Learn How To Advance In Your Engineering Career

Do you want to know how to progress in your engineering career? Do you know what your options are? 

If you just google “engineering career paths” you’ll likely just see some generic information about general engineering fields. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the same old list you scoured when trying to pick the right engineering degree: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, etc. 

Well, that information was great back then, but now you want to know what options you have to advance in your engineering career. 

We’ll tackle this in two parts:

1. Introduce some career path options you have as an engineer. These are generic options that apply to nearly every engineering field.
2. Actions you can take now to start exploring those options. This will help you customize your career plans to your specific engineering field. 

Related article: Do You Know What Engineers Really Do?

It’s not a straight path 

First, a disclaimer. If you’re early in your engineering career, you do not need to select a set career path today. In fact, your engineering journey can take you on sorts of winding paths. 

You might set down one path and then decide to take an interesting detour down another. You might loop around the same path twice to see some new things. Or you might hop on a bus to get to a completely new path. Maybe you’ll decide to pave your own path. Or maybe you’ll take a moment to sit on a bench while you spend some quality time with a loved one. 

Okay, that’s enough analogy for now. You get the picture, right? 

The intent of this article is simply to show you different engineering career path possibilities. It’s up to you to decide what path will support your life and your priorities. 

Now, let’s jump in!

Part 1: Engineering Career Paths

Getting started

Before you can advance in any engineering career, you, of course, need to start somewhere! 

If you’re new to the engineering workforce, focus on building your credibility and work on developing both technical engineering skills and some soft skills. 

This is the time to pull up your sleeves and dig in! Work on building the skills unique to your specific engineering role. Show your team that you’re striving to learn about your new job. That includes the discipline you’re supporting as well as the functions and tasks you’ve been assigned.

This is also a great time to start creating a career development plan. We’ll talk through some actions you can consider adding to that plan in Part 2 below. 

As you look down the road, just keep two things in mind:

1. While it’s great to plan for your future, don’t forget that you have a job to do today. It’s going to be hard to advance if you can’t build a good reputation in your current job. 
2. Your career development plan may change over time. Actually, I can almost guarantee that it will! Mine certainly did (and still is). You’ll constantly learn about new career options. Take what you learn about your field (and about yourself), and adjust your plans as you go.

Engineering Managers v. Technical Experts 

Many engineering companies will give you a list (or chart or diagram) showing you different career advancement options. Others might not have anything to help you plan your future. 

Regardless, most boil down to two common engineering career tracks: technical expert or manager. In many cases, both career tracks start out in the exact same place and then start to diverge down the road.

The technical expert: advancing as an individual contributor

If there’s a specific engineering discipline you really love, you can advance as a technical expert or specialist in that discipline. 

Let’s walk through an example. Say you’re an aerospace engineer by degree and you loved thermodynamics in college, so you’re now working as a thermal analyst. You could spend your entire engineering career as a thermal expert in the aerospace industry. You can advance by taking on more and more challenging thermal analysis tasks, cross-training in related fields like thermal testing, obtaining a PhD with an emphasis in fluid thermodynamics, presenting your research at conferences, learning about new analysis tools…the list goes on and on. Over your career, you’ll advance into a senior analyst position and may even have the opportunity to become an engineering fellow. 

You could also move into technical management positions like a thermal team lead or a chief engineer. These positions overlap with other “management” type positions that we’ll discuss next, but they still tend to focus on technical expertise and making technical decisions. 

The engineering manager: advancing as a leader

In many industries, engineers with the right combination of technical, people, and business skills can move up into various management positions. 

Let’s continue the thermal analyst example from above. While you’re developing your thermal analyst skills, you may also be building additional skills that will help you move into leadership positions later. Skills like decision-making, conflict resolution, communication, and business acumen.

With these skills, you’ll have opportunities to go into different types of management positions. Your first step into management may start as a technical lead or project manager. From there you’ll have opportunities to go into different types of management positions that range from technical to executive.

Every company has its own terms for management or leadership positions. Here are 4 common categories, ranked from “most technical to least technical”. There is also an inverse function for “people and business” skills, so this is also ranked from “least to most people/business orientated”.

Of course, these are generalizations. The company you work for right now may use different terminology or may combine some of these functions into a single role. Regardless, this hopefully gives you an idea of how management position range across technical skills and people/business skills. 

Why not consider both?

In reality, engineering careers zig-zag all over the place. So, if you want the most career flexibility as an engineer, you need a solid foundation of technical skills, as well as the ability to work with other people, and the understanding of your company’s business strategy. 

