Featured Guest Blogger: Charles J. Gervasi

Staying independent is key to engineering success.  Engineers are independent by nature.  An engineer who spends too much time focused on someone else’s goals can become resentful.  Pursuing only your own goals is not as simple as it sounds.  Many years ago I had a supervisor say, “If you’re dedicated to being a top engineer, you should apply for a job with title XYZ in the group ABC within our company.”  The contra positive of that is that if I did not jump through their hoops, I was not a dedicated engineer.  I had signed up to solve this manager’s engineering problems and I wanted to accept the things he said, but I realized this particular premise was wrong.  A manager, even a more experienced one, cannot set my goals for me.  If I had gone along with my employer’s program, I would have felt resentful every time something did not go my way.  I might have felt like I turned over my professional development to them and they mismanaged it.  If I had done that

I would share some of the blame because it’s impossible to turn over responsibility for my life to someone else.

Plan to Job-Jump 

Thirty years ago job-jumping was looked down upon.  In today’s word, changing jobs every couple years, especially for a beginning engineer, is perfectly normal.  The most important reason to plan for job-jumping is that when you get into a situation where something at your job is not working for you, it is easy to respond dispassionately.  It is much easier to maintain a positive attitude toward your colleagues if you do not feel trapped.  They may be doing something you think is completely asinine, but you can stay positive and open to working on future projects in areas where you do agree.

Another side-benefit to job-jumping is that most companies give annual raises of 3% to 6% but pay 15% to 20% over someone’s current pay to entice them to switch.  It does not matter whether you’re currently toward the bottom or top of typical engineering salary, you can move up in pay much faster by job-jumping.  Once a new employer wants you, there’s nothing wrong with negotiating.  If you’re up for a raise next month and new employer is offering you a 12% raise to switch, point out that this is only a 7% raise over your pay as of next month.  If you currently get more vacation time, a new employer will sometimes match what you currently get and find it easier to negotiate on vacation time than on salary.

Keep in mind the raises are just a side benefit.  The main benefit of job-jumping is to learn more technology, meet more people, and be exposed to new ways of doing things.  That will bring far more money than manipulating corporate payscale systems. [Read more...]