3 drivers for growth as an engineer
None of them are technical 🥞
👋🏼 Hi folks, in this post I get into 3 core elements for growth as an engineer. These elements are things I think all individuals can learn to think about more of and work on.
I try and remind myself of these things and get back to working on them as often as I can. Let’s dive in!
Curiosity
Some folks are naturally more curious than others. That said, I think curiosity is something that can be nurtured and encouraged through your environment.
My wife works in art. Often we go to art fairs and walk around and take a look at all the art together. Usually my favorite pieces are ones where I’m questioning how this artist was able to make this work. A lot of times I’ll just stand there and admire the work and try and understand how they did it. For some of them this is really difficult because its not like you can take it apart or ask the artist. This is just one example of how curiosity can come up in daily life. You just have to look for it and care.
For me, I often find that I learn best when building something. A couple months ago I saw a presentation done about AI, specifically it was a really cool demo of Ollama. As soon as the presentation was over I felt I had to build something with AI. So naturally I came up with an extremely difficult problem to solve using AI. Did I solve the problem? No. But I did learn a ton about the current state of AI and through this process I created a unique environment for me to encourage my curiosity and ideas to flow in a way that they hadn’t in a bit.
This can be done for really anything but specifically when it comes to engineering there are so many pieces of technology to learn. Each of these pieces of technology are unique in their own way. It’s your job to uncover that uniqueness through your creativity.
Cultivate the curiosity in your life by creating an environment for you to learn and grow through the problems you are trying to solve.
Attitude
Attitude is everything. I’ve worked with people in the past who were brilliant technically but difficult to work with because of their attitude. I’ve even been guilty of falling into these slumps myself on some days. It’s natural—we’re human.
Attitude can affect how you see the world around you. It’s something that can control the perspective of your life for better and for worse.
Earlier in my career it became clear that my employer at that time was going through a tough time financially. Layoffs became a possibility and everyone knew it. So it was time to start interviewing.
During this time I was interviewing for jobs and it wasn’t going well. I was getting good interviews for companies I wanted to work for. However, I would bomb some of the interviews. Over time I started to get down from all the rejection and my demeanor started to change in the interviews. I started questioning myself as an engineer. Am I actually good at this? Maybe I should switch careers? It was a low point. Then one day, I had a moment during one of the interviews where I could tell my attitude was really impacting the interview in a negative way while I was trying to answer the question.
After that interview, I decided that from now on, even if I wasn’t doing well in answering their questions, I would stay positive and try to strike up a good conversation with the interviewer no matter what. I wanted them to leave the interview thinking that I was a great person to get to know for an hour and they enjoyed the time together. If I passed the technical bit that was a bonus. Guess what happened?
I started seeing much better results in interviews. Interviewers were more likely to give me the benefit of the doubt, offer help, or provide feedback on how they recommended improving for future interviews.
This example about attitude is just one way that working hard on your mindset as a person can bring incredible benefits to your career as an engineer, often in ways you may never fully realize. So, do your best to maintain a positive attitude—it might be a bit harder, but the results will be worth it. I promise.
Learning
Curiosity and learning kind of go hand in hand. I think both can fuel each other. You want to have curiosity about how to do something or solve a problem but you need to be able to learn and do so quickly to iterate through different solutions for solving whatever that problem may be.
Everyone learns differently. Some people claim to be visual learners, while others prefer listening or reading and writing. It’s up to you! That said, don’t limit yourself to just one method. Sometimes, I come across a great video that explains things really well, and other times I find a helpful blog post or book. Keep all your options open.
What you’re looking for is the common thread that ties all of these resources together, helping you connect your understanding of a topic into one cohesive vision. For me, when I’m studying, I keep a list of books or videos I’ve found on a particular topic. Why do I do this? It’s simple—I’m always searching for anything that can help my brain build a clear mental picture of how something works.
As I mentioned before, everyone has their own learning process. It’s important to spend time understanding yours and to continually iterate and reflect on how you can improve your learning curve for any topic. This process never stops.
Summary
In the end developing curiosity, having the right attitude, and understanding how you learn all work together to help you grow. In my opinion, many successful individuals are really good at these three things whether they are aware of it or not. For some this is just how they do things. For others, it requires setting themselves up to be the most successful they can be with respect to these elements. Embrace the process and keep growing.
Let’s connect!
Thanks so much for reading! If you liked this then please let me know down below. I’m also looking to collaborate more with others on Substack. So if that’s you then please reach out to me!