Show Notes
In this episode, we’re talking about having a vision for your engineering career. In particular we’ll focus on how to create one.
Some people know exactly where they want to go, what they want to do, and who they want to be in their careers.
For others, it may seem like most people already have a career vision. It may seem like you’re one of the few people who don’t. But I don’t think this is true. In my experience, most people don’t know where they’re headed and are unsure or confused about what their career vision is.
Bosses and mentors and organizations often try to help their people with career planning by asking them “where do you want to be in 3 years, or 5 years, or 10 years?” I always hated that question. I had no idea.
It can actually be a helpful question, but only if you can provide the guidance your people need to help them find answers to it.
Obstacles that Prevent Women Engineers from Envisioning Their Careers
Most people don’t have it all defined and planned out. It’s hard to know what your path should be. For me, there were several reasons for this that became obstacles to creating my career vision. See how many of these reasons are obstacles for you, too.
- I had no guidance – As women engineers, we often don’t get the guidance we need to get off to a good start in our careers and make smart career decisions.
- There was too much choice – I like to have options, but there were too many choices. I needed help narrowing them down and matching them up with my skills and talents.
- It was too unfamiliar – Generally women engineers are not that familiar with this career path. We need better understanding of what it means to follow it and how we can make the most of it.
- I worried about how family would fit in – This is still more of a worry for women engineers than men engineers. How is this all going to work with my family responsibilities, now and in the future?
- I was overwhelmed – I felt like I had to have it all figured out from the get-go. How could I know what was going to be best for me and how I was going to make an impact?
- I had a lot to learn about myself – Especially early in my career, I didn’t have a good grasp of my likes and dislikes, my talents and strengths.
These are some of the many issues I help my clients with. Not only are they obstacles for envisioning your career, but they can also block you from getting ahead.
For a deep dive into how to navigate these obstacles and generally getting ahead in your engineering career, check out my signature program.
For a long time I did not have a career vision. I just decided to follow my career wherever it took me and make the best of it. This is definitely an option. Many people take that option. With this plan (or lack of one) you can still have a successful career.
But by allowing your career to lead you instead of the other way around, you miss out on a bunch of benefits.
How Women Engineers will Benefit from Having a Career Vision
A vision gives you purpose and something to aspire to. What you can envision you can become.
With a vision you have built-in belief, motivation, and momentum.
You’ve probably heard people say if you have a goal, you’ll progress toward it, even if you don’t reach it. And if you don’t have a goal, your progress will be minimal and ambiguous. This works for managing programs and careers alike.
If you have a vision, you have more clarity about what you want and where you’re headed, how you want to be and how you want to make an impact. Thus you’ll accomplish more and you’ll be more fulfilled.
A vision increases your determination and risk tolerance, resulting in fuller and richer experiences. It’s important to have a vision because you’ll go farther with one. You won’t get to the end of your career and be disappointed that you didn’t do or become more.
That was part of our discussion in Episode 4 about forward motion. You can go back and listen to that one here.
There are a few other perks that a career vision can provide, such as
- energizing your elevator speech,
- positively influencing conversations with your bosses and mentors,
- helping to define training and experiences that will most benefit you, and
- shaping your networking approach that leads to strategic connections.
Having a vision triggers many of the seemingly small occurrences heading you in the direction of your energy and motivation.
Even if you’ve been working for many years without a vision, it’s not too late to create one.
You can create or recreate your vision any time.
How to Create Your Engineering Career Vision from Scratch
It’s not always clear how to go about creating a career vision. So I’ve put together this guide to get you started.
Here are 7 tips that will provide the seed from which your vision will take root:
- Define who you are now. Do some self-exploration to learn: What are your values, skills, strengths, and passions?
- Spend time dreaming about who you want to be and what you want to accomplish. No holds barred. Brainstorm, imagine, fantasize. If nothing was in your way, what would you do?
- Pay attention to the work you’re doing and notice what you like about it.
- Be attentive to new things you’d like to learn or new projects you’d like to try. What intrigues you about them?
- Watch what others are doing. Find people you admire and notice their work. Talk to them about their dreams and visions.
- Continuously devote time to this. Maybe more time at first. Eventually find the key foundation pieces of your vision and solidify your ideas around them.
- Write down your vision in a few sentences. Then keep updating and refining it. Add new ideas and take away stale ones. Make it a work in progress, a living document.
Using these tips, start with something you like and call it your vision. Even if you’re not 100% sure that this is what you want your vision to be, having some idea is better than no vision at all. Start somewhere and own it.
A good vision will be inspiring, challenging, and motivating. Strive for that. It’s okay if it keeps changing. It’s okay if it doesn’t yet reach all the way to the end of your career. And it’s okay if you don’t yet know how to realize it. It’s a work in progress and you can refine it as you go.
Part of owning your career is having a vision. And what’s exciting about it is that it’s totally yours – you can make it whatever you want it to be. It’s magical, and you’ll be amazed how much it actually enriches your career.
Recap: We’re talking today about creating your career vision. First, I shared some of the reasons why envisioning your engineering career is difficult, reasons that become obstacles. These include lack of guidance, overwhelm, and fear.
Then we discussed why having a career vision is essential and the many benefits it provides, not the least of which are clarity and fulfillment. And we ended our discussion with 7 tips on specifically how you can create your career vision, even if you’re starting from scratch.
Next time on Her Engineering Career Podcast, we’ll follow up this discussion by looking into how you can communicate your vision to further benefit your engineering career. Join me for Episode 6!