Mechanical Engineering Assignment: Reflection On Professional Masters Career Management

Question

Task: This assignment includes three sections:
• Professional Informational Interview;
• Reflective Journal summary: and
• A critical overview and strategy.

• Journal 1: Professional Informational Interview (400 words)

Summary and present an overview of your professional interview (name, company, position, experience);

Report on the one or two professional skills outlined by your interviewee as necessary and/or mandatory

• Journal 2 & 3: Reflective Journal summary (400 words x 2)

What you learnt about yourself when writing your Elevator Pitch (the positives);

What you learnt about yourself when working with a team (the negatives that you need to improve); and

• Journal 4: Critical overview and strategy (800 words)

Summarise two key learnings that support your statements (your learnings, and the advised by your interviewee) with academic references (a minimum of four academic references required;)

Explain, in detail, the development you require to improve the skills needed to obtain your career goals (include the what, when, and the how in your strategy, and a realistic timeline).

PROFESSIONAL INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW SUMMARY
Start networking as soon as possible in order to organise your face-to-face interview with a professional in your industry. Ideally your interviewee will be a manager, or in a more senior position, working in your industry in Australia. The person you approach may look you up on LinkedIn, please ensure your LinkedIn profile is visible and professional.

1. Contact several people you wish to interview, to ensure that if one says ‘no’ or cancels, you have a backup. It is recommended you conduct your interview at least 10 days prior to the Assignment 3 deadline.

2. The interview should be a minimum of 30 minutes, conducted in a public place near the interviewees work premise.

3. If you record the interview (audio only) please make sure you receive permission from the interviewee. Be ready to take notes if they do not wish to be recorded.

4. Prepare for your interview in advance by:

1. Writing down your questions. Ensure all questions (five to seven) are clear and to the point – do not ask questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
2. Learn as much as possible about the person, their career, and their company where they work, prior to meeting with them.

5. Ensure you arrive 10 minutes prior to the interview to ensure you are there on time. Dress professionally and enjoy the learning.

NB: You must write 1 x 400 word entries to meet this requirement.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL SUMMARY
In your Reflective Journal (RJ) you will record your observations about self, personal experiences that will help you to reflect on how and what you felt during teamwork exercises. The regular writing practice will further help you to learn about your emotional intelligence, and the skills you need to improve based on your reactions and your team’s relations with you. Your RJ will help you learn about yourself throughout the course.

NB: You must write 2 x 400 word entries to meet this requirement.
S1 2019 | ASSESSMENT 3 BRIEF | PAGE 3 A CRITICAL OVERVIEW AND STRATEGY SUMMARY
The last part of this report, the critical overview and your strategy is the conclusion to what you have learnt about yourself, the industry (your interview) and the academic literature. The three sections are interwoven in this report which summarises your key learnings; you have learn about you from your RJ, and the skills required by an industry expert and the academic literature. The three parts will help you to explain, in detail, how you will develop/improve the skills required in order to achieve your current career goals. The overview and summary will be presented with the ‘what’, ‘when’, and the ‘how’.

You must include at least 3 academic references in this section. Please ensure they are woven into the reflective writing and are cited correctly.

Answer

Journal 1: Professional Informational Interview
As discussed in this mechanical engineering assignment preference towards ones work plays an imperative role in an individual’s career success. This makes it important to evaluate your interests based on which a professional career can be selected. Once selected, it’s also important to discuss the choice with existing professionals to gain a clear perspective. With a close interest in Mechanical engineering and considerable speculation surrounding the subject, I connected with Marco Stiffer who is the Product Manager Telematics at CNHI. Previously he had worked at IVECO for 14+ years delivering outstanding work experience and knowledge on various mechanical engineering professions.

With little time to interview Marco, I began immediately by asking him regarding the future of mechanical engineering. Marco responded by saying the scope for good mechanical engineers are immense. Practically each product today is developed using machines and those machines need to constantly be maintained and designs upgraded. The scope is there for limitless as long as an individual dedicated time to understand the profession and consumer demands.

