Breakout Session 1: Career Paths for Engineers in Industry



Ray W. Herrick Laboratories 2014 IACBreakout Session 1: Career Paths for Engineers in IndustryThis is a list of compiled summary of responses to various questions that were put to IAC member prior to the session. In red are notes from the discussion that occurred during the ic: What is a company looking for in a student?What would you be looking for when you are hiring an MS or Ph. D. student?Summary of Responses:Pertinent research topic is important (however very soon you may be working on very different topics too)Strong communication skills (both oral and written) are highly valuedKnowledge of the company that you are applying to is a mustStrong fundamentalsDemonstrated leadership, ability to work independentlyFollow-up question: Regarding knowledge of company, beyond looking at the company’s website, what other information do you suggest students seek out and how can they obtain it?Look at a body of work, what papers are they publishing. Talk to professors, they may know contacts and you can talk to them. Who are the major competitors, what are some major issues that industry is dealing with both technical and marketing. Talk to current and former employees. Research the industry trade association. Use the IAC as a resource, read what the independent media and trade magazine is publishing. When a company hires Masters or PhD students, how closely are they trying to match the student's research with the work profile in the company? i.e. How much does the advanced degree narrow the student's potential work profiles?Summary of Responses:The odds are your MS or Phd project will not directly apply. We want to see that you understand the fundamentals and can successfully handle new problems. However they are looking for some match/relevance obviously.Follow-up question: What do you attribute more importance to when hiring an MS/PhD student- Domain specific knowledge or transferable skills?Transferable skill more important than domain knowledge. Employees are hired to solve engineering problems. When any company is hiring they are hiring a need, it won’t always be perfectly aligned with your research – but your body of work, how have you demonstrated that your skills meet the need. What do you consider transferable skills?Ability to do research and understand how to lead, solve problems, solve difficult problems, proper design of experiments. Understanding of what you want to learn.Ability to apply the technical skills to the soft skills. Be able to explain technical problem in a brief fashion. Communication – Understand your audience. You also have to recognize the commercial context of the problem, meet the production and timing goals of the company. Basically, you need to be able to cut through all your technical depth of the problem and explain what is actually relevant to the audience.What is the different skillset you look for in a MS and PhD student?Expect further development in a PhDAbility to work more independentlyPhD comes in with an extra body of work -the experience PhD is expected to do more. Expected to have better communication skills.How would you justify paying a PhD more than a MS with same skillset?I wouldn’t. The emphasis here is on “same skillset”. You don’t want to misunderstand that starting salary for an MS just out of school is the same as for a PhD just out of school. This is usually not the case. The PhD is offered more because he/she has more experience, skills, knowledge. Someone with an MS and equivalent work experience may probably be offered the same as a PhD just out of ic: Student preparation & considerations when taking a jobWhat should we (students) be considering when we are applying for a job at a company?Summary of Responses:The “fit” between the candidate and company is important.Knowledge of company needs will be useful in aligning your career goals with the companyDevelop ideas of the kind of company you want to work in i.e. big vs small, advanced research vs. product development etc.Be self-aware. What motivates you? How do you measure success? What are your long term goals and aspirations? Do these align with the company’s needs? Etc.Follow-up question 1: Some of the responses also mentioned the total compensation as a criterion when selecting a job. Is there a perceived value attachment to the compensation a person receives? i.e. does your first salary baseline you for a considerable amount of time afterward.HR people are doing their job. Usually will find competitive rates within the industry. Within the company – there are merit reviews. These give you incremental raises in salary. Large increases come from promotions. You are not baselined. Do a good job and work as hard as you can – within a few years you will get where you need to be. Be much more interested in the job and you will like what you do. Increase in salary is based on performance. You cannot predict your future earnings when the only information you have is starting salary.Follow-up question 2: What if someone from another company and/or industry earns significantly higher than the standard compensation offered for a job they applied for with you? What incentive do you provide for him/her to join you? (We did not address this question in our breakout session.)Follow-up question 3: Is there a way of assessing a “fit” with a company before starting work there? Or is it a risk everyone takes?Talk to other people that work there. Do not work for money. Do people walk around smiling or are they staring at the carpet?Hopefully during an interview you have the opportunity to talk to multiple people in different roles and levels of seniority. Take the time to notice how they are responding and see if they seem overworked and scrambling or confident and happy. Are the people interviewing enthusiastic about their own job?Use the interview process to evaluate the company as much as they evaluate e with a list of questions. Understand the environment.Do not talk about salary – maybe only with HR. NOT with the technical hiring manager.Some good questions to ask during the interview process:What would you change about the company?What do they look forward to every morning?What was the interviewer’s career path/experience?If they