Not All the Same: A Look at Early Career Engineers Employed in Different Sub-Occupations

Abstract

In recent years, the preparation of engineering students for professional practice has featured prominently in the engineering education literature. Organizations such as ABET and the National Academy of Engineering have even published lists of skills and characteristics required by graduates to succeed 1-2. What many studies fail to address, however, are the varying experiences of early career engineering graduates employed in different engineering suboccupations. While many engineering graduates go on to become engineering practitioners, others pursue careers in engineering consulting, management, research, and teaching, among other options. This paper aims to better understand differences across engineering suboccupations by comparing them on various personal, experiential, and affective outcomes. Participants for this study come from a survey of engineering bachelor's graduates who earned their degrees from four U.S. institutions in 2007. Funded by the National Science Foundation and deployed in autumn of 2011, the survey received 484 complete responses which were weighted by gender, major, and institutional size to better approximate aggregate responses. Occupational lists on the survey were constructed based on categories in the NSF Science and Engineering Statistical Data System (SESTAT) 3 which itself is adapted from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2000 Standard Occupational Classification 4. We examined three engineering sub-occupations for this paper: engineering practitioners, consultants, and managers. Four years after graduation, 48 percent of survey respondents were employed in one of these three groups. Respondents were compared on survey measures related to their demographics, career experiences, work characteristics, and self-perceptions. Results showed several differences, specifically in graduates' perceptions of their work, current positions, and identities. Engineering managers were more likely to rely on competencies such as business knowledge and leadership in their work and less likely to rely on engineering techniques and tools. Additionally, smaller proportions of engineering managers saw their current positions and identities as being engineering-related. The findings suggest that different engineering suboccupations require different skill sets, which may in turn affect how employees view their jobs and themselves. Determination of these differences can enable new thinking about which skills to emphasize in undergraduate engineering programs, through core courses, electives, and/or extracurricular activities.

Divergent thinking and academic performance of students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder characteristics in engineering

“…However, meta‐analyses of the relationship between undergraduate engineering GPA and later success, including success in graduate school, salary, promotions, and job performance, have demonstrated either no relationship (Bretz, ) or only small correlations ( r < .15; Cohen, ; Samson, Graue, Weinstein, & Herbert, ), suggesting that the criteria used to establish academic success at the undergraduate level is inadequate for predicting success in the field. This disconnect may be due, in part, to the conflicting importance of convergent (as opposed to divergent) thinking ability considered necessary for academic success compared to the more balanced need for convergent and divergent thinking skills needed for success in the field (Brunhaver, Gilmartin, Grau, Sheppard, & Chen, ; Koen & Kohli, ; Newport & Elms, ; Spinks, Silburn, & Birchall, ).…”

Exploring professional roles for early career engineers: a systematic literature review

“…Interviews were used as a ground theory method to construct the categories and paired with a subsequent survey of engineers or company representatives (e.g. Brunhaver et al 2013;Hofland et al 2015;Spinks, Silburn, and Birchall 2007).…”

“…In the context of engineering, literature on professional roles is scarce. Several terms such as (professional) profiles (Kubler and Forbes 2004;Lima et al 2017) or sub-occupations (Brunhaver et al 2013) are also mentioned, but a clear definition of the concept is often lacking. However, like in other fields, it is generally recognised that different types of jobs are associated with different demands and that the professional role is relevant for explaining the importance of professional competencies (Male, Bush, and Chapman 2011;Nilsson 2010).…”

“…However, like in other fields, it is generally recognised that different types of jobs are associated with different demands and that the professional role is relevant for explaining the importance of professional competencies (Male, Bush, and Chapman 2011;Nilsson 2010). Brunhaver et al (2013) refer to the significant limitation of one rather generic role for engineers since this requires the same balance of the same technical and professional competencies for all engineers. Nevertheless, most studies regarding professional competencies, employability or career guidance fail to address this variety in professional roles.…”

“…Studies identifying professional roles independent of discipline seemed to address quiet similar models, but varied in how detailed the roles were conceived ( Unlike Brunhaver et al (2013) or Gerwel Proches, Chelin, and Rouvrais (2018), none of these three frameworks included a managerial role. In the survey of Spinks, Silburn, and Birchall (2007), company representatives indicated that only 5% employ graduates (max.…”