Entries Tagged 'careers' ↓
August 25th, 2009 — careers
I got poached by an old boss a few weeks ago. He rang me up and offered me a job which seemed almost perfect. The location, the work, the career development (in other fields), a massive project, working with a team I’ve largely worked with before. I even went for an interview with a director of the company they were working for. All went well and the job was basically mine if I wanted it.
It all hinged on their offer to me. I’ve made a name for myself with the place I was working and had accumulated a decent amount towards my Long Service Leave. Given our pay hadn’t been reviewed for a while due to the “GFC”, I also expected a bit of an incentive to “jump ship”.
What they offered me was almost an insult, but it made my decision easier. They couldn’t even match what I had gotten before doing a similar job on site, let alone an incentive to move.
This time, the grass was greener where I was.
At this stage I’m not prepared to work my butt off to establish myself with a different company for a pay cut, even if it is a job that would look awesome on the CV… am I wrong?
August 21st, 2009 — careers, management
People get assigned management positions through a number of different ways, including:
- They do their current non-management tasks/role very well
- They “walk the walk” & “talk the talk” (ie dress in suits and can interweave buzz words in conversation)
- They have been with the company or in their field for a long period of time
Notice that none of the above is a reliable indicator of how a person will perform as a manager (even if they look the part).
A lot of companies still use this “sink or swim” method of Management Training. I’ve also noticed that management training is often given to people who have been managers for a couple of years and less often to potential managers.
Some people get pushed into management and end up asking for their old job back. Management is not for everyone and you’ll be doing your company and your manager a favour by telling them you don’t want to be a manager up front (especially if you have decided this already or if you just don’t have the passion).
Other people want to get into management and get overlooked because they may not have certain leadership skills that area required in such a position. Then again, there are people who get into management and think they are doing a good job even when it is clear to everyone that they are not… this is why we have performance reviews…
Read The First-Time Manager by Loren Belker & Gary Topchik <- everyone should own this book
Follow me @marcofratelli on twitter & hubpages.
July 12th, 2009 — careers, training
Recently I’ve been browsing through the corporate website and discovered a Training Calendar detailing certain courses that are held each month. A lot of these courses are (only recently) mandatory for Graduate Engineers to attend. Other people who have been there a while (like myself) have to get approval. But I think they are available to anyone, provided they have a signed Training Request Form from their boss.
I actually applied for a few of these courses during June/July in advance, taking the window of opportunity available at the time. In the last couple of weeks I’ve done some Excel courses (advanced and macros) which was good for a number of reasons:
- I’d never had any formal training in Excel before, everything I know is self taught
- I got to learn about Macros and Pivot Tables which I never really used before
- I discovered I am actually working at a level above “Advanced” (sweet)
- It meant I could get out of the office for 2 days each time which meant I could actually stay awake during work hours for 2 days in those weeks
- I could meet new people at the same time.
This week I’m attending a Contracts Management course. This lot of training will be the first proper study I have done since uni and while it may not be particularly exciting, at least my career will be advancing for these 2 days and not “going backward” (as I lose more and more brain cells and begin to forget knowledge – why does the office do that?)
By the way, thanks for the email Steve! I feel your pain! I no longer work any more hours than I have to. I might have even walked past you in Borders, I go to Boffins as well a lot. I need to get out of there for an hour a day! 
Here’s an interesting video on How To Stay Awake, it’s presented by a good looking female (probably like someone in your procurement department) and it may assist you in staying awake. I’ve watched it twice, but not for the content, haha.
Be proud of who you are. Get yourself a “World’s Best Project Engineer” Mug.
June 1st, 2009 — careers
After completing their university degree, most engineering graduates tend to go into one of two lines of work:
1. Engineering Design – I’ve been told approximately 10% of engineers end up in this area. I find this a little bit surprising because there is a group of us from uni that hang out together regularly and out of us 80% are working for a design consultancy.
2. Project Management – At uni we were told 90% of engineers end up working in the field. Apart from approximately half a year in the office I’ve spent about 5 years working on site as a construction engineer or “project engineer” as opposed to a structural/civil or design engineer. (It seems that regardless of one’s discipline, those that work in design refer to their discipline in their title and those that work in the field are just project engineers – weird)
Design Engineer Career Path
The way I see it sometimes is – if you’re a designer you tend to spend pretty much all your time in the office, calculating, designing, drawing etc. As time goes on you move up the ladder to managing other designers. There is the risk of not having a good feel for constructability. When you get bogged down in the detailed design you sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture or design a structure such that it is difficult and/or expensive to build.
But design can be fun. I did a little bit of design as a graduate and really enjoyed being “smart” about it – writing spreadsheets that do quick calculations for me such that I can design a bridge very quickly. I had no idea about construction and I struggled with that – it is just something that has to come with experience.
Project Engineer Career Path
I worked mainly in the field on projects involving the construction of roads and reservoirs. As a project engineer I was exposed to a massive range of experience. I personally enjoyed it a lot more than design work. It was more challenging. I was exposed to managing people, safety, quality, technical queries (liasing with designers), commercial, procurement and basically interfacing with every other area found in an engineering construction company.
As I move up the “food chain” in the company, I feel like I can jump into any area of management I choose and excel at it. I can step into a project management role or a commercial manager role for example. I feel like I have a more diverse range of skills. On the flip side, working away from home for an extended period of time can get tiring and if you have a family, working closer to home would probably start looking more attractive.
Project Engineering: The Essential Toolbox for Young Engineers
