Ask the Engineers: 'What extra attributes do engineers need to succeed?'

Are you stuck in a career rut or planning your next move? Maybe you’re a student struggling to decide on an industry? We're putting your burning questions to our panel of seasoned engineers.

In Issue 3, 2019, Neil Chattle asked: "Apart from a solid engineering and mathematical background, what other attributes should engineers work on to progress in any company?"

"Good communication and negotiation skills. And the ability to write technical reports in clear, understandable and concise language."

Jon Baggs

"Business and financial knowledge, managing teams, coaching, mentoring, creative thinking and innovation. Companies need to be flexible and ready to adapt to changing and challenging market conditions. Knowing what to change and how to react is the difficult thing."

Andrew Gatenby

"Understanding finance. I took an accounting diploma when in my late twenties, and it helped me as a project manager."

Michael Herbert

"Leadership and teamworking, plus understanding what the company is really all about. These apply as much in engineering roles as they do in any job function."

Graham

"Reading, writing and speaking – social skills. It’s no good having ideas if you can’t put them across effectively."

Alison Owen

"Don’t lose sight of the overall objective of the task you are working on. Build good working relationships. Being able to work well as part of a team is as important now as it ever was."

Adrian Shore

"The innate ‘gift’ of engineering; some have it, others patently not. That means being able to see a problem and propose a practical solution; and able to see a mechanism or process and make sense of it."

Bob Rainbow

"How to put your points across clearly with determination but avoiding overstepping into aggression whilst listening to other points of view."

Michael Newbound

"Understanding that there is always more than one way to solve a problem and that careers are not linear – people need to be flexible in their roles and career paths."

Iain

"Communication and interpersonal skills, if progress means climbing up the managerial tree. As you move higher up the tree your technical knowledge and ability become less important, being replaced by these other skills. You will also need an understanding of business finance, if only to be able to interact with the people in the finance and accounting department."

Richard Bossom

"Developing the ability to follow technology trends is becoming more important as the pace of change is ever increasing."

Richard Haydock

"Social skills, networking and intelligence (as in data gathering and analysis). Engineers rarely wield hard power so need to be able to exercise influence."

Chris Elliott

"Understanding the costs of what they propose, and therefore the efficiency of doing the work. That way alternates can be developed at lower cost."

Phillip Haran

"Developing people skills is an absolute must! Whether in a managerial capacity or sales/ commercial capacity, the ability to communicate and influence is priceless."

Ashley Kingston

"Lateral thinking. Integrity and high moral standing. Far-reaching vision and systems thinking, especially linked to understanding how engineering fits into the ecosystem."

Jackie Carpenter

"Communication and people skills above all else. Nobody, no matter how breathtakingly brilliant at engineering, can make any headway without being able to communicate properly. The number of graduates I’ve seen take two or three years in employment before they can write a report that is understandable and in decent English is unbelievable. To progress you need to impress, and if nobody can understand what you are doing, or if you are doing the wrong thing because you didn’t understand the requirement, you are going nowhere!"

Michael Reid