Professional Development Analysis: Mechanical Engineer - Case Study Example

Professional Development – Mechanical Engineer Introduction We are living in an age of specialization, where expertise in a specific field of studies is considered an ultimate requirement for professional excellence and Mechanical Engineering is no exception. The growth and expansion of knowledge domain has added versatility of fields and branches in every subject and specialization is required to prove your competence in that subject. However, personal tendencies and priorities still play a pivotal role in the path selection for professional development. Personal tendencies, priorities, likings and disliking, stamina are important contributor for this path selection. Above all you have to keep in mind the time and effort that you can put in to achieve professional development goals. The complexity of striking a balance in all these variables characteristics is not a simple task and a mere miscalculation can drive you into the chasm of wilderness and despair beside wastage of time and hard earned resources. Often in life, we face crossroads and have to make decision on a diversion to adopt or abandon one of the two favorites and only a correct decision can make things happen for us, the same goes with our professional development. A well thought-out plan can make thing easier and can help you choose the correct option. Specially, in a fast pace professional environment today, decision making has become an art of making right choices at right time. 2. Importance of Professional Development Analysis It is important to understand professional development in its correct perspective. Professional development is a long term plan but it yields results only on putting restless daily efforts. Professional development is a light house in your journey towards professional excellence. It is not a destination but defines a path towards the ultimate destination. Like any other long term plan professional development requires careful planning and consideration as Zepeda has pointed out in his book, “Professional development cannot be left to chance. Professional development must be planned purposefully and deliberately as part of the workday. Professional development is never the end but rather the beginning of the journey toward learning.” (Zepeda, 2008, p.61). This research is aimed at investigations into the available career paths in the field of mechanical engineering and provides a strategic approach towards achieving goals hence set for professional development. The analysis covers next five years action plan headed towards the completion of final year studies followed by master and PhD to finally achieve a career in academic sector. Teaching and researching are my passion and I want to achieve professional excellence these domains to deliver and share knowledge with students and fellows. The competitive nature of the professional development requires a methodical approach and clearly outlined strategic plan to achieve the targeted goals. There are several methods and techniques that can help in strategic planning for professional development, SWOT analysis and Time Management are two important techniques that are used in this report to ascertain professional development plan. 3. Introduction to SWOT SWOT is the strategic planning tool commonly used in various areas of personal and business development. “SWOT analysis guides the strategic analysis by focusing attention on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats critical to company’s success.” (Blocher et al. 2006, p. 34). A SWOT analysis is use to examine internal and external factor that can be helpful for a strategic plan. Internal factors include personal and institutional strengths and weaknesses whereas the external factors include professional and environmental opportunities and threats. The application of SWOT analysis is initiated by the identification of an end-state or the ultimate objective to be achieved through strategic development. 4. Statement of End-State With an ultimate objective of a professional Research Fellow, I have planned to excel in the academic sector initially. This include lectureship in a university. The career progression in lectureship is clearer and ensured than research. But professional research has always fascinated me and despite some insecurity and vulnerability in the career it allures me a lot. The career progression for researchers is linked to their academic achievements and I have planned to accomplish master’s and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering. There are numerous fields of specialization in the mechanical engineering. Generally speaking there is as such no exhaustive list of available field specialization in mechanical engineering and therefore a limitless scope of field specialization is available to mechanical engineers. (ILO, 2002). The research and development in mechanical engineering has most extensive trends and future scope of the industry is unlimited. It requires more and more intellectuals and researchers from mechanical engineering domain to address these requirements. I would like to achieve excellence as a professional researcher so that teaching and researching become more convenient and enjoyable experience for me. To achieve these goals a dedicated and determined effort is to be put up while revitalizing personal strengths. 5. Strengths Analysis of personal strengths with this objective in mind has revealed the presence of an energetic and healthy passion to achieve the highest level of excellence in the field. My personal interest in this domain is rooted back into my childhood. The inbuilt interest has enabled me to go through the initial stages quite comfortably. However, I have carefully gauged the challenges that I may come across in the future of this quest. The bottom line remains the same that interest and urge can make difficult tasks easygoing and even enjoyable. Knowledge sharing has always attracted my attentions and I would like to be at teaching faculty to keep sharing my knowledge and research with students and researchers at various levels. The hardships of this domain are not out of my sight but being an industrious learner I can keep pace with the challenging requirement of the field. Spending long stretched hours in research cannot bother me. I am also aware of the fact that the my field of choice is not much rewarding in financial terms but it is a quite comforting profession in the sense that you are sharing knowledge with generations to come and enabling them to bring some good to humanity in the long run. The passion for knowledge is my strength. 