have been with the company for a long time: Why have you stayed with this company?How could graduate students that your company hires better prepare themselves for starting work at your company?Summary of Responses:Learn about company and productsTake courses in Project and Risk ManagementAsk questions, be ic: Details of Application ProcessAre people with advanced degrees dropped from consideration on some applications due to automatic filtering?Summary of Responses:Generally no. Sometimes however for entry level positions, when candidates with a BS are required, candidates not meeting all requirements are filtered out. If I receive a rejection within one day of applying, what are some probable reasons?Summary of Responses:Immediate rejection is rare, however if it does happen it is because job requirements were not met, i.e. degree, visa or no positions are available. What is the likelihood that someone could apply for several positions at your company and not receive any offers? ?Is there tunnel vision when assessing a candidate for a particular position (not considering where abilities may be used if not a perfect fit for the position applied for)?Summary of Responses:There are typically many more applications than positions available. Companies that use a talent scout will consider the applicant to all relevant positions and not just the position they applied for. However, for the other companies each departmental hiring manager is not always aware if other departments have open positions. So each resume is reviewed individually and not always passed on to another department. There are exceptions.Follow-up question 1: In many cases initial screening is HR. How do you use the information that HR provides to assess the suitability of the candidate for the next step. In the early stages, hiring manager gives a broad filter to panies use HR but also technical people for filtering of advanced degree candidates.Federal Govt. does do filtering based on keyword matchesVery few do this (ONR and DOD)Typical hiring pattern for advanced degrees is through a fellow program (i.e. not affected by keyword filters)Experience filters can sometimes result in such random cutsCareer Fair conversations end in ‘go apply online’. How do we differentiate ?The conversations still count. Important to follow up immediately. Mention the specific info or topics you discussed with the recruiter which will remind them about you in the follow-up. Attach resume. Do homework, find out if there are some connections (prof., alumni of research group etc.) with the folks at the career fair.Must apply online that is usually the only way to formally enter the system.Will you read my cover letter, or will a computer scan it? ?Is it important?Summary of Responses:Now that applications have been digitalized it is not as important as it has been in the past. Make sure the impact is made by resume, not cover-letter. If you writing a CL make sure to keep it concise, descript, and straight to the point.Follow-up questions:Has a cover letter ever made the difference between extending and not extending an interview/offer?Yes. A good focused concise cover letter can get you an interview (not offer). A lot of resumes do end up looking very familiar. So a good articulated cover letter can make a difference.1 page resume is too short. Don’t hesitate to go upto 2-3 pages (without rambling). Make sure you are not a one track person.Extra-curricular activities are good on resume, especially if they project a personality, team player, work ethic etc. (It gives us a sense of your general interest. It is not critical to getting job. A few things are ok, not a list of 25.)Put on the resume what is important to you ( what shows your personality)Should you tailor each CL for each job specific and how does that work when applying to multiple jobs within the company? (We did not address this question in our breakout session however from the above information one may infer that a job-specific cover letter would be more effective.)Topic: Company ExpectationsWhat are your expectations of new employees?Summary:While most employers do not expect new hires to deliver excellent results upon onset of their work, employers look for eagerness to learn and good conceptual knowledge. Possess good communication skillsAbility to work in a teamEstablish good work relationships in the company Good work ethicsHow does employee evaluation work in your company?Summary:Most companies have a policy to set specific tasks for an employee at the start of the year. Formal reviews of tasks achieved are done at regular intervals such as once in 6 months usually by immediate manager. Apart from that, most managers conduct frequent meetings to get an update on recent progress by the employee. In some reviews, the internal customer and higher level management may be involved too. Some of the skills evaluated are adaptability, business judgment, communication skills and work ethics. A fixed percent of consistent high performers are considered for career progression.Follow-up question 1: Is company evaluation (and performance appraisal) centered on task completion or are personal improvement goals also a part of the process?Yes (personal improvement part of process). Setting high goals and not hitting 100% is not a bad idea. Some people value this more than setting a low bar and finishing them.Most of the work related targets happen day to day or month to month. Most of the assessment should and does include personal skill development, learning, career growth etc.Especially for new and young hires.Is the employee expected to find a mentor and his/her way in the company?Usually taken care of by a good manager. But your responsibility to ensure that you provide the right input to managers, mentors etc. regarding your thoughts and desires.Don’t approach anyone in a hurry for mentorship. Do some work, get noticed, people will automatically start mentoring you.Don’t be over-eager about career progression. Make sure the job you accept is a job you want to do. Otherwise you will not have great job satisfaction.What impresses you about an employee / What are the common attributes of your top performers?Summary:Employees who are self-motivated, eager to learn and innovative are most