When many of us think of the biggest engineering firms in the world, we imagine a series of brilliant people hard at work, crunching numbers and creating diagrams. However, just like any other industry, engineering requires a commercial element to ensure that projects are kept to their timelines and budgets, that teams work well together, and that profits are made.
These tasks are often the job of the engineering manager, who serves to unite the knowledge and experience of engineering with commercial savvy and project management. The engineering management role is one of the most varied and interesting roles in engineering firms because it requires the individual to utilize different skillsets and jump between the engineering and commercial sectors.
However, the challenge of the engineering manager role is also something that makes it an attractive option for engineers who are looking for a role where no two days are ever really the same. Experience with engineering management is also ideal for those who want to focus on starting their own companies, marketing inventions and growing profits.
If you have not already considered engineering management as a career path but those challenges and career objectives appeal to you, then this might be the right career for you. The path to becoming an engineer manager is not as straightforward as becoming a manager or project manager in other commercial settings, however.
The journey to becoming an engineering manager requires years of education, professional experience in the field, and networking. In this article, we will break down the ways to get into engineering management and the skills needed to be successful in this career.
Take the time to reflect on your career goals
The engineering management career path is extremely rewarding, interesting and challenging, but it is also difficult and takes a significant investment of time, tuition and effort to get there. This is why it is worth taking the time before you embark on your journey towards becoming an engineering manager to do some serious reflection and research to ensure that this is really the right career path for you.
Most people do not head off to college with the express intention of becoming an engineering manager. Typically, engineers who have started working and spent a few years in the field are the individuals who become attracted to the engineering manager career path as they have gained some experience and realized that they enjoy the management aspect of the job.
However, regardless of whether you have just started an engineering degree or you have 10 years’ worth of experience, care and consideration should be given to pursuing the engineering manager career path. One way to reflect on engineering management as a career path is to make note of all of your professional strengths, weaknesses and interests and then consider what your short, medium and long-term goals are for your career.
This may seem overly simplistic, but it can actually be very helpful. If one of your strengths is computing but your weaknesses are communication and leadership, then management may not be the right path for you as it will require managing multiple members of a team.
The first steps into education
The first step is, of course, earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering management or in the engineering field of your choice. While there are many different engineering fields to choose from, the most commonly studied include electrical, computer, chemical, civil, mechanical, nuclear, aerospace, environmental, geotechnical and biomedical.
If you are looking for the right bachelor’s program, then you should apply for schools that are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the US, or similar accreditation bodies abroad. Ideally, you should also seek out programs that offer more than just classroom time and labs.
You should look for engineering programs that offer hands-on experience, have connections to large corporations and industry bodies, and incorporate a range of skills into the curriculum, including problem-solving, communications, analysis, evaluation and logic.
Gaining practical experience in the field
Once you have obtained a bachelor’s degree, the next step is to gain practical experience in the field and start working for an organization. While there is no set timeline for how much practical work experience you need to gain, a good timeline is between one and four years.
You want to have gained enough experience that you feel certain that becoming an engineering manager is right for you and that you truly are interested in your particular engineering field of choice. Everyone will have a different working experience, so it is impossible to give a single timeframe that will work for everyone.
That being said, if you begin work and find that you do not like it, instead of scrapping your plans entirely, try giving it a little time and even switching companies or roles. The period right after university is one of transition and it can be an emotionally fraught, stressful time. So, be patient with yourself, take time to reflect on how you are feeling, and be willing to be flexible if and when you need to be.
Spending time working is also a great opportunity to try new things, stretch yourself, and test your strengths and weaknesses. This is the perfect time to take on new projects. Try to shadow more experienced engineers, and meet up with engineers who are willing to discuss career progression and opportunities.
Find a mentor
Another early step you should take to becoming an engineering manager is to find a mentor. There are, of course, many engineers who have successfully transitioned into management roles.
You can ask for guidance, pointers and help from engineer managers in your own organization or in others. Other great places to look for potential mentors include any professional associations you belong to, alumni groups and professional networking events.
Many supervisors and managers will be supportive and can serve as mentors if you approach them and explain where you would like your career path to lead you. They will be able to give you direct feedback about your strengths and weaknesses and explain how to fill any gaps that you currently have.
