Chapter 02: Engineers are Professionals

 

Figure 2.1: You will be doing lots of writing as a professional.

 

One of the most important things to learn early in your journey as an engineer is that engineers are professionals. The word professional is synonymous with “white-collar” and implies that you are going to be using your brain instead of your body or hands to earn a living.

IMPORTANT NOTE: At this point, it is important to note that society relies on “blue-collar” or non-professional workers, and I do not mean to imply any negativity towards those who have chosen this type of work for their career . Historically “blue-collar” has negative connotations but manual laborers play a significantly important role in our society and should be respected for their contributions. The color of your shirt doesn’t matter and everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. Manual labor jobs are great options for a lot of people. Several of you may have worked (or know someone who has worked) in a manual labor setting and will likely have inherited experience and traits that will help you succeed as an engineering professional.

When we are talking about engineering as a career, the reality is that it is a professional career path governed by unspoken cultures, expectations, and rules of conduct that you are likely unfamiliar with. Some of the content in this chapter may be surprising to you, and other parts may just seem like common sense. The goal of this chapter is to get you up to speed on what it means to be a professional and how to conduct yourself as a professional to maximize your success in your future workplace.

I acknowledge that this chapter contains a ton of “no duh” information. However, in my almost decade of experience as a higher education professional, I think taking some time to review this is necessary and will prove to be helpful.

 

Learning Goals

In this chapter, you will learn several important skills that are critical to your success in a professional setting:

• Why it is important to act professionally.
• How to conduct yourself as a professional. How to talk to other professionals (including your professors).
• The power of humility and what it means to be respectful.
• Taking responsibility and pride in your work.
• How to say thank you and how to apologize.
• What is business casual and why dress is important (both as a student and as a professional).
• How to write an email and why it is important.

 

Why is this important?

Why is dedicating a whole chapter to things that seem like common sense important? Because…

 

I want to make sure that you can get a job and be successful in that job.

 

People say they are going to college for various reasons but the reality is that everyone comes to college to get a job. Thinking about our workout analogy, you hire a personal trainer to build up your muscles but really you want to get fit and strong. Your professors will train your mental muscles but the end goal is employment, not the learning in itself. That is OK and doesn’t mean that the learning isn’t fun or important.

Universities like to say things like they “are making you global citizens” or “well-rounded lifelong learners” but for most students, they simply see college as a path to a career where they can be successful and make money. I do not blame you! That is a great reason to attend college! Although none of you are professional engineers yet, you will be an engineer soon (with a little bit of studying, help, and perseverance). It is important to learn how to conduct yourself, what your future colleagues will expect from you, and what you should expect from your future colleagues. It is important so that you can get a job and be successful in that job. It is also important to begin to use what you learn in this chapter right away, both towards your professors and your fellow classmates.

 

Discussion 2.1: Why is this important?

 

It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know

You may have heard this cliché before. A lot of clichés are clichés because there is some truth in them. First, it is important to note that technical competence and ability is by far the most important factor when it comes to your professional success. If you can’t do the job, you won’t get the job. This section is not insinuating that it isn’t important to study and learn. The question is: how can you distinguish yourself from a crowded field of graduates? You will be graduating with and competing against thousands of other people that have the exact same qualifications as you do. How do you get a job?

 

Figure 2.2: It is important to start building your network now.

 

You cultivate relationships. It is important that you act professionally and cultivate relationships with everyone you come into contact with at a University. Everyone is italicized for emphasis because I mean everyone at the University. From the President of your University to the administrative assistants in your department, all your professors, your classmates, the academic advisers, the janitorial staff… everyone.

I could fill a whole chapter on anecdotes that show this is true but you probably already have a gut feeling that this is true. This may be the most common sense piece of advice in this entire book that I have noticed most students not taking to heart.

Why is it important to treat everyone professionally and how does that help you get a job? Let’s list out a decidedly non-comprehensive list of ways people can help you:

• Your current classmates might be your future co-workers or even bosses. If they like and respect you, they might hire you or suggest you for hire by their boss.

• Your professors likely have contacts and friends in industry but they will not stake their professional reputation on a student they don’t believe in. By treating your professors with respect and working hard in their classes, they will be more likely to recommend you.

• Your academic adviser usually gets solicited by companies looking for students for prestigious internships and experiences. In my experience, they do not pick the A students randomly, they pick the students they like and who treated them professionally.