This means learning how to be a great team player and a great leader. The best engineers also learn how to break down large problems and implement solutions, which is a skill you can start practicing now, regardless of what role you have today. 

If you’re interested in the technical side, it may be wise to also take time to learn some people/business skills or cross-train in other related disciplines. While there’s nothing wrong with becoming a specialized, world-renowned expert, there could be some risks. The more specialized you become, the less flexibility you may have in your career later on, especially if that specialized skill becomes obsolete. 

If you’re interested in moving into management positions, don’t forget to learn some critical technical skills along the way. You may find yourself at a dead end later in your career if you’re quickly climbing the corporate ladder without gaining enough experience along the way. In other words, having a solid technical foundation can make you more competitive when you apply for future engineering management positions, even at the executive level.  

Other engineering career path options

Engineers have lots of other career path options outside of the traditional technical expert v. manager career tracks you’ll commonly see in engineering companies.

Freelancing

Whether this is a full-time job or a side hustle, you may decide to freelance your engineering skills. There are a lot of possibilities, but it will entirely depend on whether there’s a demand for your skill set or expertise. 

Here are a few examples: 

1. You can create a product for a customer. Software engineers can build unique website platforms and apps. Mechanical design engineers may be hired to create CAD models.
2. You can certify a design as a professional engineer (if you have a PE license).
3. You can be an advisor, mentor, or coach. A new engineering company struggling to restructure may hire an advisor with past engineering management skills. An individual engineer may hire a mentor or coach to help them develop a specific skill or guide them through a career transition.

Learn more via freelancing platforms like this one. 

Entrepreneurship

You can kick it up a notch from freelancing by becoming an entrepreneur. This can range from self-employment to starting your own business.

Becoming an entrepreneur may be lucrative, but also comes with plenty of risks. To become a successful engineering entrepreneur, make sure you’re building up skills (like in this indeed.com article) that will support your journey. 

Engineers in Academia 

There are many positions in academia that engineers can consider. When I talk about academia, I’m usually referring to universities. However, there are also other institutions that are focused on education and research that are part of the “academia” umbrella. 

Within academia, there are several professions to consider, such as professor, guest lecturer, researcher, post-doctoral fellow, and board member. Large engineering colleges also have other faculty and staff positions. 

If you’re passionate about research and education, maybe you’ll never “leave college”. There are plenty of examples where engineering students transition straight into a career in academia.

There are also opportunities to go back into academia later on in your engineering career. I’ve seen my coworkers pause their careers in industry to become a guest professor for a few years and others that left industry for academia and never came back.

You can even support academia part-time as a guest lecturer, volunteer, mentor, or collaborator throughout your engineering career. 

Non-engineering professions

As an engineer, you can also move into successful careers in other “non-engineering” professions. Many of the skills that you learn as an engineer will help you pivot into these other professions.

Here are some examples to get you thinking outside the box:

• Sales, especially in positions where you need to understand the technical aspects of what you’re selling. For example, aerospace engineers or biomedical engineers can have successful careers selling, respectively, private jets or medical equipment. 
• Investment banking can benefit from the analytical skills you pick up as an engineer. 
• Lawyers are needed in tons of different fields, some of which overlap directly with technical fields, like patent attornies. 
• Educators (outside of academia) such as high school teachers or private consulting firms that teach specialized, professional courses. 
• Many engineers learn how to write technical reports, which can translate well into a technical writing career.

Get creative. As the commercialization of space increases, not even the sky is the limit!

Part 2: Actions you can take today

In this section, we’ll talk about actions you can take today to start planning your own career path. 

These are simply ideas to spark some inspiration. Don’t stress about trying to do all these actions at the same time. Pick an action or two today that resonates with you. Or ignore them all and create your actions. This is your life. Own it! 🔥

Learn about your career options 

Understand the options unique to your current situation and your specific interests. 

• Talk with your supervisor. A great supervisor will help you understand what you need to do today to be successful in your current job, as well as help you create a development plan for future positions. 
• Set up a meeting with your human resources rep to discover what career planning resources your company offers and how your company handles promotions. 
• Research career advancement options in your field through online searches, conversations with people in your industry, and training guides.
• Take a look at biographies or LinkedIn profiles to identify interesting positions. What skills or experiences do they have? 
• Attend conferences, workshops, or training courses.
• Seek feedback from your colleagues and supervisors to identify areas of improvement.
• Network with other professionals in your field to expand your knowledge and explore new career opportunities.
• What’s new in your field? What’s new in a related field? For example, AI and machine learning are taking off in 2023, is that something you could learn about and bring into your current engineering discipline? 

