership Program
The most forward-looking engineering organizations make it a point to discover and nurture leaders already on staff. If your company doesn’t already have a leadership program, speak with your boss about starting one.
The benefits of this approach are numerous. The organization’s overall managerial acumen gets a boost, which leads to more efficiently run and ultimately successful projects. Expect a healthier bottom line to follow.
When you need advice on your engineering career, talk to the insightful recruiters at Venteon. As one of the top technical staffing agencies in Michigan, we also know the companies looking for talented engineers. Click to find out what Venteon can do for you.
