I’ve teamed up with Skylar Wooden, a Technical Writer, and Katie Butler, a CPA, the ladies behind Pare and Flourish to bring you some technical writing tips for engineers. Engineers are incredibly knowledgeable people. You understand how to design and build the most complex of structures. You analyze and evaluate intricate data. But, […]
It wasn’t until I was negotiating a salary for an external job offer that I really came to understand my worth in the job market. I started my career with a chemical engineering salary of $60k in 2007. I felt like I had won the lottery to score this salary right out of college. Over […]
In May of 2016, I had the opportunity to hear Kat Cole, Group President of FOCUS Brands, speak on leadership and setting vision. While her entire talk and story was moving, one thing really stuck with me on how to improve your career – the Hot Shot Rule. So what’s the Hot Shot Rule? […]
One of the best pieces of career advice that I have ever heard is to treat your career as a company, of which you are the CEO. And like any company, your career will need a guiding principle that will help you stay focused on your purpose. Companies today would not think of operating […]
As a child,I never set out to become an engineering subject matter expert. However, big dreams and ambition have always come pretty easily to me. Watching the Magnificent 7 compete for Olympic gold in 1996, 11-year old me was convinced that I could become a champion gymnast. My dreams did not care that I only […]
It was 7:15 am. We had just finished up our morning kick-off meeting for our lab staff at the generating station, which was about to start-up following a planned outage. Mary, one of the senior lab technicians, came frantically into the lab from the plant. “We have a problem! The circulating water pH meter […]
Even a seasoned professional gets a little nervous (or a lot nervous!) before an interview. It is human nature. Luckily for you, there are lots of things that you can do to prepare to boost your confidence and ready yourself. Now, I am not talking about wearing a great suit, studying your material, practicing your […]
When you woke up this morning, how did you feel? Was it giddy excitement for what the day ahead holds? If not, then you are likely not living your purpose. Not pursuing your life’s work. For me, the idea of pursuing my life’s work became exponentially more important in 2013. Over the past 3 […]
So you’ve probably heard of elevator speeches before. You know, a speech that you could blurt out if you had 20 seconds on an elevator with someone. In theory, this should give someone an overview of what you do. Let’s be real here, shall we? Most people don’t care about your elevator speech. […]