appreciated by employers. Employee’s leadership qualities and ability to work in a team are especially noted by employers. Due to time constraints, managers like employees who are good at communicating the current status of tasks and take an initiative to complete the tasks with minimal supervision.What annoys you about an employee? Summary:Lack of motivation, inability to work in a team, inability to understand project goals and demonstrating poor work ethics are the most common things that annoy employers. Employees who show a negative attitude towards work and blame other employees or teams for not having met project deadlines are also not liked by employers. What are a few things that really drive results for your organization?Summary:Teamwork, cross-functional skills and ‘getting out of silos’Smart/good peopleSense of urgency, agility, timely deliveryClear formulation and management of projectsInnovationFollow-up question 1: Is their formal training offered for personal improvement?(We did not address this question)Topic: Career PathsHow did you get to be in your current position?Summary:Cross-functional experienceNetworking, mentor roles very usefulWork with good peopleAbility to see big picture, manage complexity, identify key issuesAbility to keep learning and stay up-to-dateLeadership – coaching, fostering communication, managing talentDemonstrated successSerendipityFollow-up question 1: In some ways, an assembly line approach may be advantageous to a company i.e. develop significant expertise in one particular area, rather than in different areas. However, many of you cite cross-functional experience as important in your career progression. Could you comment?Assembly line analogy is flawed:First one is not the same as the last one in research and development. Things change; there is not a repetitive nature. There are internal customers, and external customers. Being able to understand what they need is pany is two basic things: product and process, to move up you need to understand both.Do not need to be an expert in everything but you should be able to understand the impact of your work in the big picture. The more you understand how everything fits together the more you can contribute.If you see an area you want to get into, talk to a mentor – and figure out which steps to get there. Set yourself up to go in that direction. As Engineers, do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. Learn how the machines work. Work with the factory workers. Don’t make CAD drawings all day.Tendency for grad students to remain technical (i.e. depth and not breadth), however it can be self-limiting for career. Technical paths usually plateau earlier than management tracks. This is okay if that is what satisfies you and makes you munication and Interpersonal skills never fail you, always needed.Engineering comes back very quickly; important thing you learn in Engineering is the problem solving ability. Be transferable, world is changing. In smaller companies you are expected to do more. Greater depth can sometimes lead to slower decision making based on limited information. The PhD takes longer to make a decision with 80% of the data. In industry the ability to make a recommendation with less than 100% of information is highly valuable. The answer ‘it depends’ is not ok. A perfect decision made too late is “too late”. Go work in a sales position. You learn how to accept rejection and how to make decisions based on little knowledge. Learn to work with people that you don’t like and they don’t like you. Prepares you for life. Need to be able to react to input.Is there anything you would have done differently in retrospect?Summary:Move through roles quicker/ move around earlier in careerImportant to step back from time to time to assess what you are doing and how you are doing it and that it makes sense for you. (easy to get caught up in company culture/work and not realize this)Seek/utilize mentors and networking early in careerMore practical experience during college. Professional certification.Follow-up question:How much value is attributed to professional certification?You can never have too much. Highly dependent on the employer. There are places where not having professional certification can be a hindrance. Move through roles quicker/ move around? – Typical duration of roles etc.?Is there a typical time frame to spend in a role?2-3 years. In a lot of cases, you will know when the job is done. When you start a new job, after a while you think you know everything, when you do a lot you realize how much you do not know. Management should realize that you need to move before you.Do not ask to change jobs or advance after only 6 months. Spend the 2-3 years until you or your manager knows the job is done or it is time for you to move.In the early stages of your career, how did you seek out mentors? What impact did they have as you progressed in your professional life? Summary:Not always a formal mentor process in place; sometimes a natural processSelected outside reporting stream and later in career 1 or 2 levels above to gain business insightLook outside your technical function/discipline (eg. Through cross-organizational teams working on non-technical tasks)No formal relationshipFollow-up questions: How do you go about establishing a personal rapport (which seems necessary for a mentor-mentee relationship) with someone that is in a more senior position than you? Is access easy?Try to help out on problems that some of these people face. Be great at your work and mentors will find you.As you grew in your career, did you face competing demands between depth of knowledge (i.e. core technical skills) and breadth of knowledge? If so, how did you navigate them?Summary:Use career goals to drive the decisionNeed not be mutually exclusive but yes they can competeTheme seems to be technical depth early on and shift to more breadth with seniority, relying on others for depthAs focus shifts to breadth, important to trust others for depth but also know enough to assess strengths and gaps in expertiseGood leadership and communication skills are key regardless of whether you stay in a depth career path vs breadthIn many companies (not all) focus on depth/tech expertise can result in pigeon-holing and