There are many engineers out there who want to give back to young engineers in the profession and who are willing to provide support and guidance where they can.
Back to school for a master’s
Once you have gained some important experience in the field, the next step is to return to school for a master’s degree in engineering management. These degrees are typically referred to as MEM or MSEM degrees, but some engineers also pursue Master in Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Science in Technology Management (MSTM) degrees.
The reason why engineering managers typically need to pursue graduate-level education is because they have more responsibility and there is more expected of them. Graduate-level engineering management courses are more commercially focused and specialized than bachelor’s-level courses.
The courses tend to focus on the commercial aspects of engineering, including accountancy, quality control, financial and budgetary management, human resources and the economics of engineering. Engineering management programs that specialize in the technology aspect of the profession are also likely to have classes on operations, health and safety, project management and the best practices of management.
Starting a postgraduate degree can be a daunting prospect, especially if it means interrupting your work and source of income. However, there are now many different learning opportunities that are more flexible and allow students to study around their work. Essentially, there are now options other than quitting your job or attending night school.
For example, the online engineering management master’s degree offered at uOttawa is a fully online, accredited degree. The program at uOttawa is designed to accommodate the lives and work schedules of busy professionals who are not able to attend a set number of lectures or labs in a classroom setting.
Instead, the course is fully online and allows students to learn remotely over a period of a few years. The uOttawa master’s in engineering management also allows students to select a number of elective concentrations and tailor their learning to their specific career goals.
This type of decentralized learning is not only convenient, but it also makes education and career progression much more accessible. Individuals who cannot afford to quit their jobs can still study, as can those who are also parents or carers for family members. On top of that, the uOttawa program can be taken by students from around the world, therefore breaking down regional barriers to education and international advancement.
Leveling up with licenses and certifications
Depending on the country, province or state you live in, there are likely laws regarding who can and cannot practice as engineering managers independently. Typically, engineering managers will need to become licensed.
In the US, for example, certain states will require that graduates earn an Engineer in Training (EIT) license or an Engineering Intern license. This can be done through taking and passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, which will test you on your base-level competency in the engineering field you have chosen.
Licensing regimes will vary from state to state and country to country, so it is important to get acquainted with the systems in place where you live and want to practice. The processes for becoming a professional, licensed engineer can take years of work, study and effort, so it is certainly not an easy path. However, if you are passionate about becoming an engineering manager and you are knowledgeable about your field, then it should not be an insurmountable effort.
Becoming a good manager
While these are all of the important steps to becoming an engineering manager, they are not necessarily the steps to becoming a good engineering manager. We have all worked under bad managers and know what it is like to be micromanaged, neglected or let down by a manager.
To truly succeed as an engineering manager, it is worth genuinely trying to be a good manager first and foremost. This means honing your communication and people skills and taking the time to really understand conflicts and problems and how they can be resolved. When workers feel supported and uplifted by a manager, they tend to work better and enjoy the work more, so why not try to foster a healthy, mutually supportive environment in your team?
One way to practice good management is to take on project management roles whenever possible throughout your academic and professional experiences. Be observant and notice what works, what does not, how people communicate, how work is best delegated, and how problems are solved. Even at the undergraduate level, you can gain important experience and learn to be a supportive and communicative leader.
The skills needed to succeed as an engineering manager
There are a number of skills that you will likely need to succeed in your career as an engineering manager. Communication, both oral and written, is arguably one of the most important skills, because you need to be able to communicate project objectives to the engineers you are working with while also pitching ideas to investors, liaising with commercial aspects of the organization such as marketing and operations, and generally promoting your team’s work.
You will also need people skills as an engineering manager. You will need to be able to manage a team, including problem-solving, reducing interpersonal conflicts, and escalating any issues that cannot be solved to human resources. Some people have naturally good people skills, while others need to learn such skills and emotional intelligence. Time, practice, effort and an openness to receiving feedback are all essential to developing people skills.
Finally, engineering managers also need to have good commercial sense and business acumen. This includes everything from project management to budgeting and organization, working to timelines and knowing how to attract investment. These are also skills that can be learned through both professional and academic training and, after a while, will become second nature.
