How to Become a 21st Century Engineer?

Studying engineering and become a 21st-century engineer is one of the most desirable jobs for many students.

The career scope, the knowledge, the personality, everything that a student gains in their education and career life is worth the money and interest if one studies engineering.

However, not all students land up being an engineer. Many hurdles and barriers may stop many students from being an engineer. But following the right path can take the students to land up to their dream career of being an engineer.

Just a Bachelor’s Degree is not Enough

While the engineering world is evolving and advancing, the education and syllabus for engineering are still the same. 

Thus, having a basic education in engineering is not going to help now. 21st-century engineering should have strong basics along with advanced knowledge of the techniques and theories. 

Hence, just getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering is not enough today. It is very important to upgrade your education to a Master’s Degree or even higher to get a reputed and better job opportunity in engineering. 

Stay Updated with Technology

Another important factor that the modern-day engineer should have is staying updated with the latest technologies. 

Each passing day a new technology is getting developed while you passed your engineering course years ago.

When a company is hiring you, they will not accept the excuse that you are not aware of a particular technology. Hence, it is your responsibility to take up crash courses of the latest technologies from time to time to stay updated. 

There are also some good universities like the BML Munjal University that have included the new age specializations like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics etc in their B.Tech Programme. 

So, either go pursuing Engineering from such universities or do certifications in these new-age technologies that would help you prosper in your career. 

Core Knowledge

There was a time when the dream of any 2nd individual was to become an engineer due to a lack of career opportunities. 

But today, there are many career opportunities outside engineering as well as within the engineering field too. Today, there are many specializations opened up under the wide umbrella of engineering. 

But one thing that universities check strictly in candidates before enrolling them in engineering courses is their knowledge in core subjects such as Science and Mathematics. 

ICT Skills

Critical and Analytical Thinking:

Apart from the knowledge of the subjects and the topics, it is also important that candidates have analytical thinking skills. The candidate should be able to critically analyze a situation and come up with crucial points that can be helpful in different ways. 

Problem Solving and Decision Making:

One of the responsibilities of an engineer is to solve a problem and make important decisions. 

Hence, the engineer should be confident to make a reverse analysis to get a problem solved and make the correct decisions. 

Creative and Innovative:

Engineers are there to come up with different innovative ideas to smoothen lives. Thus, creativity should be inborn in a candidate who is aspiring to become an engineer. 

Professional Skills

Multi-disciplinary team functioning:

An engineer should have the skill of managing a team or of working in a team. Most companies will look forward to hiring a candidate who has a team spirit to gel up in the team. Also, they look for a candidate with leadership skills too who can lead the team later on. 

Ethical and Professional Responsibilities:

Any task accomplished without ethics will last long. Hence, most companies look for candidates who can show up with ethical and professional responsibilities. 

Effective Communication:

Effective communication in all forms, such as oral or written, is important to coordinate and complete a task on time. Hence, a modern engineer should also possess the qualities of good communication. 

Public policy:

Engineers should know public policies because they will be designing projects in the interest of the public only. 

Impersonal Competencies

Lifelong Learning:

Modern engineering should have lifelong learning of contemporary, societal, environmental, economic, and global topics. 

Project Management Skills:

If you are joining the position of project head, you should have the skills of managing the project from top to bottom. Project management is the most crucial skill of modern engineering. 

Leadership principles:

Gone are the days when you can boss around your employees to get the task done. If you wish to accomplish the task, you need to be a good leader, make the teamwork, and achieve results. 

Risk Management:

When you are working on a project, you have to estimate the risk too. Today, multi-millionaire projects are coming up for which the risk is also bigger. Hence, the modern engineer should also have the credibility to take risks and manage them accordingly. 

Dispute Resolution:

While innovating a design or solving a problem, there can be several disputes among the team members or outside sources. The engineers should be able to resolve such disputes and proceed with the task. 

The Takeaway

Engineering is undoubtedly a glamorous course that lets the student land upon a lucrative engineering job. However, there are pros and cons of being an engineer, like every course of education and every other job.  But, with proper dedication, knowledge, and perseverance, one can reach the target of being a 21st-century engineer.