Next, I asked Marco for important skills and mechanical engineer needs to be successful. He replied by saying you need many skills but these three mentioned below in this mechanical engineering assignment are crucial for career success

1. Have good problem-solving skills.
2. Maintain focus under pressure,

Marco began by explaining that every mechanical engineer will mainly be consulted about fixing or solves a problem.  This makes the first quality of a mechanical engineer is being able to analyse a situation and determine the problem or potential problem. A good mechanic engineer doesn’t simply replace damaged parts but assesses the situation to determine the reasons behind the parts failure.

A mechanical engineer will often find themselves needing to meet a deadline and constantly under pressure. It is discussed in this mechanical engineering assignment that to be a good mechanical engineer you must be able to work under pressure and most importantly maintain your focus. The mechanic engineers must maintain a stable mind and focus on his role to resolve the problem.

Another important skill mentioned in this mechanical engineering assignment that mechanical engineers require is creativity. This is important as the engineer may require modifying order to fix a problem. It’s also important for the mechanical engineer to assess existing items and make suggestions related to the items improvement.

Marco explained how important mechanical engineering is to the modern world but also outlined the importance of specialization and interest in the career to exploit available opportunities.

Journal 2 & 3: Reflective Journal summary
Huang, S., Degen, C.M., Muci-Kuchler, K.H. and Ellingsen, M.D., 2017, February. Increasing Student Awareness of Non-Traditional Career Paths in Mechanical Engineering. In ASME 2016 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Digital Collection.

Self-awareness mentioned in this mechanical engineering assignment has always been an aspect my parents have focused my attention to. My parents never pushed me to pursue their choice and focus their attention towards delivering the required resources I needed to build my knowledge and understanding. As I grew older I began hearing older boys discussing that mechanical engineering offered few opportunities. I began losing interest thus prompting me to discuss the profession with a successfully established engineer to gain more insight. I also spend time to read literature linked to mechanical engineers careers. The publication by (Huang et al., 2017) helped inspire me towards understanding the many career opportunities available in Mechanical engineering.

The literature illustrated in this mechanical engineering assignment was important as it helped educate me regarding different opportunities available in engineering. Many mechanical engineering aspirants lack the understanding and knowledge related to mechanical engineering streams and opportunities which results in many limiting their career opportunities. This was a point which Marco also helped me understand during the interview when he asked me to point out 5 items in the room involving mechanical engineering knowledge. I could do so which showed my lack of knowledge after which he began pointing out various accessories in the room which involved mechanical engineers directly or indirectly.  Marcos outlook of engineering coupled with the knowledge acquired from Huang et al. mentioned in this mechanical engineering assignment helped me change my perspective linked to mechanical engineering and soon I was able to determine many opportunities around me which had previously never need to be considered.

Similar to any other profession, a professional must view and assess their surrounding based on which they can develop products required by people. A professional must not limit their knowledge and skill to only generating income from employment but should be able to identify highly demanded opportunities in their surrounding which can be used generate income and build on one’s knowledge.  This is also expressed vividly by Huang et al in their book Increasing Student Awareness of Non-Traditional Career Paths in Mechanical Engineering where the authors had invested considerable time discussing various mechanical engineering opportunities young professionals can consider moulding their careers on as opposed to only waiting for employment opportunities. This also helped change my perspective of engineering and allowed to adopt a more open-minded view of the profession and income generation strategies within the profession.

Mehta, K. and Gorski, I., 2016, October.  Preparing engineers for careers in social innovation and sustainable development. In 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.

Another literature illustrated in this mechanical engineering assignment that got my attention was preparing engineers for careers in social innovation and sustainable development by Metha and Gorski.  In this literature, the authors discuss how students make a major mistake linked to selecting a career due to peer pressure and the society which leads to serious complications in future. This is due to them failing to have a personal interest in the profession thus limiting their understanding and knowledge linked to the subject. Peer pressure has been a reason many students select a subject as their parents push them to pursue an education in a certain field without considering their interest. This leads the students to make major career mistakes and lacking the desired interest to drive them to be innovative and aspires in the field.

According to (Mehta & Gorski, 2016), it is discussed in this mechanical engineering assignment that young scholars will pursue an education and secure the required certification under peer pressure but will not peruse a career in the field. This is because the education is mainly limited to theoretical learning but when it comes to mastering the skills and knowledge required to contribute towards the profession they lack the knowledge and interest thus leading to major complications in the profession.