The list goes on and on but the common thread through all of it, is acting professionally and courteously can go a long way in helping you get a job. You need to realize that hiring is risky and scary and people are always looking for a known quantity over an unknown one. If you can get a recommendation from a professor, or other University official, it will go a long way. If you slack off in your classes, argue with your professors, and treat the University support staff disrespectfully, you will have a much harder time getting a job.

 

Discussion 2.2: What is your story?

 

How To Communicate Professionally and Courteously

This is easy because you already know how, you just sometimes choose not to communicate professionally. Here is what I mean. Imagine that you have the opportunity to meet your personal hero. It can be whoever you respect the most, admire the most, whatever. How would you talk to them? How would you address them?

 

Figure 2.3: Who is your knight in shining armor?

 

My guess is that you would address them by their professional title (Mister, Misses, Doctor, Professor, Mr. President, Sir, etc.), that you would be polite in your choice of words, that you would be humble (more on that later), and that you would defer to their expertise. This is exactly how you act professionally and how you should treat everyone you come into contact with at a University.

Here is a handy checklist for how to conduct yourself professionally:

• Treat everyone like you would treat your personal hero or a celebrity. You never know when you will need a favor. In general, it is better to have people like you, and people like being treated nicely.
• Always use last names and titles to address people unless you are explicitly asked to call them something else. It is always better to say Dr. Johnson or Mrs. Stevenson when addressing people you do not have a personal relationship with. If you do not know their title, you can always use the title “Professor” for someone that teaches a university class or “Mr.” or “Ms.” for University staff if you are unsure if they have a Ph.D. I will tell you, I have never heard anyone that doesn’t have a Ph.D. upset that they were called Doctor but I do know PhDs who get upset if they aren’t called Doctor.
• Do not use slang, unprofessional language (i.e. swearing), or other colloquialisms when talking or writing in a professional capacity. Be as formal as possible.

Follow these checkpoints, and you will be thought of as a respectful and courteous student.

 

Tips for Networking

The goal of this chapter up until this point is to convince you that being respectful and nice to people goes a long way. You are convinced that “it is not what you know it is who you know”. “Who you know” is your network. The second part of the “getting a job when you are done with college” formula is building a network.

Some of you are extroverted and find building a network of people easy and fun. Good for you, you will have a significant advantage when it comes to finding a job because you make friends naturally and people like you. I personally am an introvert and find networking functions unbearable and painful. Just because you don’t like to actively network, does not mean that it isn’t critical to getting the job you want and deserve. The good news is that there are tactics that you can learn and use to become better at networking. Take a minute to watch the video below where Mr. Duane (see what I did there?) explains his tricks to networking effectively. Make sure to take notes on what he calls “lifelines” and “landmines” when networking.

 

Video 2.1: TJ Duane explores the power of a personal network and offers strategies for leveraging those key relationships.

 

In the video, Mr. Duane gives tips to be successful in making relationships. First, he advises that people establish a common early in the conversation. He also advises that people be centered and actively listen and pay attention to the person they are talking to. He warns people to not get distracted and gives an example of a meeting he had in times square. Furthermore, Mr. Duane suggests showing your value but to make sure not to because it can be a turnoff. Next, Mr. Duane suggests that following up and following is critical. It doesn’t work in the dating world or in industry.

 

Question 2.1: Networking "Lifelines" and "Landmines"

 

The Power of Modesty and Respect

Being modest and respectful is critical to building your network and advancing your career as a professional. As a student, a significant portion of your network will consist of University professors and staff and the best way to stay on their good side is to be modest and respectful.

 

Figure 2.4: Respect, the magic 7-letter word.

 

Furthermore, the power dynamic between a student and professors is unbalanced in a dramatic way. Faculty and staff have almost all of the power, and students have very little if any at all. Hopefully, you trust your University to hire competent employees who will act fairly and on your behalf. For the most part, this is true, but what it means for you is that it does not pay to be disrespectful or immodest.

Consider the following exchange between an academic adviser (not a professor) and a student they are advising. Let’s say that the student sees the adviser’s office door open and swings by without an appointment. Keep in mind, in this scenario, it is unclear who is to blame for the problem.

Academic Adviser: “Hello Student, it is good to see you. How can I help you today?”

