I’ve been interviewing with a lot of companies lately, and I recently heard a comment on the state of the industry that attracted my attention. An employer I was talking to mentioned, off-hand, that despite the economic conditions and the number of people looking for jobs, companies are having a surprisingly difficult time finding personnel [...]
Posts Tagged ‘workplace’
The Topiary Personnel Roster
Posted in employment, job search, markets, work, workplace, tagged Career, economy, engineering, job search, management, society, work, workplace on 18 August, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Me Generation?
Posted in current events, employment, society, teaching, work, workplace, tagged engineering, excellence, management, society, work, workplace on 31 March, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’m 45 now, I’ve been an engineer for over half my life. Bit by bit, I have passed into the second half of my career without ever seeing the change coming. Every once in a while I run into a discussion, in person or online, about the Millenials as the “Me Generation”, about how young [...]
Career: Project management
Posted in employment, Personal, work, workplace, tagged Career, excellence, management, Personal, planning, work, workplace on 23 October, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As in many other technical disciplines, it’s a frequent career path for engineers — almost required — to move from on from pure technical work (design, analysis, number-crunching, etc.) onto project management. A long time ago as an undergrad in civil engineering, my course concentration was in construction project management. I learned the crunchy part, [...]
Career: What I changed
Posted in employment, Personal, work, workplace, tagged Career, Personal, planning, work, workplace on 22 October, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts this week, I’ve been reflecting on career matters, including what I’ve changed in the last year and a half. First, I read up on job search and career management, and the difference between the two (this is the theme of the week). I thought a lot about what I [...]
Career: Opportunity and stumbling blocks
Posted in employment, Personal, work, workplace, tagged Career, Personal, planning, work, workplace on 21 October, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m not one of those people that life doesn’t throw anything at you which you can’t handle, or that everything happens for a reason. I think that’s the kind of thing we say to other people to make them and ourselves feel better, but in reality things just happen without predetermination. History unfolds as we [...]
Career: Piloting, not drifting
Posted in employment, Personal, work, workplace, tagged Career, Personal, planning, work, workplace on 20 October, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday I mentioned that I have noticed a cycle in my career consisting of periods of intense, feverish learning and growth alternating with slower, less focused periods. I also mentioned that my latest period of rapid growth started with my layoff in May 2008. Corollary: that must mean I was in a slow-down period when [...]
Career: Cycles and seasons
Posted in employment, Personal, work, workplace, tagged Career, Personal, planning, work, workplace on 19 October, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Having received my first annual review at this company in early September, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my career trajectory. Looking back over the last 22 years since I graduated, I am beginning to see a pattern: periods of intense, roiling, boiling learning where I soak up information like a sponge and [...]
Mmmm, coffee…
Posted in local, Personal, workplace, tagged california, coffee, food, humboldt, local, Personal, workplace on 15 May, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I love the taste and smell of good coffee. When I was driving across the continent form Quebec to start my first job in the San Francisco, years ago, I remember being progressively more appalled by what was called coffee as I moved through the center of the continent. (This has held true on every [...]
Women in science and technology, Part 4
Posted in Personal, science, technology, tagged activism, ALD09, Career, engineering, excellence, science, women, workplace on 17 March, 2009 | 4 Comments »
(Continuing the discussion of women in science and technology from Part 3 last week, and leading up to Ada Lovelace Day.) What’s so great about it? Today I want to talk about some of the reasons science and technology are particularly interesting for women, despite any obstacles. Let’s face it: at any job that requires [...]
Back from training
Posted in Personal, work, tagged Career, engineering, excellence, management, tools, work, workplace on 2 February, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week’s training was pretty good. The A/E/C Project Management Bootcamp was presented by PSMJ Resources, Inc. and held in Seattle. This two-day class covered a comprehensive range of topics related to project management in architecture, engineering, and construction projects: Business development Planning the project Project scheduling Project financial plan Leading the project team Managing [...]



