• Question: Is it true that even though you study the respective fields that you will probably end up in a management position that will demand different skills to what you learned?

    Asked by 15220 to Andrew, Clare, Demi, Josh, Rhys, Vix on 9 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Demi Ademuyewo

      Demi Ademuyewo answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      That’s a good question. There is an element of truth to that but not completely. Some engineers are not interested in going in to a management position so become like principal engineers and technical authorities instead. It depends on the engineer. Leadership and management are different. So you can end up in a leadership role and not manage people directly. With the learning different skills, that happens in any career. As you develop you require new skills and training to keep up with the ever changing world around us.

    • Photo: Victoria Herbert

      Victoria Herbert answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      Not everyone wants to be a manager and you can choose what jobs to do. I worked as a manager in one of my old jobs but I didn’t like it so I went back to being an engineer again. Some people enjoy being a manager though so it is good to be able to have the choice. Some management jobs still let you make engineering decisions although I agree that the skills can be different sometimes.

    • Photo: Andrew Constantine

      Andrew Constantine answered on 9 Mar 2018:

      I have managed people in previous jobs and from my experience a lot of the skills are the same. To be a good engineer you need to have strong technical knowledge and the ability to work well with others. To be a good manager you need both of these skills too. You need to be good with people to get the best out of them, but you also need good technical knowledge, so you understand what the people working for you are doing and when they are not doing it correctly.

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