limited advancementCan maintain depth with self-study (can be useful for moving into interesting projects)Follow-up questions:One response, however, mentioned that going for depth can result in pigeon-holing and limited advancement. Your comments?Need not be a negative connotation to this. Its okay to be a tech expert and plateau in your career. i.e. terminal point will be lower than management path, but if that’s what you enjoy doing there is no need to apply a negative connotation. What you think you want to do will likely change in your career.Don’t be afraid to change the direction of your career.Getting breadth is not changing your department. As part of your role learn about other things and use your role to help out others on their pinch points etc.In companies that have clearly defined management and technical tracks, do technical tracks ultimately plateau? (The answer to this question is given above.) i.e. where are resources more likely to be allocated: with a Vice President of Engineering (corporate role) or Chief Engineer (technical role).(We did not address this question.)Topic: General questions about your company and professional lifeHow is global research conducted in your company? ?It seems that many companies keep all their research and IP in their home country and only conduct manufacturing and market research abroad. ?Is that a true statement? ?Is this changing?Summary:The world is changing so global companies do not only keep their research and IP in their home countries anymore. Some of companies’ highly confidential research and IP will remain in the main laboratories but many companies have their research labs all over the companies because alternative solutions are required for different regions.Is there room for advancement for foreign employees? ?Up to what point?Summary: Except for US government related positions, most of the companies do not have barriers for non-US employees. Follow-up question 1: In some of our eyes, senior positions seem to be dominated by members of an exclusive club (perhaps due to their network, skills they have been able to cultivate etc.). Are there barriers that foreign employees need to be aware of or overcome in this regard? There are cultural issues wherever you go. In terms of advancement, there is no munication skills are important, proficiency in written, speaking is critical. You will not be barred from advancement if you are a foreign employee working in an American company. However, if your written and spoken English is not excellent (whether you are foreign or not) you will have trouble advancing. Failure to communicate is the biggest detriment to advancement.Bi-lingual or Tri-lingual skills will put you at an extreme advantage.Non-US background can be an asset – because companies do want someone that grew up in another country and schooled in the US and this person would have better advantage in interfacing.Speak English at home/with friends.Women AdvancementThere is opportunity, but still needs a ‘go for it’ attitude (i.e. many fields still male-dominated).Have you ever had a difficult manager? ?How did you handle that situation/environment?Summary: Since all managers have different point-of-view and different characteristics, there is always a possibility of having a difficult supervisor. ?Keep communication open?Separate issues from people?Continue to deliver?Seek out alternate opportunitiesFollow-up question 1: Aside from bad managers, have some of you been in positions in your career where your input and contributions were not valued? How did you navigate this?Started own companyHead on Head – did not dodge it – held head high. We needed to part ways. Parted ways friendly.If you do not like going to work go someplace elseProsper elsewhereTake a step back; apply to other companies or other departments. Continue to do a good jobDo not take it personallyWhy is your input not being valued? Try to understand, look to yourself too. Understand your place in dept./org. Maybe you are actually the reason your manager is giving you a hard time. What do you need to understand better about how you can help your manager in his/her role?Do what you can to get the job done.Same question (work colleague)Always remain professional, never take it personally. Its only business.Talk on a one to one level. Manage things at the lowest possible level. i.e. directly dealing with the problem is most efficient.How do you navigate stagnation:Work with supervisor, don’t only look to company for career development. Look out for yourself. Smart companies will have growth plans in place. Sleeping companies lose their employees. Smart companies keep you challenged. Development comes from you. Good people can always leave to do the same job somewhere else for more money. It is your responsibility as an employee to have a career path. Plan for two jobs ahead of where you are. Unsolicited Advice:Key to you success is people relationships. You will not know everything, but if you make friends where there is mutual respect, experts in different areas can help you and you can help them. It will be synergistic. We talked about mentors, how does that happen? It’s because of people relationship, its friends helping friends. It comes down to people relationship.Great way to get exposure, is to write technical papers and present them at conferences. Many people come to conferences and you have the opportunity to network.Balancing between saying I can do all of these things, and actually being able to do all these things. It is important to take time to assess what your skills and capabilities are. Be honest with yourself. I am good at this, this could use more work. I should do this to be a better employee. Many engineers get complacent and stop pushing. Some push too hard, for positions they are not ready for. Continue to strive for access. Be honest with yourself, and ask yourself is this the place for me. Importance of communication. How well I am getting my message across is only one half of it, the other half is listening and understanding. It is important to understand what questions are being asked. Engineers have tendencies to not ‘listen’ and understand what is being asked of you. ................
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