An Engineer Like Me: Life as a Graduate Engineer

About this episode

Recent engineering graduates share insights on navigating early career decisions and the importance of internships and networking.

Two recent engineering graduates, Jennifer Smith (Manufacturing Operations Engineer) and Denis Hardi (Graduate Commissioning Engineer), share essential advice for students considering engineering. They emphasise that internships are vital for discovering career preferences across diverse fields like pharma and civil engineering, making the flexibility of the degree its greatest asset. Their key message is that curiosity and resilience matter more than loving mathematics, as engineering fundamentally relies on problem-solving. They also stress that networking through groups like the Young Engineers Society provides crucial leadership opportunities and connections. The graduates provided practical insights on career growth, highlighting rotational programmes as the best way to gain broad experience (quality, global roles) and understand facility operations. They advised students on navigating early career decisions and underlined the necessity of establishing work-life balance by setting boundaries. Overall, the discussion offers an encouraging view of the modern engineering profession, stressing that the career path is highly adaptable to individual interests and goals. THINGS WE…

People in this episode

Guests: Jennifer Smith, Denis Hardi

Topics covered

• engineering careers
• internships
• networking
• career advice
• work-life balance

Keywords

• engineering
• internships
• career growth
• networking
• work-life balance
• graduate engineer
• flexibility

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Young Engineers Society

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