The Engineering Career Coach Podcast

In this episode, and in honor of recognizing Black History Month, I talk to Kameelah Samar Majied, PMP, Associate Director and Diversity Champion at Merck about Black women in engineering and STEM.Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of "Negro History Week," the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.Engineering Quotes:Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Black History Month and  Women in Engineering and STEM: The mission of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is to increase the amount of responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. NSBE, started in the year 1975, is one of the largest student-run organizations. This year there are approximately 20,000 members. NSBE has three segments of talent: NSBE Junior: Pre-college individuals who seek exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Collegiate: Undergraduate and graduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM) at a collegiate institution or graduate-level students who majored in STEM as undergraduates. NSBE Professional: Working professionals and graduate students who majored in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics who seek to fulfill NSBE's mission via avenues for networking and professional development while giving back to the community. Black History Month was first called Negro Week. It is the recognition and celebration of all the contributions of Blacks to history. Black history is so important that everyone should focus on it. The concept of people engineering is how you get people to function like a machine and to get them harmonized in terms of how they think and take an engineering approach to what they do every day. To do this, we need to get everyone involved in a project to focus on the finished product. The idea is to take the same train of thought and apply it to what we are all working toward. It is getting people to take the same concepts utilized in your discipline and what you are trained on, and solve real-life solutions. STEM is in everything we do. Science, technology, engineering, and math is the foundation of global business.  When there is a product that is being sold, there are engineers behind the design, manufacturing, and ultimately how the product can be used by the buyers. Business is driven by experts, ideas, and innovation to increase their customer base and drive their bottom-line revenue. There is a deficit in representation for Blacks and Black women in STEM. There are very few Black women in executive leadership in the top 500 companies. Young Black girls in different cities and states need to have the opportunity to look up to someone who looks like them and aspire to be like them. The workforce representing diversity will benefit from diverse thoughts, talents, and voices to how things develop. One of the biggest problems Black women face in STEM is access, opportunity, and representation. Many people do not know about the opportunities that they can develop. Therefore, they need access and opportunity so that they can see what is available for them. In recent years, Black communities have been polled and asked to answer questions like, "Do you trust your medical provider?" and "If you have a common cold, are you going to the doctor?" Their answers are almost always no. Based on the data from the polls, there is no level of comfort in these areas.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Andrew Temte, President and Global Head of Corporate Learning at Kaplan, about his forthcoming book Balancing Act: Teach, Coach, Mentor, Inspire, which is about being an effective leader of people through teaching, coaching, mentoring, and inspiring. Andy talks about balance in life, balance at work, and balance between the two. The book, and our conversation, is packed with actionable strategies for improving one's ability to lead people, which, in my opinion, is the most important skill leaders can cultivate.Engineering Quotes:Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Work-Life Balance and Strategies to Lead People: You are rarely in perfect balance in anything that you do in life. Balance is the target condition that we are striving toward, but never quite ultimately getting to. It is okay, because that is the way that it should be. In the process of learning, you purposefully put yourself in an off-balance position. A key skill is to be able to then strive to get back into a place of balance after the learning process. Sometimes you get into a comfortable, more balanced state, which is unnatural. You need to search for a way to get back into an unbalanced state to become the next best version of yourself. Similar to when driving a boat, as a leader, you are responsible for the wake that you leave behind you. The higher you climb in a leadership role, the more displacement you throw off in the environment that you are in. Having and understanding this mindset is key to understanding the power of your words and how they impact the people around you. If you are engaging people through the proper education and learning programs and giving them skills to develop, it is often appreciated more than giving them a raise. Followership is a neglected leadership trait. When you are in a leadership role, you should ask yourself how you can get people to follow you. You also need to realize that you are still a follower because you still have people in higher positions above you. Work on your ability to shift gears more fluently between being the leader and being the follower. When talking to another person, that person is not in the same frame of mind as you. You are in a different mental and physical space than the person you are talking to. Everyone has something that they are dealing with. People filter information based on their personal experiences at that moment in their life. To get your message across, you need to be consistent, persistent, and agile in having the ability to say it in numerous ways.More in This Episode…In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Andy talks about the six words that he uses at work and home to hone in his philosophy for a balanced life.About Dr. Andrew Temte, PhD, CFAAs President and Global Head of Corporate Learning, Dr. Andrew Temte, PhD, CFA, spearheads Kaplan's efforts in helping employees remain relevant in the future world of work, as well as in helping companies continuously improve by attracting the right talent and upskilling or reskilling their workforce. In this capacity, he oversees and leverages assets, capabilities, and talent across Kaplan's global footprint throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, the GCC, and Hong Kong.A thought leader on issues related to professional education and workforce skilling, Andy has been published and cited in several media outlets.“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” ~ Jim RohnBooks Mentioned in This Episode:Balancing Act: Teach Coach Mentor Inspire

