How CPD can help map out a varied career path

Continuous professional development (CPD) is an important part of any engineer’s career, but for some it is difficult to work out exactly what to aim for, simply because there are so many options out there for career progression.

Design engineer Peter West faced exactly that, but when it came to him deciding whether he wanted to tailor his career towards management or advanced technical work, he decided to prepare for both.

“For choosing my goals, I sat and thought about what I wanted to achieve with my career,” he said. “In my job, I can either go down the management route, or I can aim to become a principal design engineer, so I have put down optional goals that suit both of those possible directions.

“I then gave myself a timeframe for when I thought I should be at each stage.”
Peter’s flexible approach to CPD has also seen him evolve the way he records his CPD activities, making the most of feedback from the Institution, which included attending a workshop on CPD best practices when he first achieved his chartership.

“I attended the IMechE CPD lecture at Oxford Brookes and I found that really useful,” he said. “Initially I focused on courses and events [to record as my CPD activities] for the first couple years, but when my CPD was audited by the IMechE it recommended that I look more at journals and pieces of research, so I have started including those as well now.”
One thing that Peter ensures he doesn’t change, however, is his focus on reflecting on his CPD record and learning from the activities he has undertaken.

“Reflection is really important,” he said. “I try to critique what I am doing, so when I am reflecting I think about the good and the bad, and look at what I could have done better.
“There is always something you can apply to your next activity, or something you can do different going forward so you can learn more.”

If you’re currently finding it a challenge to record your CPD, don’t worry, you’re not alone. What is important is to structure it in a way that you find useful. Don’t neglect the unstructured/informal/nontechnical learning that you do and make the most of reflecting on previous activity to help guide what you do next.