Student: “Hey. I am good but you messed up, now I am not going to graduate, and I need you to fix my schedule right now!”

How do you think the academic adviser will respond? I am guessing they will say something like “I don’t have time right now, please schedule an appointment”.

This is what I meant when I said that staff has all the power and it doesn’t pay to be disrespectful. This student is severely lacking in modesty and did not acknowledge that it could have been their mistake, instead, they blamed the adviser. The student also failed to apologize for his intrusion! The academic adviser does not have to help the student right away and the accusatory tone will only serve to alienate the adviser. My question is: WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? The advisors are hard-working, underpaid, intelligent people who are here to help you. Do not make them dislike you! Let’s see how that exchange could have played out differently.

Academic Adviser: “Hello Student, it is good to see you. How can I help you today?”

Student: “Hello Mr. Adviser. I am sorry to bother you, but I noticed that there is a mistake on my schedule and I am worried it will impact my graduation. Do you have some time to help me fix the issue? If we can’t meet today I totally understand and would be happy to set up an appointment. Thanks so much for your help.”

Again, like a lot of things in this chapter, this is obviously the correct way to respond. In this case, the student did not blame the adviser for the problem (they didn’t even necessarily take credit for the problem either), they were respectful of the adviser’s time and humbled themselves. The adviser still might not be able to drop everything and help the student right away, but you can be sure that they are more eager and willing to help in this situation when compared to the first.

All of this comes back to being a professional. Successful professionals are always modest and respectful. People like people who treat them with respect and differ in their expertise.

 

Discussion 2.3: The Power of Modesty and Respect

 

You Shouldn’t Judge a Book By Its Cover

Before we jump into this section, take a moment to answer the following question. It might make you feel uncomfortable, but be honest because I am trying to make a point.

For this question, let’s pretend that you have a successful engineering firm and that you need to contact an accountant to help balance your books and do your taxes. You get two offers from women who have a similar educational background, similar experience, and quote you similar prices. They are both excellent candidates in your opinion. You check their consulting company websites and they have the following pictures in their “About Me” section. Obviously, pictures are not the best way to select your candidate, but the two women are equal in every other way. Which of the two would you hire?

 

Question 2.2: Judge a Book by its Cover

 

Please make sure you answer the preceding question before reading the rest of this section.

A common idiom is “don’t judge a book by its cover”. In my opinion, this is a noble endeavor, but it is counter to what humans actually do. Who did you select in the image above? Why? I am hoping that you selected the person wearing professional attire. After all, the prompt informed you that you wanted an accountant. Accounting requires attention to detail and professionalism. The woman that is wearing the suit looks like a professional so it is natural to lean her way when selecting candidates. Humans do this sort of thing all the time!

Figure 2.6: Don’t judge a book by its cover is a good thing to try and live by but no one actually does that. In any case, these books have amazing covers.

Why do we judge people by what they look like? Humans assess information quickly and we are predominately visual animals. Plus, a lot of the time it can be useful to understand patterns and make quick judgements. To illustrate this, try the following problem which is probably the easiest problem you will ever have in college.

 

Question 2.3: Illustrating

 

 

Or for another example, think about the last time you looked up companies online. It is easy to get caught up in the marketing and fancy visuals of their website and to attribute those qualities to mean that the company must have high quality even though a fancy website has nothing to do with how the company actually performs. The list goes on and on, but the fact is that we judge books by their cover. If you are interested in reading more about this, here is a nice, short little blog post discussing this from a psychological perspective.

 

What can you do about it? Make a Good Impression.

The goal of this section is not to change humanity. The goal is to show that although it is wrong, it is important to acknowledge that bias exists and that human nature dictates that it is unlikely that humans will change anytime soon. It is important for you to know this and use whatever is at your disposal to use it to your advantage. It means that part of being a professional is dressing professionally because people will see you and automatically think you are professional (as we have seen it is also important to act professionally). It also means that it is never appropriate to wear your favorite old shirt, your favorite ripped jeans, and your expensive flashy basketball shoes when you are working as or with a professional.

Whenever you give a presentation in school, go to a job interview, go to a networking event, or interact with engineering professionals in any way (outside of the classroom) it is important to look professional so that you make a good impression. Do not let someone’s personal bias be the reason you don’t get the job! Dressing up and looking professional will help make you seem more qualified than your peers who do not follow this advice. That might be enough to get you the job!