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Tamara Baynham, PhD, an electrical engineer and director of Clinical Research at EBT Medical, Inc., based in Toronto, about women in STEM. She provides nine great tips on how women in STEM can navigate career challenges with confidence.Engineering Quotes:Here Are 9 Tips for Women in STEM to Navigate Career Challenges With Confidence:1. Claim Your Seat at the Table Claiming your seat at the table in your profession as a woman takes courage, boldness, and intentional navigation. The most important thing to do is not internalize the thought that you should only be happy to be invited to sit at the table. Understand that you have earned your place at the table and be vocal about what you believe and why you are there.2. Be Open to Possibilities Always stay open to take a divergent path in your career and life, no matter which path you planned to take. Being open to possibilities may take you somewhere different that can pleasantly surprise you. Sometimes when people set themselves up on a path, they become scared that they are going to fail, and become laser-focused. There is no such thing as failure — what you have is a closed door that opens you up to looking at another path. Know that you are going to be scared, but move past that!3. Build a Support Network Try to make connections with like-minded people who can help you grow in your career. Look at your employee resource group. Most companies have employee resource groups that are focused on ethnicity, gender, and different points of distinctions and uniqueness an individual might have. It will provide you with an opportunity to meet people in other parts of your company that you would have probably never interacted with, which in turn can open a lot of professional doors for you outside of just building a social network.4. Set Clear Goals Using a vision board will allow you to visualize yourself in an ideal state, and will increase your chances of achieving your goals. Be open to pivoting or making changes in your original plan. It does not mean that you have failed to achieve your goal; it means that your goals have changed due to life circumstances. Do not forget to add things that you personally want on your vision board and see how they combine with your professional goals.5. Develop a Global Mindset Many places in the world tend to group different kinds of people in separate boxes. Try to understand that everyone is different and everyone does things differently. Look at how you are different from others and how your differences can bring unique things to the table.6. Strive to Live Outside of Your Comfort Zone Just because you decide to do something does not mean you are not going to get scared and have doubts. Become comfortable living with the fact that there is going to be uncertainty. Think of something that you are interested in but are reluctant to try, and do it without thinking about it. You are reluctant because you have been calculating the "why nots" and "what could happen." Allow yourself to fail sometimes and take the experiences and knowledge gained with you.7. Be Open to Support No Matter Where It Comes From It is a good idea to join a support network. It can help you to get comfortable with asking people for help, and you will have many more people who will be able to help you in many ways. You can start from the ground up in networking and relationship building. Try to express your desire for assistance to people in your support network. Be prepared when you ask for help, and have your questions ready.