Consider what’s important to you

When considering a career, make sure it aligns with your priorities and lifestyle. You might have the “coolest” job in the world, but will you be happy if you’re sacrificing other important areas of your life? Maybe. Maybe not. So be honest with yourself here. Determine what’s important to you.

Factors to consider while planning your career progression: 

• Ability to prioritize other areas in your life, such as family, health, education, and travel.
• Job satisfaction: career flexibility, growth opportunities, exciting projects, level of control over tasks, job stability, and task visibility.
• Salary: starting salary, future salary-based promotion opportunities, other compensations like retirement packages and health care options.
• Job location and frequency of traveling for work.
• Company culture: supportive supervisors and colleagues, company policies, and freedom to be yourself.

Continuously develop your skills 

Set yourself up for future opportunities by constantly learning new skills or improving upon your current skillset. 

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” 

– Thomas Edison

What skills do you need to develop in your current engineering role? Talk to your supervisor, mentor, and coworkers to learn about the skills you need to succeed today. 

What skills can you start to develop now that will help you transition into a new role later? Observe what kind of skills the people you admire have. Is there a way you can start practicing some of those skills now? 

Test out your options 

Take advantage of opportunities to practice new skills. Here are some ideas:

• Take on more responsibilities in your current job that can help you develop new skills. This could also help show your managers that you’re ready for a promotion. 
• Volunteer to help mentor new employees or help with an employee resource group. 
• Request a mentor. You can do this via a formal mentoring program, asking your supervisor to assign you a mentor, or reaching out directly to someone you admire. 
• Seek opportunities to develop skills outside of work, such as joining a professional organization or various clubs. This doesn’t need to relate to your specific engineering field. For example, if you want to become a better speaker, why not try out an improv class or join a Toastmasters club?  
• Look for opportunities to “test drive” a new position at work, such as…
  • Rotating into a different group for a year to build cross-discipline expertise.
  • Volunteering for a temporary position, such as a temporary task force created to address a specific issue over a short period of time. 
  • Stepping into an “acting” position, such as an “acting” group lead while your management hires a permanent group lead. 
  • Taking a deputy or assistant position where you can learn new leadership skills without the responsibility of being “the” leader (at least not yet).

Build your professional network 

You’ve probably already heard that building your network is important. It may have already helped you score your current job. 

When it comes to advancing in your career, your network can open up even more doors. By connecting with other professionals, you’ll learn about different career options and you may even gain an advocate that will help you move into a new position. 

Here are some ideas to expand your network:

• Spark up informal conservations with coworkers, both colleagues on your team and on other teams in your organization.
  • Invite your coworker on a coffee break, lunch, or a short walk
  • Set up a happy hour with your entire team or a few coworkers you want to get to know better
  • Find coworkers who have similar interests outside work. I’ve had quite a lot of good career discussions while rock climbing. 
  • Get creative. When I started to work remotely, I began to bake cookies so that I had a reason to stop by everyone’s desk to say hi when I was back in town. 
• Join LinkedIn or other social media sites. You can simply follow people or organizations and learn about new opportunities. Or you can take a more active role and use these platforms to make personal connections. 
• Meet people outside your normal network at conferences, training events, and professional organization meetings.
• Sign up for a formal mentoring program.
• Volunteer at various events sponsored by your company, such as outreach events or sponsored charity events.  

Periodically re-evaluate your current career path 

Some of us are so focused on a specific career path that we don’t stop to question “Is this still the right path for me?”.

Don’t lose your way as you climb up that management ladder. And don’t bury yourself while digging into a specific technical discipline. 

Instead, take some time to periodically re-evaluate your current career path. Does your career support your lifestyle? Have your priorities in life changed? Has the industry you’re working in changed? Are you satisfied with the work you’re performing? Are there new opportunities that didn’t exist a couple of years ago? 

You may even want to consider doing some career path exercises like these.

Pave your own path 

You have so many options – don’t underestimate that! Focus on finding (or creating!) a career path that will help you build a life you enjoy. 

If you’re early in your engineering career, focus on building fundamental skills today while also taking some time to explore your career path options. 

And, one last thing: don’t forget to periodically look back and help others that might be following in your footsteps. Think about everyone who’s helped you on your own journey. Pay it forward. 🚀