Each year, I look forward to the Engineering Student-Alumni Networking Event. This year was our best attended event ever with 161 students and 51 alumni attending. The buzz in the room was both the very best noise and possibly the only complaint – everyone was talking so it was loud!! That is the mark of a successful networking event in my book.
Students and alumni both give great reviews of this annual event. After the event we survey the alumni and ask them to help with this annual blog – Advice from Alumni at the Engineering Networking Night. Here is the advice from this year by topic:
Be Flexible
Be flexible about your career path.
As I always try to convey to the students, my advice is to be flexible, be open to opportunities outside what you might think is your chosen field or what you were expecting to do, and trust that your engineering fundamentals can help you work outside your chosen major if/when you may need to. Although I graduated with an EE degree, I never worked as an “electrical engineer,” per se. I worked in mechanical engineering, nuclear power, traffic engineering, air pollution control, and eventually in database technology!
Prototype and Test and Iterate
Pay attention to your affective experience while you’re in class, working on assignments, etc. College can be a great opportunity to discover what you enjoy (and discovering that you don’t enjoy something is valuable, too).
It is easy to get inundated with daily work tasks, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves to step back and evaluate where we are, compared to our long-term goals.
Don’t be scared to take an internship after graduating. It can feel like not the best move to not have a full-time job, but it’s a great way to try something out, and you can always talk to your boss to try and turn it into a full-time position. Use it as an opportunity to show the organization what you can offer and why they should hire you.
Examine the job market and markets for goods and services in fields of interest to better understand how your interests align with the skills and knowledge that companies value.
Masters? When
Your first job is not your forever job, gain experience, both good and bad and use that to land you better job in a few years. Gain work experience then go for your masters, it will be more meaningful, and you may get your employer to pay for it.
Network (of course)
Network, Network, Network! I cannot stress enough the importance of networking and getting your name out there. You never know when you will meet your future employer, colleagues, clients, or even your spouse! I met my wife through an ASCE event hosted at Tufts in Ballou Hall back in 2009. You just never know, so always keep your options open!
Next Year will be our 20th Year. Plan to come as a student or an alum!!
