Successful Consulting Engineering: A Lifetime of Learning

Abstract

Individuals pursue engineering education to obtain the technical knowledge necessary to pursue their dreams of practicing the engineering profession. However, proficiency in “soft skills” may have as great an influence over an engineer's overall career success as technical competence. Engineering education faces many challenges. It is difficult for institutions to provide in a typical undergraduate program a sound curriculum of engineering fundamentals combined with courses in soft skills. Most of these soft skills are developed and refined over a lifetime. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to pursue lifelong learning of these skills, and it is the role of employers and educators to instill in a student the need and desire to hone these skills for the rest of their professional career. This paper discusses (1) the need and importance of nontechnical skills to the consulting engineer; (2) the importance of providing basic soft skills training in engineering undergraduate programs; and (3) specific measures that organizations can take to promote lifelong learning of these skills. Keeping existing clients happy and attracting new clients is a challenge for even the most successful consulting engineering firms. Many firms recognize the influence that employees have over organizational success. It takes highly skilled engineers to attract and retain clients. Clients want to work with multifaceted engineers who can handle the technical, communication, and management aspects of a project. Engineers who are consistently able to live up to these demands are rare, and have typically developed their skills and abilities over the course of years of learning and practice. This broadened definition of what is important poses a real challenge to educational institutions. “Engineering” is a broad field that includes many specialties. Engineering students must master an array of engineering fundamentals and numerous specialty courses to allow them to focus on a particular engineering discipline. Combine all of this with some general studies, such as a basic writing course, and a smattering of humanities or social science courses, and you have easily taken up four to five years of undergraduate studies. The technical foundation that a typical engineering undergraduate program now provides will not be enough to allow engineers to be truly effective in consulting engineering. Most firms desire to employ new graduates with client relations skills. The teaching of these skills has not typically been a significant emphasis of engineering education. If the basic purpose of formal engineering education is to provide an opportunity for the individuals to learn fundamental engineering principles, why is so much more needed by employers? Simply put, the business of consulting engineering now demands more. Times have changed and the changes continue at an ever-increasing rate. What made consulting engineers thrive in the past will not necessarily lead to future success. More aggressive competitors and more demanding clients require that engineers develop a whole range of skills beyond technical competence.