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12.08
New E-Books
Address GOLD Careers and Management of
Technology
By Sharon
Richardson
 Launching
Your Career: How to Find Your Perfect Job
“The happiest employees have
made realistic and attainable goals that
encompass their passions, strengths and
lifestyles,” writes author Abby Vogel in this
new e-book, Launching Your Career: How to
Find Your Perfect Job. Vogel and 2007 IEEE-USA
President John Meredith understand the
difficult decisions recent graduates face in
their search to find the perfect job. Their
collaboration prompted this e-book, the
first in a series of GOLD e-books, directed at
IEEE members who have attained their first
professional degree in the past 10 years. GOLD,
Graduates of the Last Decade, is an IEEE program
that offers programs and services to graduating
students, recent graduates and young engineers.
Launching Your Career: How
to Find Your Perfect Job includes such topics as
Evaluate Your Personality and Aspirations;
Find
a Great Company to Work For; Choose the Best
Position for You; Building Your Network.
To evaluate your personality and
aspirations, Vogel lists a few
self-assessments that you should do, such as
your values; what is important to you; your
skills; listing your skills from strongest to
least proficient; asking yourself if they
are transferable, adaptive, technical or content
skills; your work style; and what do you want
from your career? What is the ideal job title or
content you are aiming for? Where do you see
yourself ten years from now?
To find a great employer, Vogel
says you have to do your research. Look at the company's
culture,
the kinds of benefits and perks offered, and
ask about the boss’s work style. Vogel adds that
internships are a great way to research a
company to find out if it’s the right fit for
you.
“No matter how good the package
is, you will become frustrated if you dislike
the day-to-day work,” writes Vogel. You also have
to choose the position that is right for you.
Many engineers move from state to state.
Location is another important factor in looking
for the perfect job. Abby suggests making a list
of how a particular location may affect you,
your family, and commitments you have in your
current location.
Other areas to consider in
choosing your perfect job are salary, work/life
balance and travel. Vogel points to the
IEEE-USA
Salary Survey to keep track of how your salary
and your career progress measure up. Networking
is also a great way to get help with your job
search, as is joining a professional society
such as the IEEE to meet other colleagues in
your field.
Launching Your Career: How to
Find Your Perfect Job can be purchased at
www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks for
the IEEE Member Price: $4.95 and Non-member
Price: $19.95.
 Launching
Your Career: How to Make the Transition from the
Classroom to the Office
“Graduating from college is a
significant rite of passage. For most graduates,
it signifies an important transition into the
real world of being totally independent and
earning an income full-time. The thought of
making it on your own can make you anxious and
uncertain about the future, or it can make you
positive and rosy about the possibilities. The
difference depends on how well you prepare
yourself to transition from college to the
workplace” writes Abby Vogel, author of this
second e-book in the GOLD Series.
Build a Positive Reputation.
Be positive and realistic. Let go of
your college attitudes, or you will be labeled
naïve and immature. Your first job will not be
the glamour job that you anticipated with the
high level of importance that you want. But, you
must keep an open mind and stay focused.
“Before you expect others to
think that you’re a cool and reliable person to
work with, you have to believe in yourself and
have self-confidence,” Vogel stresses. Be willing
to be challenged, and remember that everyone
gets’ bad assignments. Grin and bear it, and that the outcome will be
more of a reward than cause for complaint.
The impressions you make, and
others' perceptions
of you at the outset, will
have a great impact on your career
opportunities, salary, advancements, and freedom to move within the company. Starting
with the first day of work, arrive early. There
will be so much to take in, from meeting with
your supervisor to sitting through orientation.
Be mindful of the dress code. It
may not be obvious at first, so observe what the majority is wearing. Either
way, Vogel writes, “Dress for the job you’re
aspiring to, no matter how casual your workplace
is — because you are always making an
impression.”
Take on extra assignments, learn
as much as you can, and do whatever is asked of
you, no matter how trivial it may seem. “Make
the right impression and people will want to be
associated with you, get to know you better and
help you out,” writes Vogel.
Learn the company culture.
