n order for our industry to continually advance, we need to keep
ourselves educated and on top of our game. To do this we attend
seminars, professional workshops, read professional magazine and/or
journals and even return to school for a masters degree or continuing
education classes. Sometimes we get self-centered and forget about the
bigger picture. While we can educate ourselves, we also need to help
our co-workers and younger generations so that the entire profession can
grow, as opposed to just ourselves.
One of the groups of people that do not always get the most help in
preparing for a successful career are students still pursuing their
degree and the new graduate engineers. While there are numerous
programs meant to introduce pre-college students to math and science
fields, there still seems to be a strong push on increasing focus on
math and science education and prepping the younger generations for
careers in these fields. This push is even backed by the President of
The United States and was one of the issues he discussed during his
State of the Union address in January 2011.
Just because you may not be a teacher or have kids of your own, it
does not mean that you can’t help out the younger generation. There are
many ways that you can help give back and here is a short list of ways
that you can help.
• Look for science or math competitions that may be held locally and
volunteer to help with logistics or even teaming up with a project team
to serve as their mentor in the competition. One of the competitions
that I have volunteered with since I was a sophomore in college is
Conqueror of the Hill. It is a New Jersey based science competition
where they have to make some kind of robot/machine to accomplish a
certain task to earn points. Each year the tasks change so it is
constantly expanding. The awesome thing about this competition is that
it teaches kids about the basics of engineering, and not just how to
plug numbers into a computer. All of the items used for the robots are
everyday household items such as rubber bands, paper clips, Popsicle
sticks, CD’s, and Velcro. In order for the object to go up the hill, it
is spring loaded using rubber bands.
• Another way is to help is to reach out to high schools and offer to
speak to their students about engineering and science careers. This
could take place at an assembly, a career day, or even an after school
program. You might be able to meet with a group of kids on a weekly
basis and teach them about different engineering techniques, and what
engineering is all about. Unless the kids get exposed to it, they won’t
know it is out there.
• If you don’t want to make a huge commitment but still want to reach
out to kids, you can. February 20-26 is National Engineers Week.
During this week alone, there will be many programs and volunteering
opportunities for you. To get some ideas on how you can help out, check
out http://www.eweek.org/GetInvolved/Volunteer.aspx The website even
gives a list of 50 different ways that you can help out.
• If you do not like younger children, or just want to help out with
more advanced topics, look for college groups to help out. Many college
campuses have student chapters of professional organizations. For
example, if you are a Civil Engineer, ASCE holds several yearly
competitions including Steel Bridge Competition and Concrete Canoe.
While you would need to check the rules to determine how much you are
allowed to be involved, there would still be a way to help out. Let’s
take the Steel Bridge Competition as an example. If you work for a
construction company that builds bridges, you might be able to help the
team out with the welding of their bridge and teach the students proper
techniques for welding so that their bridge doesn’t fail due to a poor
weld job.
• Has your company recently hired new college graduates? Take some
time and get to know them a little. Having that first “real” job can be
scary for a college graduate. Talk with them and help put them at
ease. Tell them about how you felt when you started working, and
methods that you used to calm those nervous feelings. It is also a good
way for the graduate engineer to gain experience. For me personally, I
love listening and learning from more experienced engineers. Times
have changed so much, and more focus is now put on the technology used
to solve problems as opposed to making sure you understand what you are
doing and being able to solve problems on the back of a napkin. If you
take the time to reach out to the younger engineer, they will listen and
it may even help you re-ignite your own desire for engineering.
No matter where you are in your career it is never too early or late
to help other people advance their career. It is important to realize
that you can’t just think about yourself, but rather your whole
industry. Yes, helping out fellow co-workers may cause the bosses to
recognize their improvement and be interested in seeing how much further
they can go, but it is not a reason to avoid helping them. We need to
think about the greater picture and advance the organization and society
as a whole. After all, having fresh competition will help you stay on
top of the game.
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