IEEE Potentials Magazine - May/June 2018 - 26

It's a good idea to explore two or three
organizations and overlapping fields of interest
within the first ten years after graduation.
fields of interest within the first ten
years after graduation. Experience
with diverse organizations-small
and large, domestic and international, or private and government-
as well as with a sample of application segments creates a fruitful
soil for the rest of one's career and
lifelong employability. After such an
educative term, one's adaptability to
changes and different organizational
conditions is better than after ten
years in just a single company and in
the same position. There is much appreciation for such flexibility within
the fast-changing job market, particularly in start-ups.
Large organizations often have
two ladders of advancement: specialist and management. But in smaller
firms, the specialist ladder may have
only a couple of steps. Which one of
these ladders should you pursue?
It depends. Many engineers make a
transition to management smoothly
and successfully, but others may fail
because they "...made the choice for
wrong reasons and to satisfy the wrong
needs," as discussed by Badawy.
Technical management is about getting things done through the team or
department that works for you. As a
result, you must be able to feel true
satisfaction about the efforts and accomplishments of others. This is a vi-

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tal issue to remember when considering the management ladder.
After some time in industry or government, you might feel that such an
environment is not optimal for your
needs and expectations. There is another option: getting a Ph.D. degree
and making a move to the academic
world. This might be a valid track after a few years as a practicing engineer; I made such a transition after
12 years in industrial R&D. However,
academia has its unique structures
and practices, and it takes time to
learn and understand how one eventually becomes a professor. To begin, the book Tomorrow's Professor:
Preparing for Academic Careers in
Science and Engineering gives a pragmatic discussion on preparing for academic careers in engineering. It is a
valuable resource for launching one's
journey toward academia.
Career management is a multidimensional endeavor that needs
explicit attention and alertness. Remember, you are continuously responsible for your career.

Read more about it
* T. Forsell. (2016, June 14). Finland, home to Nokia and jobless
engineers, struggles to fill tech
jobs. Reuters, Technology News.
[Online]. Available: http://w w w

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May/June 2018

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.reuters.com/article/us-finlandtechnology-idUSKCN0Z01D9
* G. Bloomfield. (2017, Feb. 10).
Life tips: How to be a real team
player. Engineering and Technology
Jobs. [Online]. Available: ttps://
engineering-jobs.theiet.org/article/
how-to-be-a-real-team-player/
* A. Choren, "The importance of
communication in the workplace,"
IEEE Potentials, vol. 34, pp. 10-11,
May/June, 2015.
* R. E. Floyd, "Not happy? Move
on!" IEEE Potentials, vol. 36, pp.
23-25, May/June, 2017.
* M. K . Badaw y, Developing
Managerial Skills in Engineers and
Scientists: Succeeding as a Technical Manager, 2nd ed. New York:
Wiley, 1995.
* R. M. Reis, Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers
in Science and Engineering. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1997.

about the author
Seppo J. Ovaska (seppo.ovaska@
aalto.fi) is a professor of industrial
electronics at Aalto University, Finland. He has served as a visiting
scholar at Utah State University,
Virginia Tech, and the University of
Passau, Germany, and has published more than 100 articles in
peer-reviewed journals. Prior to his
academic career, he developed control systems for high-rise elevators; those contributions led to six
U.S. patents.

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