Hooray, the 20th Anniversary Engineering Networking Night is in the books. We had a packed house, delicious celebratory cake and 61 alumni and almost 100 students attend. Believe it or not, there was one alum Susan Raisbeck who has been to all 20 events. Tufts is lucky to have such generous alumni. These Jumbos were all at the event to give information to advice seeking students. In addition, during registration for the event we asked for people’s “best career advice”, and many answered. In this now annual blog we give you the advice exactly as the alumni put it in the form. I have tried my best to put the advice in categories to make it easy (even if in some cases redundant) to read.
Thank you to our engineering alumni.
Network and Ask Questions
“Network Network Network!”
“Your network is more powerful than your resume”
“Build a network by being helpful, not by “networking” Follow the “micro-favor rule”: Send a useful article, Make a warm intro, Offer a quick insight, Thank people publicly for their help. Small, consistent generosity builds a powerful professional orbit.”
“Take advantage of every Networking Opportunity!”
“Don’t be afraid of cold calls. Whether that’s to find a job or meet someone within your current company. People love helping out and will usually say yes if you ask.”
“Network”
“I once heard that Networking is the Key! :^) ”
“Build your network and use it. If you’re good at what you do, human referrals will go 10x further than your resume could ever go. For me, not networking was a result of shyness/social anxiety. But since it’s related to jobs/salary you can start to think of that as a cost. Overcoming that anxiety may be worth $50-100k. Putting it in dollar terms helped motivate me to push past it, which has also helped in other aspects of my life e.g., social+dating”
“Take part in an internship or work part time in a company while studying undergraduate (or graduate) chemical engineering at Tufts- this will help connect you with the professional/ corporate experience and appreciate real world challenges , while making career networking connections upon graduation.”
“Networking is the key! Be genuinely interested.”
“Try to talk to as many people as you can! The more you talk to others, the more informed you’ll be about the industry or career you’re interested in. It doesn’t always need to be couched in ‘networking’ terms … Yes, all these people will be good connections to have when applying for jobs, but it’s also about understanding what you want in a job and what type of work environments/benefits/cultures will benefit you best. Being a student often gives you very little experience in what an actual engineering job will be like day-to-day. Even an internship will only show you what one or two specific companies are like amidst a huge range of options. The more you know about what’s out there, the easier it is to understand what your criteria are for an ideal job and the more empowered you’ll be to seek it out! Most engineers like talking about what they do – its not hard to find people who will be happy to meet and discuss their career path.”
“Success is 90% showing up, and 10% asking questions. So show up where YOU want to be, and ask a lot of questions.”
Stay Curious and do something that is interesting and makes you happy
“Explore and dive deep into what you are passionate about. Make sure you get into something that excites you!”
“Find excitement in what others are doing! Innovation and progress come from curiosity and connection.”
“Stay curious, never stop learning”
“Always go to conferences and ask questions. Be reliable. Sign up for the hard things and then just get them done. Skills unlock opportunities to learn more skills. Do what you love nerding out on.”
“Maintain a steep learning curve for yourself.”
“Within reason, make your own decisions you think are right for your career rather than the ones people might tell you to follow. The power of a Tufts education and your diploma is that you have choice, and have strengthened your ability to think for yourself.
“Always be curious and keep learning, never be afraid to try new things.”
“continuous learning, stay curious”
“At the end of the day, and if you have the privilege to do so, it is possible and achievable to be mostly happy in a job. It may not look like what you thought it would like when you graduated, and you dont have to know what you want to do when you grow up, but if you keep making choices towards greater satisfaction, you will get there.”
Be Flexible
“Be nimble. You will have many different jobs learn from them all.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Always have an elevator pitch ready to go”
“Never stay at a job where you’re unhappy and never assume everyone knows more than you.”
” Be adaptable”
“Interpret ambiguity as flexibility”
” Never overlook a potential opportunity.”
“Don’t be afraid to hard pivot! Celebrate failures. Never stop learning.”
Careers Evolve, So Will You.
“It’s a big world and there are many things you might get involved in beyond anything you are thinking about now. Work hard and make good decisions and good results will usually follow.”
“Careers are rarely linear”
“The best career advice I ever received was from Sol Gittleman. In our second year, he made the rounds of the dorms to talk about choosing a major. He told us, “Most of the jobs you will have haven’t been invented yet, so don’t pick a major just because you think it will get you a good job. The most important thing to learn is how to learn. So choose the thing you want to read and write about for the next three years.””
“Career paths are rarely straight lines, and that’s a good thing. The choices you make early on don’t lock you into a single future, they simply open one door at a time. Every role, project, or pivot gives you new skills, perspective, and clarity about what energizes you and what doesn’t.”
“You’re not limited by what you studied.”
General – Take Charge of Your Career
“You are the most important advocate for your own career development. Your boss won’t further your career along unless you make your intentions heard. Be your own marketer!”
“I actually had a student follow this and get an internship that he enjoyed.Be open to test/validation. You will get more responsibility early in test than you will in development.”
“Pick an industry that really interests you – mine was Telecommunications. Use your first job or two to try several different things and then figure out what roles you really want to take on – design, test, manufacturing, project management etc, then guide your career accordingly.”
“Build relationships with people. Make your resume really really strong – your resume and LinkedIn are the only thing a company sees initially once you apply, so if they are highly optimized then recruiters will think you’re very strong candidate.”
“When you take a job, don’t just think about the salary and benefits, think about what paths it will unlock once you exit that company. Think about the skills you will build in there, think about its brand name it will give to you, think about the relationships you will be able to build there (it’s harder to build relationships via remote work so I recommend in person or hybrid jobs).”
“Luck is overrated. How are you going to be ready for the next opportunity that comes your way?”
