SOE Head Office saw a well-attended and engaging seminar and panel discussion on career paths and professional development in engineering.
In response to the success of the Pathways to Progress: Navigating Career Growth in Engineering the SOE team hosted a well-attended and engaging seminar and panel discussion on career paths and professional development in engineering.
The event started with an introduction from Executive Director Designate Emma Thompson which was followed by keynote speaker Dominic Dawson who took us through his career journey, from fixing bikes in rural Staffordshire, via the Royal Navy, to leaving to work as an electrical engineer then finally switching to becoming an Engineer Surveyor.
Dominic told the packed room how a focus on accumulating experience through volunteering for extra courses whenever possible, networking widely and a succession of supportive mentors had driven his career forward. Dominic emphasised how Professional Registration is ‘your armour and your shield’, demonstrating that an engineer is up to date and competent with external verification of competence if they ever need to defend themselves or their work.
“Professional Registration is your armour and your Shield”
These themes were echoed in the panel discussion that followed featuring Francesca Hand, Operations Manager with Flixbus, Ian Macdonald, SOE, David Titmas, Head of Data & Communications for the Engineering Council and Peter Egan Head of Critical Infrastructure, British Museum and Board Member at the Society for the Environment.
Francesca highlighted how the transferrable skills of an engineer, an aptitude for problem-solving as well as working and communicating well as a team, contributed to engineering being one of the most employable industries. Many non-engineering roles increasingly require data skills and other STEM skills.
Peter Egan brought a valuable client-side perspective to the value of Professional Registration and CPD. For Peter, a lot of his work involves unpicking mistakes from 10-15 years ago. To ensure that these mistakes are not repeated Peter insists on only employing registered engineers.
By holding professional registration, these engineers are committing to being up-to-date on current practices.
‘Registration benchmarks progress’
David Titmus shared that the non-academic route to professional registration had now overtaken the traditional route, showing that it was open to all, regardless of where they started their career.
Ian Macdonald shared how the most rewarding aspect of the professional registration mentoring process was helping people realise that they were good enough to achieve their potential.
After the panel session closed the closing keynote was given by Lilian Iheukwumere-Esotu MIAM MSOE CEng. Lilian took attendees through her career story, and her success in academia followed by a transition into asset management, now Asset Management Strategy Implementation Lead at National Gas. She identified encouragement from her mentors, an active presence on Linkedin and documenting her career successes as crucial on the journey.
She described how due to her background in academia she often tried different approaches, for example using templates from her time as a researcher to document her colleague's knowledge. This took knowledge out of silos and unlocked it for the whole organisation.
Lilian also took the audience through her professional registration journey, emphasising how important documenting evidence was to the process, a lesson she has taken forward in her career. As someone who transitioned from academia, her Chartered status has won her the respect of more experienced colleagues by providing a demonstration of her competence.
Emma Thompson closed the session, noting the recurring themes of network building, the role of professional registration and mentoring that all the speakers had touched upon. She called attention to the SOE’s soon-to-be launched mentoring platform, which would empower members to grow together, sharing their knowledge and each other forward.