This was a point which that Marco also continued emphasizing on during the interview where he mentioned the need for personal interest and the reason he also asked me to outline specific items which required a mechanical engineers intervention. It is mentioned in this mechanical engineering assignment that in today’s world, most people product manufacturing is automated. This means there is a high demand for mechanical engineering inputs which outlines the demand for the profession but there is also the need for the individual to have a personal interest in the field to see the opportunities availed to them.

Metha and Goski helped confirm my interest in the profession by outlining how each profession offers ample opportunities in today’s modern world if an individual has the required level of interest. It is critical to make you have an interest in the profession to be able to determine the demand for the skill-based on which you can harness the finances. Without a personal interest, many people lack the interest thus are not able to determine the business opportunities associated with the profession which leads them to only focus on securing jobs. Employers are also looking for individuals who have a keen interest in the field thus only select a candidate that has a personal interest in the profession opposed to grade sheet results.

Journal 4: Critical overview and strategy
The objective of the research conducted for this mechanical engineering assignment was to determine and select the right career choice and the interview was important as it helped me understand the profession from an individual’s perspective. The reason for selecting Marco for this mechanical engineering assignment is due to his long term success and achievements in the field of mechanical engineering. It’s always best to discuss career opportunities with an individual who is currently at the peak of their career as they will contribute immense information and advice linked to the profession. This was the reason I selected Marco for this mechanical engineering assignment since he had worked for IVECO for a good 14 years before joining CNHI. By interviewing a senior and well established professional, I would be able to secure important insights linked to the profession based on informed career choices can be made. While I have already decided to pursue mechanical engineering, this is only a subject and I need to focus on developing a specialization within the subject based on which I can pursue my career further.

Map consumer demand to determine the opportunity
The literature of Marco explored in this mechanical engineering assignment had helped me understand the role of interest within the field to determine career interest but I would have to make the career choices myself as I would need to pursue the profession. We don’t pursue an education to secure certification and credentials only and require to pursue a career to assist generate finances. This is important for every professional to understand since them since financial income is an important topic based on which each professional relies during their career. I must be able to select a profession I like as well as one which generates income.

Determine in this mechanical engineering assignment why you are pursuing a profession?
Career choice was explored by Huang et al who has outlined various careers mechanical engineers can consider pursuing. This is important as professionals understand the opportunities available to them which will help them determine the precise profession they want to pursue. Metha and Goski also confirm the need to have a personal interest in a profession to retain a personal interest in the field and secure career success. Professions must never be perused due to peer and other external pressures as the candidates will simply not be able to pursue the profession in future. This is due to individuals lacking the interest required to drive their understanding of subject topic leading many to only wait for employment. Employers are also today seeking out professionals with interest rather than those presenting high grades as skill development is more important in mechanical engineering as opposed to certification.

How I would achieve my Career Goals and success
Professional success depends purely on the time invested towards an individual’s career and understanding. It’s critical to make sure I have the required level of interest in the steam of mechanic engineering to secure the desired results but at the same time, I also need to focus on skill development. This makes it important for me to pursue my career and continue pursuing my education to continue building my skills and interest in various mechanical engineering fields. Mechanical engineering is a profession which involves various disciplines thus delivering ample opportunities if I build the required skill sets. I intend on completing my graduation and securing a job which will help me gain much needed practical experience. At the same time, it would be pursuing further education and specialize in certain streams which will deliver more opportunities and improve my income.

I also intend to consider business opportunities as there is high demand for design specialists within the mechanical engineering profession. As mention earlier in this mechanical engineering assignment, it’s important to continue developing existing technologies through innovation. This is a field where there continues to be high demand for a professional and large deficit of professionals simply due to many people lacking the knowledge to asses and redesign existing and new products to help improve effect and performance. As discussed in this mechanical engineering assignment I intend to gradually master the mechanical design and testing field which is considered as being a core of mechanical engineering and one which is highly demanded in most industries today.

Bibliography
Huang, S., Degen, C.M., Muci-Kuchler, K.H. & Ellingsen, M.D., 2017. Increasing Student Awareness of Non-Traditional Career Paths in Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical engineering assignment In ASME 2016 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Digital Collection.

Mehta, K. & Gorski, I., 2016. Preparing engineers for careers in social innovation and sustainable development. In 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), IEEE, pp.1-5.