7 tips to get started on a different engineering career path
Apr 14, 2021

Are you in an engineering discipline, job, or career path that you’ve fallen out of love with? 


Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many engineers choose a career based on interests they developed during their teens or early twenties. Of course, our interests and priorities change over time, so it’s not uncommon to find yourself in a profession that’s not a good match anymore. 


The good news: it’s completely possible to change paths. The following seven tips will help you get started: 


  1. Use a career test to perform a self-assessment. As Dawn Rosenberg McKay advises in her article “How to Make a Career Choice When You Are Undecided” for The Balance, career tests can help clarify your interests, skills, values, and personality type. Most career tests provide you with a list of engineering jobs that could be a good match once you’ve completed them. Pat Sweet covers a few more specifics in his article, “Three Simple Questions that Will Change Your Engineering Career.” 

  2. Research the disciplines that appeal to you most. Use online and educational resources to learn more about each profession or engineering discipline. A quick Google search will give you some basic information, but it can be helpful to visit professional organizations’ websites for further insights. In his article, “Creating a Plan to Transition as an Engineer from One Discipline to Another”—Anthony Fasano considers this to be one of three key steps to achieve the transition.

  3. Determine if you need to retrain. Depending on your transferable skills and experience, you may need to get more education. You can work out a plan that will allow you to do so while you’re still working your current job. But, as Derek Sankey explains in “How an engineering degree can help you find a career in another sector,” the reality is that in today’s job market, an undergraduate degree in engineering can take you down almost any career path.

  4. Research industries and companies you’re interested in. Beside your engineering discipline, it’s important to be aware that the industry you’re in and the company you work at play a large role in your happiness. Spend some time finding out about various relevant industries, as well as which companies have the kind of projects and ethos you’re looking for. Check out the article from Engineering.com, titled, “How to Decide to Take the Technical or Managerial Career Path as an Engineer” for more info.

  5. Network. In her Inc.com article titled “Wrong Career Path (and 4 Steps to Get You Back on Track),” career coach J.T. O’Donnell points out that nowadays, almost all positions are filled as a result of referrals. That’s why you have to leverage your network by constantly making new contacts, cultivating existing contacts, and trying to get a connection to the company where you want to work.

  6. Perform informational interviews. Jessica Abo offers some good advice about informational interviewing — speaking to a seasoned professional in a specific field or company to learn more. In her Entrepreneur article “Successfully Change Gears After Choosing the Wrong Career Path,” she recommends rehearsing your message so you know what you want to say, sending a thank you email, and following up with whatever you agreed to do — whether that’s contacting someone or scheduling an appointment for a more in-depth conversation.

  7. Work with a recruiter. A specialized engineering recruiter can help you find jobs that are a good match for your skills and preferences while still taking your experience into account. Moreover, recruiters hear about jobs before they’re posted on job boards and can help get your résumé on the right desks.

 It’s only logical to be a bit intimidated at the prospect of changing careers. But when you’re passionate about what you want to do for the rest of your working life, the time and energy you invest now are nothing short of an investment in your professional and personal happiness. 


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14 Aug, 2023
Rephrasing the famous song, “Love is in the air”, let’s talk about change is in the air – and everywhere. We grow. We change. Look at your childhood photos. Watch your kid, your nephew, your niece. The change is there, and it’s incredible. Nature is constantly changing. We wait for summer as the time to enjoy outdoor activities and gardening, for a quick visit to the beach, or simply take time to relax and spend time with family, friends and loved ones. We wait for winter (even if we never see snow falling) to decorate the house for the holidays, pack presents for the people we love and unpack our own. The colour of the leaves changes, the weather shifts, and flowers blossom in their time – the landscape is constantly transforming. The world around us is changing. We travel to other countries and learn new things, cultures and languages. We take on new hobbies. We get new skills. After a couple of minor kitchen accidents (sometimes), we can cook delicious dishes and get compliments from family and friends. We transform our bodies at the gym or simply by creating the habit of walking every day. We meet new people, we sometimes fall in love, we build families, we have kids. And if you step back for a second, you realise you might have met your other half by pure accident. But you took a leap of faith into the unknown. We embrace many types of unknown change, except for the one that can change how we live five days a week – to change jobs. “I am too old/too young to change”, “I’m used to this environment; It’s my comfort zone”, “Well, I don’t get any promotion, and what I do doesn’t change the world, but it’s stable”, “I am afraid to ask for more interesting projects. What if my manager fires me?”. We often don’t want to change because that step requires a vision, courage, external support, and a leap of faith into the unknown. Scary? Yes. But also promising. A step into the unknown? Yes. But it can open a new door. Do your inner values marry what you do? Yes, it is essential. There is nothing terrible about staying in your comfort zone. At some stage of your career, staying put can be an excellent decision. But if you feel that you need a change – talk to Kelly. We don’t mind going the extra mile and support your wish to embrace the change. The one which will give meaning to what you do, feel proud, motivated and fulfilled. Ready for changing? We’ll make sure your talent can truly shine.
10 Aug, 2023
You’ve seen these guys before when a circus came to your city or maybe on TV. They walk on a wire at an impressive height, sometimes without insurance, sometimes with a long stick that probes the void right and left. They walk slowly, trying the wire with their toes first, making small steps, their eyes fixed on the small platform where they plan to land soon. They never watch down. They don’t listen to an audience that applauses or gasps in awe. They are concentrated on keeping their balance. To keep balance. Let’s come down from the wire above the arena or stage. Let’s look closer at balance, where it has its roots and the secrets of keeping it. Is it an art? Or is it a skill? Can you learn to keep balance? Or is it an innate skill that only gymnasts, figure skaters, circus artists and ballet dancers are born with? Want to know the secrets of a ballerina that must perform 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at a high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe? First, keeping balance is a skill people must learn for years. In ballet, sport, circus, real life, and… work life. A ballerina is taught to pick one point and to fix her eyes on it when she makes her 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe. She focuses on one thing that keeps her upright. She doesn’t look anywhere else. Gymnasts in some disciplines are constantly trained to feel the bar under their feet. They are prepared to land precisely on the bar after they jump, and the incredible contortions we admire in competitions. But let’s come back to the circus artists we have begun with. Often, they have a long stick in their hands to keep their balance. Is their secret hidden in the stick? And what is the secret? You don’t need to be a ballet dancer, a gymnast, or a circus artist to get the idea of balance. Here are your first two steps in your balance training: 1. Keep your main priorities in mind. And have a clear idea about what is very important for you and where you are ready to compromise. But don’t listen to external opinions that don’t align with your ideals. Forget about the audience’s applause – focus on you. 2. Use some help to stay upright and get to your goals. Imagine your life split on two ends of the helping stick, your job is on one end, and your private life is on another. How comfortable do you feel at your height now with the load on both ends? You need support. We at Kelly pay a lot of attention to balance. The balance between people’s private lives and their jobs. The balance between feeling appreciated and professional goals or between achieving extraordinary results and being inspired. Talk to Kelly today. We are not ballet coaches or sports trainers, but we know much about how important work/life balance is in our lives.
03 Aug, 2023
We often associate certain qualities with individuals who seem to possess a natural talent for creativity. We convince ourselves that painting, singing, or dancing are pursuits reserved for these "real" artists while we remain mere spectators. Creativity? Inspiration? No, it's not about me.
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