If you don’t take time to
understand the culture, you are almost assured
of making embarrassing mistakes that will hurt
your career. It is important to
pay attention to a list of a few critical
elements, including the
organization's mission, philosophies, behavioral
expectations, social norms, ethical standards,
office climate, and employee attitudes.
Understand that you are a new
hire. As a new hire, you
may be treated differently than other employees. You may have to do
grunt work, or take on less glamorous projects —
but you must learn the organization, work on
being accepted, and look for opportunities to be
successful.
Get to know people. Give
others the opportunity to meet and get to know
you. Study the dynamics of your new co-workers
and their relationships with others.
Don’t associate with disgruntled
workers, and learn to communicate, respect and
work well with all types of people, suggests
Vogel.
Other topics in the book include
Getting to Know Your Boss, Finding a
Mentor, and Mastering Your Job. Vogel
offers plenty of encouragement, and
writes that “a smooth transition from college to
work is possible. The success you achieve will
result from the discipline, dedication and
determination that you develop as a young
professional.”
Launching Your Career: How to
Make the Transition from the Classroom to the
Office can be purchased at
www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks for
the IEEE Member Price: $4.95 and Non-member
Price: $19.95.
Abby Vogel, Ph.D., is a
communications officer in the Research News and
Publications office at the Georgia Institute of
Technology. In this position, she writes about
Georgia Tech research discoveries and
developments. Vogel also serves as a member of
the IEEE-USA Communications Committee, and as an
editor for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer.
While she was a Ph.D. student at the University
of Maryland conducting biomedical optics
research at the National Institutes of Health,
Vogel was awarded the AAAS Mass Media Science &
Engineering Fellowship to work at the
Richmond Times-Dispatch as a science
reporter. Sponsored by IEEE-USA, this
fellowship changed her career path from being a
bioengineer to becoming a science writer.
 Perspectives
on the Management of Technology
Written by Gerard H. (Gus)
Gaynor, a Retired 3M Director, and President of
the IEEE Technology Management Council, this
e-book explains the origin and discipline of
Management of Technology (MOT).
“Managing any
professional is an oxymoron, because it is
difficult, if not impossible, to manage
knowledge workers who are hired to demonstrate
their thinking, their creativity and their
dedication in developing new products, new
services and new processes,” writes Gaynor.
There is little agreement as to the
direction of Management of Technology research,
to whom it should be directed, what should be
taught in programs, or how it should be
practiced in industry. In fact, writes Gaynor, “The best that
can be said is that academia and industry
promote MOT by trial and error. Academia has not
made significant progress in developing MOT as a
discipline. And industry has failed to recognize
the advantages from managing technology from a
systems perspective.”
This e-book provides
comprehensive definitions for Technology,
Management, Engineering Management and
Management of Technology. According to Gaynor,
not everyone agrees on the definitions, but
there should be an understanding of the terms
and context in which they are being used.
In a section
on Critical Issues in MOT Research,
Gaynor discusses “Mindless Research,”
“Overspecialization,” “Peculiar
Institution,” and “Critical Issues in MOT
Education.”
And in Back to Basics, Gaynor answers such questions as: What are we
trying to accomplish with MOT that’s different
from managing engineering? What are the
expectations from investing in MOT? Who are the
players? What kind of research will provide a
benefit for industry, and at the same time,
develop MOT scholars? Where does the
organization begin implementing an MOT program?
And what are the expectations from the
designated Chief Technology Officer?
You can purchase your copy of
Perspectives on the Management of Technology
at
www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks for
the IEEE Member Price: $4.95 and Non-member
Price: $19.95.
Ideas for new e-Books
IEEE-USA E-Books invites IEEE
members and volunteers to submit queries for
e-books they may want to write. If you’ve got an
idea for an e-book that will educate other IEEE
members on a particular topic of expertise,
e-mail your e-book queries and ideas to IEEE-USA
Publishing Manager Georgia Stelluto at
g.stelluto@ieee.org.
IEEE members can purchase IEEE-USA e-books at
deeply discounted member prices — and download
some free e-books — at
www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks.
Sharon Richardson is
IEEE-USA’s Communications Assistant and
Editorial Assistant for IEEE-USA Today’s
Engineer Digest.
Comments may
be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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