Engineering Resumes, Cover Letters and
Career
Question:
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I’m
a senior engineer and have over the years developed a great deal of
technical experience. I think I’m
a little stuck and although I don’t want to change careers, I would
like to have the ability to develop new skills and most of all have a
greater say in the work we perform. Should I be considering a move to
program/project management of technical projects?
Pete H., St. Louis, MO
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Answer:
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Pete,
Some of the best program/project managers come from the engineering
ranks.
They
bring with them a rational mind and great ability to digest information
quickly and in a clear manner. Many do very well. However you must
weigh the pros and cons of a change from engineering to program or
project management. Changing to a PE or PM role will most likely
require some formal training (which should be rather straight forward
for you) and a clear career change. Your performance will no longer be
evaluated based on technical competence, rigor or creativity alone.
Instead you will be required to step aside from the details and focus
on the “big picture”.
Managing staff and budgets will become a daily
activity and as much as you will want to dig deep into the details in
your new role you probably will not be able to. Another critical need
you will have is for good soft skills or people skills. In your
interactions with management you will likely find that how information
is presented often matters as much as the information itself. This is
often a challenge for a very technically oriented professional. So if
you make this career change expect lots of “gray” as opposed to the
“black and white” of engineering. Technical competence will be less
important than the ability to deal effectively with people above you or
below you and manage perceptions.
A change of this type will
present a new opportunity for you as well. It will open the doors to a
management track career. Consider all the elements of this decision:
Financial impact (you will likely have a higher income in management),
you ability to influence things in a positive direction (your interest
expressed in your question), the work load (on large projects the work
load can be very high), the people skills requirements and finally and
most importantly if this is the right thing for you. In a nutshell you
would be trading hands one engineering work for the management of
budgets, people and risk.
This may come with an opportunity to move
into a higher level position where you can influence strategy. It will
certainly improve your resume going forward essencially allowing you to
have an engineer resume
and a manager resume that could be deployed to
different jobs. This will increase your employability.
It’s a
tough decision but ultimately it depends on what you want. If you see
yourself as a continued technical expert that stays in a technical
track or if you see yourself as a leader of project and programs with
all the caveats, responsibilities and opportunities that brings.
Good luck!
Feel free to contact us with any additional questions.
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