After gaining your degree, leaving university and moving into work it is all too easy to dive into your new job and get swept away with the excitement of new challenges. Projects come and go – years pass – and before long you are in a rut and seeing others around you moving up the career ladder and you don’t seem to have any route upwards yourself.

You’ve probably heard this countless times but it is important to think about where you want to be in 5, 10 and 20 years time and the challenges that you want to be tackling then. Even if you choose to stay on the technical side you still need to keep your skills up to date and add new ones as technology develops. If you’re moving on into management then you need to add a whole new set of skills and experience.

So, plan your career development and decide what your next goal is and work towards it whenever you can – one step at a time. Always look for opportunities that will advance you closer to your goals, always look for opportunities to develop new skills or add relevant experiences, and always look for your next possible career move, either inside or outside of your current organisation.

Let’s look at some of the options available for self development.

Networking

• Networking sometimes gets a bad name.
• However handled correctly, it can provide lots of benefits –
• Industry and technology news
• Best practice
• Advice – career and technical
• Potential job openings
• Sources of additional references for potential new employers

Think carefully about who to include in your network – colleagues, acquaintances, friends, mentors. Know who your close contacts are and stay in regular contact.
In order to work, you need to maintain your network. Keep it healthy by staying in contact. It’s a 2 way process so be prepared to give as well as take.

LinkedIn has become widely accepted within the professional community and it’s certainly worth trying but your address book is another option.

On-line resources

There is a huge amount of information available on-line – journals, articles, professional bodies, useful blogs, etc. All available to dip in for 30 minutes at lunch time rather than idling it away doing not very much.

Journals

There are some very useful magazines available for free, or at least with free on-line versions.
However, paid for journals with some real meat in them can be expensive. Perhaps you could convince your employer to pay for them. Suggest setting up a central “library” at your work to make them available for all – that might do the trick.
Be choosy about which ones you subscribe to and don’t waste time scanning through magazines aimlessly just to throw it in the bin without reading a single article.

Books

Obviously books cover a huge range of topics and can be well worth it. Technical or professional books can be quite expensive but many are available second hand through various suppliers at a fraction of their cost new and their condition is normally very good. Perhaps you could suggest establishing a central library at work with your employer buying the books. The cost would easily be offset by the benefits from developing a more knowledgeable workforce.

Professional bodies

Becoming a member of a professional body won’t be cheap but it could well be worth it in the long run by enhancing your status and employ-ability. Ask your employer if they will cover the cost – they might see it as an asset if they had chartered engineers to work on client’s projects.

Some memberships will also provide access to an online library, training material, local events, and a structured CPD system.

Seminars / Webinars

There may be useful seminars in your area. These can be excellent opportunities to both learn and build your network.
Some are run by manufacturers/suppliers and will be free. Others will charge but they may still be worth it. Make a case for attending to your employer and perhaps they might pay for you to attend.

Courses

Courses are a great way of picking up new skills and some online providers offer free courses that are very good.
External training courses aren’t cheap so make full use of any training that your employer provides.
Before you invest time or money in a course make sure that it is relevant and will pay back your investment. Is it relevant? Will it result in a qualification which will help with job prospects? Check online discussions to gauge how beneficial the course and qualification is likely to be.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what you do so long as you do something. Don’t allow yourself to stagnate. Plan where you want to get to and steer a course, perhaps a meandering course, but one that will eventually lead to your goal.