Episode Transcript
Welcome, my engineering friends, to this 3-part miniseries for women engineers, the bosses they work for and the workplaces that support them.
This episode is Part I, especially for my listeners who are women working in engineering and related fields.
In this very special Episode 150, I’m highlighting 5 key concepts that you need to go beyond career success to career fulfillment.
Of course, all of you listening to this podcast want to be successful in your careers.
Not all of you have the same definition of success. Maybe you don’t even know what success means to you right now.
But I propose that all of you seek fulfillment.
You hope to reach your goals and realize your vision.
So that you can make your own unique contribution. And make a difference in the world.
This is what brings fulfillment.
Now, it’s one thing for you to listen to the ideas I’m highlighting here. But it’s quite another to make them work for you.
Your own career situation is unique. And I can’t really give you enough detail in a podcast episode that’s relevant to that situation.
But I can work with you individually to make significant, positive changes for you.
I can help you pivot or leap or just reenergize. Whatever your career need is right now.
Engineers need coaches to make this happen. Especially women engineers, since they tend to have more resistance along their career paths.
So I encourage you to explore my coaching program. And consider partnering with me to reach your level of career fulfillment.
To learn more go to HerEngineeringCareer.com. Fill out an application and let’s talk about the right program for you.
This is a crucial investment in yourself. Make that investment because the payoff is more than worth it.
(BTW, it’s very possible your employer provides funding for coaching. So you might want to look into that.)
You’re an awesome engineer. I have no doubt about that.
And you’ve managed to land an excellent job in the technical area you were hoping for.
But now there’s not a lot of guidance for what to do next. How to manage your career overall. And how to get the most out of it – for you.
So I’ve chosen to highlight 5 topics today from previous podcast episodes. So I can give you some guidance on what to focus on. The 5 topics are:
- Owning your career.
- Advocating for yourself.
- Connecting with people.
- Leveraging opportunity.
- Making your contribution.
You’ll see how these ideas are linked for career success and – more importantly – fulfillment.
They’re central to the way you manage and strategize your engineering career for best results.
To the way you move yourself along your desired path and reach career fulfillment.
No matter where you are on your career path you’ll find these ideas useful.
Let’s dive in.
The Power of Taking Ownership of Your Engineering Career
Let’s start with the idea of career ownership.
As an engineer it’s important that you gradually increase your autonomy and work toward owning your career.
Owning your career means you’re in charge. And you have more of a say in the decisions that affect you.
You own your career vision. You own your workload. And you own your calendar.
Take charge of your career and move it in the direction of your choice. Because no one else is going to do that for you.
You’re the one who knows how to align your work with yourself. You’re the one who defines your goals and aspirations.
And you have more power than you think.
We start with this idea of career ownership because it’s an enabler for you to follow through with the rest of the key ideas in this episode.
To learn more about the topic of ownership listen to Episodes 34 and 96.
Next let’s explore self-advocacy.
Building Self-Advocacy through Career Messaging
You’re advocating for yourself when you speak up and ask for what you need and want.
It’s critical that you build this skill. Because it helps you get the right kind of support in your career.
And it’s expected of you as an engineer. Because others don’t know exactly what you need. And they know even less about what you want.
So make it a habit to advocate for yourself in this way.
You’re also advocating for yourself when you do what I call career messaging. When you tell people about yourself and your work.
This is how people learn about you.
And it’s important because you need people. You need people to help you get places in your career.
You can’t do it all on your own.
In my early career I just wanted to keep my head down and do my work. I was an “I can do it myself” kind of person.
I thought spending time talking about what I do was a waste. And I had no clue about career messaging.
But people don’t know about you unless you tell them.
Even though you feel very visible as a woman in engineering, people don’t pay that much attention. They’re busy and can’t follow everything you do.
Practicing self-advocacy through career messaging increases the likelihood of reaching your goals and even surpassing them.
Learn more about self-advocacy and career messaging in Episode 78.
I’ve put together an approach to career messaging called “The Magic 4.” Learn more about that in Episode 94.
And I’ve created a how-to brochure called “A Woman Engineer’s Guide for Self-Advocacy and Career Messaging.” You can get your free copy here.
Once people know about you, they can help you along your career path.
It’s natural for our human brains to create links and associations. People help connect you to other people. And eventually to new opportunities.
Now let’s explore connection a little further.
Building Your Engineering Career Success on Connection
Self-advocacy will lead you to more connections.
And connections will lead you to more opportunities.
But connections must be developed and nurtured.
It’s not that hard really. It’s just that you have to put it high on your priority list.
You may not be a natural connector. You may be a person (like me) who easily falls into long stretches of work and forgets about nurturing connections.
Or struggles with a connection strategy.
You can learn more about networking strategy in Episode 12. And you can learn tips for developing and nurturing connections in Episode 130.
You have your own way of connecting and building your network. And that’s okay.
The important thing is to connect. To get the most satisfaction from your career you don’t want to be isolated.
More connections lead to more opportunities. More opportunities for making your mark in the organization, the community and the world.
Now let’s talk about opportunity.
Leveraging Opportunity in Your Engineering Career
Some people are handed opportunities. Some people naturally fall upon opportunities.
But most of us have to put ourselves in the way of opportunity.
You have to first be aware of opportunity. Maneuver yourself to take advantage of it.
And then take action.
Meaning, make a physical move to put yourself in the way of opportunity and leverage it.
Opportunities will come to you, if you’re seeking them. If you’re watching for them and ready to receive them.
But rather than hoping each opportunity doesn’t pass you by, put yourself in the way, and make that opportunity happen. Learn more in Episode 141.
Opportunities enable you to make your unique contribution. To make a difference.
Let’s explore contribution further.
Reaching the Point of Contribution in Your Engineering Career
Ultimately to feel fulfilled in your career means you get to make your unique contribution. The contribution that only you can make. To explore this idea further, listen to Episode 144.
All of the ideas we’ve talked about today flow together and culminate in this idea of contribution.
To get to the point where you can make your unique contribution requires you to Own Your Career.
Then Self-Advocacy leads you to more connections.
Connection leads you to more opportunities.
And Opportunity leads you to more contributions.
Including, specifically, the Contribution you want to make in the world.
This process ultimately results in career fulfillment and work that matters.
Ownership, self-advocacy, connection, opportunity and contribution. We’ve covered a lot of impactful ideas today.
How do these concepts apply in your engineering career?
Once you reach that point of contribution, your career will not only have been one of achievement, but achievement that has true meaning for you.
Next time, Her Engineering Career Podcast will feature Part II of this miniseries on women engineers, for the managers you work for.
I hope you and your boss will join me next time for Episode 151.
