Episode Transcript
You finally have the opportunity to take on a leadership position. It’s the most challenging one so far in your engineering career.
You’ve focused all your energy into getting this job.
And you’ve stretched yourself outside your box.
You know you’re capable of doing the job well. But you’re starting to feel some side effects from making this leap.
The Side Effects of Doing Something Different in Your Engineering Career
There’s an uncomfortable feeling that’s come over you in the process of taking this new and challenging position.
You feel disoriented. A bit lost. Unsure. Anxious.
It’s a feeling of being in limbo. Like you’re halfway between here and there.
You don’t have your feet yet where you are. But you’ve already stepped beyond where you were.
You’ve left the station but the destination is still unclear.
This is what happens when you do something different. When you leap or broaden or stretch.
It’s what happens when you’re experiencing growth. When you’re making a monumental change instead of an incremental one.
And while you’re in this space, it’s like brushing your teeth with the opposite hand.
Everything’s odd and fuzzy. It doesn’t all fit together.
You don’t know what to do next. There’s no plan right here. Which can be very disconcerting for an engineer.
But even though you’re doubting yourself and this whole thing feels weird right now, you know you want to go forward.
You know it’s the right thing for you. And the trick is to hold onto that and keep going.
Trust your instincts. Find what feels like your natural next step and take it.
Step by step. One at a time.
Fearing Change in Your Engineering Career Puts You at a Disadvantage
You can’t avoid this side effect. And you don’t want to.
What puts you at a disadvantage – as for many women engineers – is when the fear of this feeling prevents you from stretching yourself in the first place.
Keeping you in your box. Keeping you small.
You don’t want that.
Instead you want to feel that fear and keep going. Keep moving toward your dream career.
Think of it like working your muscles. You need to stretch them enough to permanently strengthen them.
Otherwise they’ll pull back to the way you were.
And to make it more difficult, other people will pressure you to stay the way you were.
Other people are used to seeing your box the way it was, all nice and intact. They liked it that way and they’ll remind you of that.
But you need to overcome that pressure. Because you want to stay on the path to your big self.
Embracing the Uncertainty of Taking Career Risk as an Engineer
Instead of trying to avoid this lost, in-between feeling, just expect it. Even embrace it.
You’ll get through it.
Answers will start to come to you. And soon you’ll come out the other side stronger and more confident.
Here are 4 specific remedies for getting there:
- Find the people who can help and guide you. And talk to them often.
- Put more emphasis on your progress and less on your to-do list. And celebrate how far you’ve come.
- Visualize the goal. Visualize where you’ll be. And who you wanna be when you get there.
- To avoid overwhelm, de-stress. Do less. Take it slower. Give yourself time. Be present.
Think back to other times when you experienced a big change. There was an interval of strangeness and unknowing before you settled in.
Think about who you were before that move. And who you became afterward.
You made it through. And it was worth it.
I feel this disorientation very keenly anytime I’m experiencing big changes.
I have several examples of stretching into my next role as an engineer and surviving that valley of uncertainty.
Like when I went back to get my PhD. When I moved into a new technology area that I didn’t know very well. And when I took a job outside the lab to work in university relations.
You’ll feel it in your personal life too. Like when you start a family. Or move to a new town.
It’s important for you to learn what this feels like.
Because the only way you’ll get ahead in your career is by taking risks.
By doing something different. By moving into the unknown. By stretching and taking leaps.
You don’t want this to hold you back from having impact. From making your contribution.
As with everything, the more you do it, the less stressful it gets.
I’m not gonna tell you it gets comfortable. For most people it doesn’t. But it can at least get more familiar.
And you can learn practices that help you get through it each time.
It’s a key skill that will keep you at the edge of your potential in your engineering career.
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast we’ll discuss taking the initiative and ways it will benefit your engineering career. Be sure to tune in for Episode 128.