In this episode, we talk to Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEM, an energy engineer and founder of The Engineering Mentor, about the importance of mentorship and networking in your engineering career and explain how it can benefit your engineering career.Engineering Quotes:Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Professional Networking Tips and Tricks for Engineers Engineering school is a good foundation for your engineering career, but it does not teach you much about the hands-on experience and the specifics that you need for the job. Once you leave engineering school, you need mentors who you can turn to for answers. Active networking means that you have a continuous networking agenda that you follow to keep in contact with the people in your network. This will ensure that the people in your network will be willing to help you in the future because you have established a connection with them. During tough economic times, your network can help you to get a job easier because you will know more people and have built connections with them. To approach your network for finding a job, you need to be comfortable with asking someone for help. Never send a message to your network blatantly asking if they have positions open. You could be coming across as rude and unprofessional. Instead, reach out to your network and let them know your situation and what you are looking for, and ask them for some guidance and advice. If they have a job, they will tell you about it if they think you are a good fit. This can open the conversation to more than just a yes or no if you are asking them for a job directly. If you do not think you are a good writer or speaker, most times all you need is a mind shift. Any speaking that you do with your team, investors, or management is, in a sense, public speaking. Engineers should develop their speaking skills to convey their ideas to people correctly, and the best way to do this is through practice. Remember that the people there want to hear what you are saying, and that you are going to be your biggest critic. Having this mindset will help you going forward. To follow your passion, you first need to build the skills and follow the stepping stones to get there. Once you have built the skills and gained the knowledge, you will then have career mobility to get where you want to go. This will help you to grow into your passion instead of blindly following the passion you had when you started your career. There are many other skills that engineers do not seem to mention. Look back on other skills that you have learned outside of your job and see where they can be beneficial to your engineering work. Add these extra skills to your resume where they could potentially be applied to the job you are applying for. There is little downside to getting a license or certification if you have the time, and it is not that costly to get it. Look at the engineers who are currently five to 10 years ahead of you and see what licenses and certifications they most often have — those are the ones that you should prioritize.More in This Episode…In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEM, talks about the number one takeaway from this show that is focused on mentoring and networking.About Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEMSol is a mechanical and energy engineer who enjoys helping building owners with financially viable energy savings projects. In his early positions, he worked on large scale energy projects where his tasks included climbing through mechanical rooms and calculating and designing the systems, construction and project management, and running through the measurement and verification (M&V) phase. This hands-on knowledge has helped him greatly in his career because he attained a greater understanding of the projects as a whole ...

In this episode, our new host, Jeff Perry, MBA talks to Dennis Doran, a leading expert in the construction industry with more than 30 years of experience, and the author of the highly praised book, Soft as Steel,  about the importance of valuing and developing soft skills to build relationships and succeed in business and life.Engineering Quotes:Here Are the Key Points Discussed on the Power of Passion for Your Profession: Soft skills are not really skills. They are your qualities, attributes, and behaviors, and are an indication to those you come in contact with in your day-to-day life of what your values are.  Communication is a skill within itself and the principal skill that you need to develop and improve upon every day, regardless if you are an entry-level engineer or a partner at a firm.  As you progress in your career, it is increasingly important that people get to know you so they can learn to trust you, over time. When building a career, you build one relationship at a time, doing the job, delivering the product, and serving the customer. However, all of the relationships you build inside your organization gets done over time. These relationships are what cements a great future for you. When trying to get a handle on the importance of soft skills, you first need to get a handle on yourself. You need to look at yourself honestly and develop honest self-awareness. The single greatest reason for conflict, both personally and in the workplace, is poor communication. Active listening is a critical component of good communication and is not just defined by the absence of talking. Communication is a skill, and it’s a skill that can be improved upon by practice. The most powerful way to influence people in a strong and direct fashion is by giving them the facts. Don’t just give them your opinion, or be vague in your response — give them facts instead.  Good leaders are people who are competent, have valid experiences, and are good communicators. Great leaders understand, embrace, and value things that differentiate them. Great leaders don’t talk about leadership — they just lead. Their words and actions demonstrate important things that align themselves with the people they lead.  A company’s expression of its values needs to be reflected by the leader. There needs to be an alignment in those values. Whatever the leader does, must be done on a consistent basis. Soft skills matter because we are people, and we build our lives with other people. We need to understand that every person has skills and abilities and the way their skills and abilities get applied to the common purpose of a business enterprise is by making sure people understand one another and that they value each other as people.More in This Episode…In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Dennis provides you with a specific action that you can take to further embrace soft skills in your career and life.About Dennis D. DoranDennis Doran has successfully served the construction industry for over 30 years as a contractor, consultant, strategic trainer and facilitator, development coach, and public speaker. He brings a multifaceted perspective to people and organizations. There are two words that have continued to follow Dennis and capture his passion: people and service. His message on the vital importance of valuing and developing soft skills is the leading topic of his seminars and the very essence of the message in his highly praised book, “Soft as Steel,” written to equip readers with the tools to be successful not just in business, but in life and relationships as well.With his unique entertaining and dynamic style of presenting, Dennis invites audiences to ponder the fundamental strategic importance of soft skills, or “people skills,

