I agree; I personally would like to start as an engineer for a couple of years first then move to management. It is good to apply the skills and knowledge obtained from school in an engineering position first to learn more in the field and expand my experience and knowledge. Working as an engineer would also give me an opportunity to learn more about other functions and what they do in a project team. Working as an engineer does not stop there, of course growing in the field and getting promoted to a higher position is needed to be well-rounded. Going to management right away is also not easy, since most of the project management skills are not gained by academics and needs a lot of experience from interacting with other functions in a project team. After about 7-8 years in engineering I would switch my path to project management after gaining enough experience on project timeline and tasks in order to have a successful project. So I am planning on getting my PMP in a couple of years and start switching to project management.
Like many others, I have always had this idea that I would want to work as an engineer for a few years before transitioning to a more management-based position. However, I am not completely sure anymore about how quickly I would like to make that transition. I recently started a new position and have been training and speaking with various employees in different positions. From this experience, I believe that I would enjoy staying within a more technical or engineer-based position for longer. Personally, I feel that I would be more challenged with an engineering position and feel that I would learn more through engineering experiences than I would through project management experiences. It is possible that I am a little biased because of my recent interactions and experiences, but nonetheless, it is an aspect of my career and future that I am reconsidering.
My aim is to be a scientist. But I think that it is totally wrong to believe that only managers will require managerial skills. Scientists also will have to lead laboratories, meet deadlines and take up projects. Good management of the lab is actually the reason behind the success of productive and prominent laboratories. The reason behind my choice is curiosity and a desire for facing new intellectual challenges.
As someone who is both graduating and transitioning to a job in industry this month, I have extensively pondered upon the desired progression of my career. Similar to prior posts, I would agree that I would like to work a few years in an engineering role to gain hands-on experience. In addition from my prior experience working as a product development intern, I have enjoyed applying technical skills to develop solutions for tasks at hand. While working as a researcher to develop custom data collection systems, I have also found such projects to be both exciting and challenging as well. As a result of these experiences, I believe I currently would like to work in an engineering role. Prior to such experiences, I like many others, originally planned to work a few years in an engineering role before seeking a role in management. As I begin to gain experience working as an engineer in industry, I am confident that the experiences and skills gained will allow me to better determine the role I hope to achieve or transition to in the future.
If I was given the choice between a management role and an engineering/tech/scientist role, I would definitely choose to be in the engineering/tech/scientist role. I would choose this role because I love getting my hands dirty and doing what needs to be done hands on. I would also choose this role because I find that I am really good at following instructions but once it's my job to allocate responsibilities to other people or make decisions on the fly I find myself freezing up in a way. While I believe that I could be in a management position, I think that for the reason I stated above I would excel as others would in that position.
I would want to begin my career in engineer positions. After gaining a several years of technical experience, I would then want to move into a management or leadership role. I am interested in eventually pursuing management positions, but I believe I would have the best chance at being a successful manager if I have engineering experience as well had time working under other managers to observe what qualities and skills were effective.
I would like to work as an engineer initially in my career. This would provide me the experience from the technical side and help me to improve my skills in the industry which would further be a great chance to manage a project. I do not think you will a good manager unless you work on projects and gain experience from the technical side. Working on the technical side will provide the view of the engineers which is very important when you manage an entire project as a project manager.
Honestly I think, at this exact moment in my life, I am happy being a researcher/engineer. I do not have the skillset to lead others yet. I've only just started graduate school and I am still in the, "learning" phase of my life. I could see myself becoming a manager at a later stage in my life, most likely at a point in which I am more confident in my skills and have a far more solid standing in my field. That being said, while I do not actively work as a manager I do manage the lab I work in and help guide the undergraduates I work with.
I am not ready to be a manager in an industrial position, but I do enjoy the smaller scale managing that I do currently.
So to answer the question; I would choose both just at different times in my life.
This entire semester we went through a ton of topics and learned about different stages and phases of industry, projects, deadlines etc.
My question to you is if you were given a choice between a management role vs engineer/tech/scientist role which one would you choose? And why?
Share your experience.
I would personally work as an engineer for 3-5 years and eventually want to move to management because that is where I truly see myself 10 years from now. I find I have the skill set and with my project coordinator position I see things from both ends and have aquired the skill set to lead a team.
I see myself a manager in the near future. The reason I chose to be a manager is because it combine the engineering skills, with problem solving and communication. However to be a successful manager, I need to know the job and the working environment of my team to be able to communicate and assign tasks. We have learned a lot this semester adroit the industry, the procedure that the project go through until it gets to manufacturing, and the FDA regulation. Nevertheless, in the real world nothing goes by the book definition and there it a countless experience that awaits me in the engineering field before becoming a manager.
I would definitely choose to be an engineer as I do not think I have enough experience yet to succeed in a managerial role. I think my communication skills are at an adequate level but my work experience is lacking and my understanding of a new company environment would need time to develop before being thrown in to the fire of managerial work.
I agree with a lot of the responses I read, at first I would like to gain as much experience as possible as an engineer. Personally I would stay in this position much longer than others as I am more of a hands on person. Following possibly a decade of this kind of work I would think about moving into management. Mostly because I would like yo use my personal experience to guide others and help others learn as I did.
Personally speaking, I like to focus on the work I do currently and I don't want to say if I will continue to be an Engineer or move to management after certain number of years. I myself don't think I would be a good manager. But when you stay with a company long enough, situation and your experiences may lead you to become naturally comfortable to be in any position that the company may require or offer. In my 4 years of industry career, I didn't think I will be able to manage, I still don't. But somehow I ended up starting to manage a group of 5 people unofficially because my boss started to depend and trust on me. So I truly believe that it's ok to have a goal, but we still should keep our options open, challenge ourselves continuously and explore our own skills within the work that we do.
i would prefer be an engineer in my future career. manager need to take too many responsibilities which i am not sure if i am ready for it. Also i am more a being told what to do than told other what they should do. so i think i will more likely one day become a senior engineer then a project manager.
Much like the original post describes, I think the best course of action is working in the field as an engineer at first to familiarize yourself with the kind of work that needs to be done and what is expected of everyone. Once you are able to familiarize yourself with the environment and the type of work done, it will greatly help you become an effective manager. While it is not unheard of for someone to step directly into a manager position, having the extra experience can be a big help especially when problems start to arise such as having a tight budget or looming deadlines that need to be reached. I do believe this is the path many people take and especially if they possess the skills to be an effective project manager as we have been discussing all semester, they are putting themselves in a very good position to be successful.
I would probably want to work in the industry and work as an engineer and on the front lines to gain as much experience and then after I have sufficient experience, then I would like to move into project management. I believe for any project manager to be effective, they have to have extensive knowledge and experience doing the actual work. This is so that the person is in touch with the people that they are managing. Those that come into the field with zero prior experience typically do not do a good job managing the team as they lack the practical experience to manage the team effectively also the team chemistry must be established again and the project manager must know the team lingo and group dynamics to be properly functional.
