Episode Transcript
You love your engineering job. You love your work and it generally keeps you very busy.
In fact you’ve been submerged in your latest project. For weeks at a time, it seems like. You rarely come up for air.
You don’t get time to plan for other things. Or think about other creative ideas for the future of your career. For career care.
Thus you haven’t paid attention to career care at all in recent months. It’s been low priority for a while now.
So now it may be time to breathe some new life into your engineering career.
Why It’s a Bad Idea for Engineers to Postpone Career Care
It’s easy to keep telling yourself that career care can wait. That you can worry about that later.
And while this is true, there are consequences.
By putting off career care your future self is falling farther and farther behind.
It may seem like you have lots of time now. But in the future, you’ll regret that you didn’t put the time into career care early on.
Because you’ll inevitably find that you’re not as far along in your career as you hoped you would be.
It’s also easy to assume that someone else is taking care of your career for you.
And while your boss is probably playing a significant role in your career, no one cares as much about it as you do.
And no one has the same ideas about your future as you do.
When you leave the care of your career to someone else you risk ending up on a career track that’s not right for you.
So take charge. Own your career and take the initiative to manage it.
It’s part of your job to care for your engineering career.
What Career Care Means for Engineers
We talked about career care in the very first 2 episodes of Her Engineering Career Podcast.
That’s how important I think it is. Not only did I start off the podcast with this topic, but I devoted 2 entire episodes to it!
Career care simply means paying attention to your goals and progress.
It means checking in with yourself to make sure you’re on track to being the engineer and leader you want to be.
It means taking time out to have conversations with your bosses and mentors and get the guidance you need to make your contribution.
And connecting with colleagues and other influential people to help develop ideas for your future. Ideas for your dream career.
Signs that Your Engineering Career Needs Attention
There are certain times during your career when you notice something is off. These are signs that your engineering career needs some attention. Here are 3 examples.
- My career is driving me. Instead of the other way around.
You may find that you’re just following along in your engineering career. I hear this from many of my clients and engineering friends.
You go wherever your career takes you. One job just sort of leads to another. And that’s how you progress.
This isn’t always a bad thing. But it does limit how far you can get in your career overall.
To put yourself in the driver’s seat, have a career vision. Know where you’re headed and steer yourself in that direction.
Check out Episodes 5, 6, and 90 to learn more about creating a vision.
I also suggest that you have a career message and share it. This is a way to let others know where you’re headed so that they can help you get there.
Learn more about career messaging in Episodes 94 and 121.
- I’m not as far in my career as I should be.
At some point you realize that you’re not moving ahead in your career like you thought you would.
You’re making progress, but only incremental progress.
You’ve proceeded to move from one job to the next. But really they’ve all been very similar.
For many of us, this plodding pace is not enough. At least not for your entire career.
Instead, you want to stretch yourself more. Bolster your risk tolerance. And take on roles that are more challenging.
Episodes 35, 57, and 129 will help you on these topics.
Taking a career leap every once in a while picks up the pace and the challenge. And gets you farther down the path toward your dream career.
Learn more about career leaps in Episodes 72, 103 and 127.
- I’ve been so involved with my job that I’ve lost touch with my career.
You can be in a job that you love and at the same time feel disconnected from your career.
This often happens when career care is neglected.
You don’t keep up with your longer term goals and aspirations.
And you don’t hear about what’s going on in the rest of the organization. Or what opportunities may be available.
This echoes the message to place proper priority on your career care.
You don’t want to lose sight of your career while focusing too hard on your job. In the same way you don’t want to lose the forest for the trees.
Listen to Episodes 47 and 71 to learn more about career priorities.
Also, reinvest in your network. Reconnect with others outside your job. Find new connections and build those influential relationships.
Learn more about networking and career relationships in Episodes 12, 54, and 63.
As always, I’d love to work with you to help you become the master of your career journey. To help you breathe new life into your engineering career.
Sign up for a strategy session with me today.
Be in charge of your career. Pay attention to your progress and opportunities. Keep the challenge and the joy in your work.
And be sure you’re getting what you need so you can thrive in a fulfilling engineering career and make your mark on the world.
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast we’ll explore ideas for career goals and how to set them. Be sure to join me for Episode 137.