In this episode, I talk to Bill Keen, CRPC, the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, about the election year and financial planning and how it can affect you as an engineer. Bill provides some great tips on how you can be prudent when it comes to financial planning and making decisions as to not affect you and your family negatively.Engineering Quotes:Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About the Election Year and Financial Planning: With everything that has been happening of late, you need to realize that with everything that you have lived through, there is a lot of wisdom that you need to take note of. We just went through one of the fastest market declines and recovery in the history of man. The upcoming presidential election seems to have snuck up on us, and it will cause fluctuations in the economy. Ensure that you do not make rash decisions about your investments during this time that will affect you and your family negatively. You need to be aware that there is a bias about the economic conditions between the Republicans and the Democrats, which is based on who is in power. In a report from LPL Financial, since 1950, in a Republican congress, the markets have made 13.4% on average. In the same time frame, in a Democratic congress, the markets have made 10.7% on average. But under a split congress, the markets have made 17.2%. For GDP, under a Republican congress, the markets made 3%. Under a Democratic congress, the markets have made 3.3%. Under a split congress, the markets have made just under 3%. We define a recession as a negative two quarters of GDP. The funny thing about this is we do not get GDP readings until many weeks or months after the end of the quarters. This means that in many cases, you do not know that you are in a recession until you are already coming out of it, or it is already over. You cannot make your market investment decisions based on just the economy. The market looks way ahead into the future, and this is why the market is so strong now even while the economy and GDP are not. The market is a leading indicator for you to make decisions on your investments. Don’t get all in or all out, but you still need to be prudent when it comes to making decisions depending on the outcomes that the election can have. Keep in mind that there will be tailwinds and headwinds in some of the sectors, such as energy and healthcare. Biden talks about a rehaul of the tax code primarily focused on the people who earn above the $400, 000 level. Their tax percentage will be returned to 39.6%. The Pease limitation is a limitation of itemized deductions, but if you earn above the $400, 000 level, Biden will start to phase the limitations out. The qualified business income (QBI) can deduct around 20% of your business income, and Biden will be phasing this out for the above $400, 000 level. From the short-term planning standpoint, you need to stay the course on your investment plans and be in a comfortable place where you are not in a position of too much risk or too conservative risk. This will help you to avoid making any jerk decisions in your investments. From a tax standpoint, if you are earning over the $400, 000 level, you could accelerate income into this year if you are going to be getting bonuses next year. You could push back deductions from this year to next year. You need to go through a Roth conversion calculation, look at the tax brackets you are currently in, and then determine if it makes sense to convert money from an individual IRA account to a Roth IRA account. The difference between an individual IRA and a Roth IRA is you are taxed when you withdraw from an individual IRA, but you never get taxed again when using a Roth IRA.Graph Showing the Research Compiled by LPL Financial:Reference: https://www.lpl.com

In this episode, I am very excited to share some BIG NEWS with you. The Engineering Career Coach Podcast will have a new host. Many of you might have heard of him on some of our previous episodes or read some of his articles. He is no other than Jeff Perry, MBA, the founder of More than Engineering. In this episode, Jeff talks about how mindsets fuel behavior and how they are the key to career and personal growth. He also shares his goal as a new host of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast.“Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area, but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.”~ Carol S. DweckEngineering Quotes:Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About How Mindsets Fuel Behavior: One of the ways to define mindsets is to refer to them as the lenses through which we see the world and the people around us. A bad mindset can distort how we see the people, the challenges, and the opportunities that we face in our lives, whereas a good mindset will allow us to clearly see what we are faced with and help us to move through it more effectively. Our mindset really drives what we do, and what we do drives the results and consequences that we get in life. When trying to change something in your life or trying to reach a new goal you have, you should not only focus on the behavioral changes, but also focus on your mindset and what you believe. When you neglect your mindset, your mindset is going to pull you right back to where you were before. If you can manage to view setbacks in your career and life as opportunities to grow, you will grow tremendously through each interaction you face in your career and life. Mindsets can fuel how we see other people. When looking at other people, do you see them as objects that you can gain something from or as an object that is in your way, or do you see them as people who matter like you matter?Mindsets Can Be Put Into Pairs That Will Allow People to Rate Themselves on a Scale:Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset A growth mindset refers to viewing our own ability and the ability of other people in our lives to continue to grow and develop. A fixed mindset would be when we think we have fixed traits, such as our talents, abilities, or IQ, that we cannot break out of. Having a growth mindset and believing that you can continue to grow and improve is much more positive and helps us to believe that we can improve with focused effort and hard work.Open Mindset vs Closed Mindset This is the degree to which we are open to new ideas and suggestions in our lives. Are you open to feedback, even if it is critical, or do you always look for information that confirms your own beliefs? Do you care more about who is right, or what is right? Those who have an open mindset will always seek to find what the truth is and invite open communication with others, rather than being the authority themselves.Promotion Mindset vs Prevention Mindset This is to establish where your fear comes from. Someone with a prevention mindset will have a large fear of having problems, having people see their problems, and making mistakes. These people are committed to avoiding discomfort and problems and prefer to play it safe. This can turn into a lot of other negative things that can cause more problems, like micromanaging or reprimanding others. Someone with a promotion mindset will always seek to reach more and make more progress, and will be aggressive with their goals.Inward Mindset vs Outward Mindset When we have an inward mindset, we see other people as objects. We often see them as vehicles in our lives to help us get something done,

