Photo credit: Flickr/ Shapenoid

My dad used to coach my younger brother and I in soccer when we were kids. One of my dad’s soccer proverbs was that it was important to pass the ball not to where your team mates were, but to where they were going to be. Every play, in other words, should set the team up for forward motion toward the other  team’s net.

Hockey legen Wayne Gretsky is famous for a quote that captures the same idea nicely. He said “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

So, what the heck does this have to do with engineering?

Quite a bit, thank you very much.

Where is your career going?

When’s the last time you asked yourself about where your career is going? Many engineers don’t ask all that often – or worse yet, don’t ask at all. I think this is a big problem, because if you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t play to where you’re going to be.

If you don’t spend time early in your career making moves to set yourself up for what you want in the future, how do you expect to ever land a gig that’s more satisfying, more fulfilling, and more meaningful than what you have now? It’s crazy to think your dream job will just fall in your lap – especially if you don’t know what that dream job even looks like.

Every engineer needs to know where their career is going. Ask yourself – and do it often.

Making the play

Now that you know where your career is going, you need to start looking for ways to play to open space. What can you do today that will set you up for what you want to do tomorrow?

As some examples, here are some things you can look for that might fit the bill:

• Training
• Lectures
• Conferences
• Special assignments
• Local professional groups
• Education
• Side ventures
• Mentoring/ coaching
• Books
• Magazines
• Writing/ contribution to publications
• Clubs and societies
• Corporate initiatives
• Certifications and designations

This is just a short list of things that you can look for to get you started. Pursuing any of these things could be concrete actions that bring you closer to where you see your career going – a play to open space.

Parting thoughts

Where is your career going? Tell me in the comments section below, and be sure to share what you’re doing to make that dream a reality.