6. Weaknesses This however does not mean that I face no weaknesses in my personal capacity. First and far most is the financial backup I need to pursue this track of professional development. The obvious solutions for generating some finances come with attached disadvantages of time consumption. I have struggled with the application of time management techniques in past and therefore require better skills to manage time. These techniques will be discussed later in this report, however I hope to get some additional expertise in time management. Mastering these skills is important to get some guaranteed success toward my overall professional development objectives while easing out the financial impact. Relocation is another major issue that I may have to face while pursuing this professional development plan. Securing admission in some prestigious institute for higher studies often demand a relocation. Though I find myself mentally prepared for this relocation but I have not worked out the attached administrative issues at appropriate depth and this may pose some challenges in future. 7. Opportunities As far the opportunities are concerned they are limitless. The academic sector has numerous openings and with attractive future prospects. Lot of research is being carried out in product design, development and testing facilities for industrial use. Like any other field of science the experts and subject specialist are a scarce and rare resource and remain in high demands due to shortage of domain experts in the field. There are tremendous lucrative benefits available for mechanical engineers in the research and development as well as the academic sector with specialization in the design, development and testing domains. Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is playing an important role in this connection. “ABET accreditation tells students, their parents, and employers that the program has met minimum standards and it has been judged by professionals to provide an adequate preparation for the engineering graduate. It also establishes standards, procedures, and an environment that will encourage the highest quality for engineering technology and that the graduates are aware of public health and safety considerations.” (CIT, 2011). 8. Threats Although lecturer in academic sector have well defined career paths the researcher’s career progression is not very clearer in many countries. They usually starts as the research associates and went through various stages to achieve a title of Professional Research Fellow. However, it is quite difficult to achieve this status and usually further qualifications and expensive certification are required to step up the ladder. Secondly the research itself is an expensive activity and usually requires internal and external funding. More often than not universities and research institutes face shortage of available funds to support these activities. This makes the professional progress subjective and difficult. Unavailability of proper career progression and less funding is causing a decline in research activities and researchers. “There is also some concern in the region about the ability to attract enough foreign researchers and engineers to support the innovation activities of the local companies.” (Martinez-Vela, 2004, p.16). The growing research expenses are not only a serious threat for many companies who find it difficult to conduct research but it is also a discouraging factor for new talent as they do not find appropriate advantages for their hard earned qualifications and certifications. 9. SWOT inferences This SWOT analysis has shown an encouraging result as far the selection of the professional development plan is concern but the weaknesses as pointed out in the SWOT analysis are required to be addressed at appropriate level to ensure the successful achievement of professional goals. The weaknesses posed due to scarcity of funds require extra bit of efforts to generate these financial resources. 10. Time Management Time management techniques discussed at length in this module have contributed a lot towards the better time utilization with enhanced use of productive hours. The proper use of productive hours is the basic approach that works well with student time management. I will have to allot productive hours to studies while utilizing rest of the time for recreational activities and other domestic commitments. Elimination of procrastination is the key to the employment of time management techniques. This is the first and far most important aspect of time management that is often taken for granted. The key to overcoming this lapse is to do right things at right time, and to avoid putting off important tasks till eleventh hour. “Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time.” (Time Management Guide, 2011). Bad time management may be caused by an underestimation of time and effort required for a specific task and sometimes it may be a result of perfectionist approach especially, towards the tasks with long deadlines. 11. Employment of Action Plan I have decided to implement an action plan to overcome some personal time management shortcomings. The action plan is an effort towards striking a balance between various educational, personal and family commitments. Goals are clearly outlined in a written action plan with clear timelines. Appropriate checks have also been incorporated into this action plan for in time completion of the tasks. The plan is carefully prioritized to meet the requirement of the professional development plan. Monthly review of the plan will also be carried out to revisit and reassign time slots for various tasks. This will ensure the achievement of the overall goals and targets. 12. Conclusion Hopefully, the professional development plan will help me out in achieving the excellence as a researcher and educationist in the field of mechanical engineering. I am confident to overcome the personal weaknesses discussed in this plan and will be able to achieve my professional goals while ensuring rigorous and strict observance of the strategies defined in this plan. References Brocher, Chen, Cokins & Lin 2006, Cost management: A strategic emphasis, TATA-McGraw-hill, Delhi, India. CIT, 2011, ABET Accreditation, California Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, viewed 26 April, 2011, < http://www.me.caltech.edu/academics/abet.html> ILO, 2002, Lifelong learning in the mechanical and electrical engineering industries, International Labor Organization, sectoral activities programme. Geneva. Martinez-Vela, Carlos, A 2004, Becoming high-tech: the reinvention of the mechanical engineering industry in tampere, finland, Massachusetts Institue of Technology, viewed 26 April, 2011, < http://ipc-lis.mit.edu/LIS04-001.pdf> Time Management Guide, 2011, Eliminate procrastination, viewed 26 April, 2011, Zepeda Sally J. 2008, Professional development: What works, Joint publication of Eye on Education & the National Staff Development Council, NY, USA. Read More