In this episode, I talk to Jay Jakins Jayaseelan, the founder of Learning Through Robotics, a STEM platform that teaches and reinforces STEM concepts through “hands-on” activities using robotics technology. Jay talks to us about how STEM courses can help kids excel in science and math and how hands-on learning play and learning through robotics methods can help […]

In this episode, I talk to Justin Nguyen, the founder of GetChoGrindUp, a movement to help students navigate their way through college. We talk about LinkedIn for engineers, how to get started on it, and how to grow your network. Justin also shares some pretty amazing tips with us that will definitely help you to […]

In this episode, I talk about how you can stay safe and keep healthy during the coronavirus pandemic by changing the way you think and doing things differently daily. During this pandemic we are indeed dealing with tough times, but if you can adapt a positive mindset, you might just find that even within these […]

In this episode, I talk to Bill Keen, founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors. Bill was previously seen on episode 214, where he talked about retirement for engineers. In today’s episode, Bill talks about how what is happening today with the current pandemic is affecting the stock market and our everyday lives as well […]

In this episode, I talk to Devora Zack, MBA a bestselling author, global keynote speaker, and leadership consultant. Her internationally released books, “Networking for People Who Hate Networking, 2nd Edition” “Singletasking”, and “Managing for People Who Hate Managing” are translated into 45 languages. Devora talks to us about networking and provides some great tips on […]

In this episode, I talk to Christian Knutson, CEng, P.E., PgMP, F. SAME, who has co-hosted this podcast in the past and now serves as the Europe Program Manager for Stanley Consultants. He is responsible for managing and coordinating Stanley Consultants’ activities in the U.K. and Europe as well as providing program/project management delivery and […]

In this episode, I talk with Tony Munson, author of People Skills for Engineers. Tony talks about the technical and non-technical skills that engineers need to possess to become successful engineers. He also talks about how you can make a good first impression on your boss, and explains how to correct versus criticize someone. His […]

In this episode, in honor of Black History Month, we talk to Julius Hudson, who is a civil engineer, a STEM Advocate, and the National Professionals Chair at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Julius talks about how NSBE has helped him in his career and what it means to be culturally responsible. Engineering […]

In this episode of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, we celebrate National Engineers Week by telling you what National Engineers Week is, and why it is important. We also highlight some interesting news stories about the engineering license and share some of the responses we received from our listeners about a question we asked on […]

One of the most important aspects that is needed when starting to cultivate an inclusive management style is building trust. Not only do you need to include your team in conversations, but you also need to empower your entire team.

To grow in your career, you need to understand that people and the relationships you build with them are of utmost importance.

Before you can be productive, you’ve got to start thinking the right way.It is very hard to define productivity when you don’t have your goals lined out. When you have your goals set and you know which way you are supposed to go, everything will start falling in place.

In this episode, I will walk you through five questions and use these questions as a brainstorming process to help determine your 2020 goals.