Graduate career routes for engineers in contracting

Engineering design and construction offers a wide range of career opportunities that will become obvious as soon as your training starts. Everyone’s career is different, but yours can develop through distinct phases potentially leading to project and engineering management, technology specialist or corporate management responsibility.

However, career progression isn’t always about making a continual climb to the top. Gaining relevant experience takes time and not everyone wants to go all the way to the top levels of management. The good news is that this business offers rewarding and interesting work at all levels, in all areas of work and for all types of engineer.

This business offers rewarding and interesting work at all levels, in all areas of work and for all types of engineer.

Where you’ll start

Most employers run rotational training schemes where graduates work in a range of areas throughout the business. Whatever your engineering background, these training schemes are designed to provide you with the multidisciplinary background knowledge needed to work effectively in this industry and they will show you the bigger picture of how the industry operates.

You will work as part of a project team with other engineers who have different skills and experience. You could also find yourself in a project role new to you, such as costing or procurement. Even if you start with a ‘grand plan’ of what you want to do, you’ll have a number of different career choices during your training and you may discover that your ideal career route is something you hadn’t considered before.

Variety: the spice of life

Project work is the key to the variety of work in this industry. No two projects are the same and new ones often create new technical problems for engineers. If you overcome a particularly challenging problem you could suddenly find that you are on the way to becoming an expert in a new design technique or process. There are now more opportunities for graduate engineers to work overseas earlier in their careers than before and this offers a whole host of other learning experiences.

The dynamic nature of the industry also creates new opportunities. You may change role or even employer a couple of times during your career and each new job will place different demands on your knowledge and experience. Technologies are developing faster, which increases the rate at which skills and knowledge become dated. Hence, lifelong learning is vital to keep pace. While achieving chartered status will be your initial goal, further professional education will be important throughout your career.

Use your initiative to build your career

Building a career requires effort, but in EDC there are many opportunities you can take advantage of no matter where you start. Listen to what experienced colleagues around you have to say, but also take the initiative to develop skills and experience that will help you to progress on the route you want to take.

Two engineers talk about their career routes...

Emma Harniman and Edmund Wynne-Williams graduated at the same time, but explored two different paths: one technical, the other project management.

Technical specialist

Emma Harniman, chief environmental engineer, Bechtel Limited – oil, gas and chemicals division, BEng chemical engineering with environmental protection, Loughborough University (1993)

I started work in the industry as an environmental engineer, but also gained experience in other areas of the business through the graduate programme – working as a process engineer helped me better understand my environmental role.

While I didn’t set out to become a technical specialist, I chose this route because I wanted to stay close to the design and use my technical expertise and knowledge of environmental legislation to help clients make decisions on the best technology to install. The contracting industry in general needs specialists who have a deep understanding of their process areas and look for new technologies that can be employed for both technical and commercial benefit – this expertise is sold to clients.

You need to start building your technical skills early, but not to the exclusion of understanding how the whole engineering, procurement and construction process works. Good communication skills are as important as technical skills – specialists have to explain ideas and gain buy-in from clients, colleagues, agencies and suppliers.

I love my role because I interact with a huge number of people in the project teams, travel globally to meet with clients and agencies and see my design ideas come to fruition in the construction of a plant. I now also manage a team of up-and-coming specialists and I am enjoying helping them develop in their careers.

Project manager

Edmund Wynne-Williams, project manager, Foster Wheeler Energy Limited, BEng mechanical engineering, University of Birmingham (1993)

As a graduate engineer I looked up to my project managers, respecting them for their ability to manage huge responsibilities. The role attracted me as I was keen to lead teams, motivate people and see the bigger picture. I’m now responsible for the success of projects, managing people and processes so that clients’ budget and schedule expectations are met.

As well as identifying and resolving problems so that technical specialists can do their jobs, managing change is a large part of the job, as is the major responsibility of managing costs and reporting progress to the client and the senior management of my own company.

To follow this route you have to gain experience and knowledge of how different teams work together to deliver a project. I worked in a range of functions on the company’s graduate training scheme, and then gained site and management experience. Time working in ‘proposals’ provided vital insight into how my company worked, both technically and commercially.

Early in my career I was also involved in graduate recruitment and quality management initiatives. This not only developed my professional skills such as facilitation, but also had the spin off that I met influential people in my company. While developing experience and skills is important, it is also essential to build a reputation for being a person who can be relied on.