Transitioning From Industry To Education: The First Year

Abstract

After years as an engineering professional in industry, a career transition into a related field was on the horizon. The events at the beginning of the 21 st century lead to the downsizing of numerous companies and the eventual elimination of countless jobs. As the economy weakened, it became increasingly difficult to find engineering positions, particularly for seasoned managers. Never the less, many former colleagues continued to search within these careers, while a few branched out and explored alternate professions.But one important question had to be answered. Were the skills learned and practiced as an engineering manager transferable? Engineering managers were usually proficient in planning, scheduling, organizing, exploring, controlling, mentoring, communicating, leading, budgeting, administrating and allocating scarce resources. After independent investigation it was determined that these skills were not only transferable but necessary in a wide variety of other fields. Opportunities existed in industry, education, government, project management and technical sales to list just a few. The best fit, however, appeared to be engineering education.After the new career was selected, it led to numerous other questions. How difficult would the transition be? How long would it take? Could engineering and management skills be applied directly into the classroom environment or would they have to be adapted? Would the engineering experience be beneficial? What new skills had to be acquired? What teaching methods should be used? How and where to start? These and many additional questions were answered during the first year as a full time engineering educator. This paper describes the trials, tribulations, successes and lessons learned during the writers first year as a full-time engineering educator. The results may be of great benefit to those in industry considering a similar career change.

Transitioning From Industry To Education: The Third Year

“…An extensive skills inventory was conducted prior to beginning the first year as an educator 1 . This process starts with a brainstorming session that lists the transferable skills that can be utilized either in a different industry or career.…”

“…This process of utilizing acquired skills began in the first year 1 as an engineering professor and continued throughout the second year 2 and into the third as well. It is conceivable that this process will persist as long as new challenges and opportunities are encountered.…”

Transitioning From Industry To Education: The Second Year

“…This can easily become an overwhelming task for the new professor. However, by utilizing the lessons learned from the previous years experience [1] and referring to the many excellent books and papers written on effective teaching techniques and practices including those by Gupta [2], Wankat [3], Laurillard [4], Ramsden [5], Knight [6], and Yelon [7] the task became manageable.…”