Choosing a career path is a big decision, and often, it can feel that it's come much sooner than we’re prepared for. Particularly in the midst of wrapping up on your final exams, this choice can feel overwhelming. However, by identifying your unique skills and experience, it can become easier to find the right career fit for you.
When it comes to engineering, there are certain abilities that colleges and employers are always on the lookout for. In this guide, we round up some of those top four skills that would make you a great fit for a career in this sector.
Problem solving
Most people working in engineering share an innate ability to problem solve. This is important for our growing, evolving society, where we put plenty of trust in these professionals to create and improve the systems that help to keep things running smoothly.
Most of the work of an engineer will involve identifying areas of improvement, and then coming up with a solution collaboratively. They’ll need to be able to see the solution through, of course – and then evaluate its efficacy once it’s complete.
Innovation
While engineers are problem solvers, it’s important to note that much of their work will involve finding original, creative solutions to these hurdles – as well as innovating already established systems.
Ultimately, engineers are pioneering inventors, and so they need to always be thinking about the next big thing – as well as what can be improved across various sectors, from mechanics, to electronics, to aeronautics. This makes engineering the perfect career path for any student looking to marry imagination and originality with strategic and objective thinking.
Analytical thinking
As we’ve established, engineering requires plenty of logical thinking and reasoning – after all, you’ll be spending much of your time working with large sets of data. You’ll usually know if you’re an analytical thinker from a young age, finding that you excel in subjects at school whereby you must consider facts and make rational, methodical judgements.
You should be able to demonstrate this skill through achieving the relevant qualifications that an engineering career requires – in the US, a high school diploma or its equivalent with the appropriate scores in mathematics and science are a good place to start – followed by a relevant college degree in engineering.
Technological understanding
It goes without saying that when it comes to engineering, you’ll need a clear understanding of all the programs and tools that you’ll need to help you to do your job. You’ll probably learn plenty of theory through study, but may come to find that relevant work experience, as well as independent courses can help you to learn the technical skills that you need for this career.
Some companies offer graduate schemes to prospective employees that allow them to learn all the necessary technical skills on the job. Many favor this route as a way to get stuck in and kick start their chosen career from the get go.
A final piece of advice
Sometimes it’s best to work backwards, beginning with researching some of the engineering jobs or companies that you may be interested in applying for. This way, you’ll come to acquaint yourself with the skills and experience that they tend to look for in their hires. If our four top skills have resonated with you, you’re likely already on the road to landing your dream job – and may be a great fit for a career in engineering.
