Building a Mobile Career

This article is intended for all students of engineering and young professionals aspiring to build a successful career in the world of mobility engineering. 

In these uncertain times with Covid-19, it seems that is all everyone wants to talk about. Media reporting and the public consciousness are understandably dominated by the impact of this virus. So, I decided to cover a topic that is getting buried these days; this is about a group that may be quite worried about their future. I am referring to career prospects of talented young people in engineering, and what you can do to ensure your future is bright, even as the class of 2020 faces the worst job market in history.

Don't let the headlines scare you. While the broader economy is trying to find a way out of the crisis, that doesn't mean that you - as a student or young professional in engineering - should lose focus. A recession doesn't eliminate the need for competent professionals; in fact, it amplifies their role and provides unique opportunities for talented people to shine. Companies always value high quality and dedicated professionals, and look for candidates who can add to their competitive advantage. The Covid-19 crisis will pass, and the career opportunities that await the ones who are ready will be there for the taking.

The world of mobility engineering (worth over $5 trillion globally), or even engineering in general, is undergoing a major revolution. You can perhaps say that we haven’t seen such a cultural shift in our approach to mobility for more than a century. Back then, people left their horses in the stables for brand-new automobiles and the airplanes were just taking flight. Today, technological advancements, like they were back in the early 20th Century, are driving advancement—from self-driving cars to electric vehicles to alternative fuel sources to drone flight.

While technology has made expectations from engineering increasingly complex, it has also created countless opportunities. As you, the future of this industry, get ready to embark on your journey into the business of engineering, you are coming in at a unique time. Your future is markedly different from my days as a research engineer in the mid-1990s where the internet revolution, digital commerce and increasing mobile communications were the early trends shaping the future that we now take for granted. After all, Industry 3.0 needed to happen before Industry 4.0, and now we are talking about Industry 5.0! The world is shifting to an experience economy, where utility and access are gaining more importance than ownership. It is likely that pandemics like Covid-19 will change how that utility and access get consumed by the end users, but the arguments still apply.

In my role, I have opportunities to talk directly with business leaders and executives, customers and partners. In those conversations, two things always stand out. The first is the breadth and depth of career opportunities available. When you walk down the halls of many engineering-oriented companies or explore their offerings virtually, you see mechanical and electrical engineers working alongside software engineers creating tomorrow’s realities, and you see chemical engineers working with design specialists helping decide on the best materials to drive performance and improve emissions. The second thing that always strikes me is the unique path by which each has taken to enter the world of mobility.

We live in a world where technology is driving innovation. Collaboration between software and hardware is where the action is. This was especially evident at CES 2020 in Las Vegas where mobility continues to increase its presence at the show, from the abundance of automated and shared vehicles, including automobile companies like Ford and Toyota to consumer product companies like Sony and LG, to urban air mobility offerings demonstrated by Hyundai/Uber Elevate and Bell. Many large automakers are already preparing for an "electric future" by increasing the scope of electric automobiles and cars powered by alternative fuels. There is both potential and appetite for cross-industry collaboration in artificial intelligence/machine learning, quantum computing, 5G communications, advanced materials and additive manufacturing, among other emerging technology trends.

In short, there’s never been a more exciting time to be an engineer!

Your learning goes on a hyper-drive when you work with people of diverse backgrounds in an environment where you are challenged by new experiences, some of which may even question your long-held beliefs. By definition in systems engineering, no external inputs can come inside a totally closed system. Similarly, you cannot develop openness unless you have allowed yourself to be open to various experiences and diverse thoughts. Learning to accept ambiguity and diversity of opinions - much like you learn in optimization algorithms of systems engineering - involves balancing different variables, constraints and boundary conditions, some in direct conflict with each other! This is an important leadership skill as well as leaders are often required to make decisions with incomplete and at times, conflicting, information.

This is one reason I am a strong advocate of international work experience. I realize the Covid-19 crisis may have put a temporary dampener on such opportunities. However, if you get an opportunity to work or do engineering projects outside your native country, I would say, grab it with both hands! Working in a new culture and environment forces you to observe, assimilate and adapt in order to be successful. These are the same skills that are prized by employers worldwide no matter where you were born or grew up. This experience will also make you less judgmental and more appreciative of diversity - attributes that will serve you well as you move up in your career ladder.

At SAE International, we have constantly adapted our focus to remain ahead of the changing world of mobility. We have long recognized that students, the future of mobility, are where tomorrow’s ideas are being fostered. This is why our ever-expanding Collegiate Design Series (CDS) program enables you to design, build, and test the performance of a real vehicle—be it an autonomous car or a flying prototype—and then compete with your peers from around the globe in exciting and intense competitions. The CDS competitions (held virtually during these times) are developed around the technologies that will help you start your careers in mobility. No matter your field of interest, if you are an engineering student, CDS is a proven path for jump-starting your career. In fact, in our AutoDrive Challenge? alone, 27 participating students were hired by General Motors through the competition’s recruiting efforts. Ford, FCA, Honda, Nissan, Tesla and Toyota along with several other global companies and their top-tier suppliers routinely hire engineers who have participated in our CDS competitions. Brands from Audi to Mercedes, and BMW to Porsche, and every other global brand you can think of, value the intense work and success involved in our CDS competitions.

For those already working or doing advanced graduate research, our professional events are amazing networking opportunities to learn from industry experts and pursue other ways of advancing your career. While some of those events are temporarily postponed due to Covid-19, stay tuned for various virtual events (starting with Aerotech Digital Summit in June 2-3, 2020) that allow similar opportunities for learning and engaging with other professionals. Almost every major aerospace company in the world (in commercial and defense aviation) and their global supplier network participate in Aerotech for both learning and recruitment. Same applies for commercial vehicle industry for their flagship annual event (Comvec) that SAE conducts bringing together the best of minds serving this engine of every country's economy.

Whether in aerospace, automotive or commercial vehicle industries, collectively, we are talking about a nearly $5 trillion sector (that we call "mobility"), which forms the backbone of many countries' economic growth. These industries directly employ several million professionals around the world. Add to this a vast network of multi-tier suppliers who cater to these industries, and the millions of professionals who are employed in these supplier companies. Any way you look at it, it is hard not to be influenced by the mobility industry in almost every country in the world.

For those wanting to gather deep insights and gain competitive advantage in your profession, our technical resources platform Mobilus is a one-stop resource for advanced engineering knowledge. The cutting-edge research and developments, along with the research on unsettled topics in mobility, are all covered in this one-stop platform, which should really be a lifelong learning resource for engineers in the mobility industries.

A great way to make your mark is by volunteering. Learning new skill sets, working with smart industry peers and opportunities to inspire others are some of the benefits of being an SAE volunteer and SAE member. It may sound trite but what you get out of SAE depends on what you put into it. Very few organizations in the world enable a lifelong engagement like SAE does, right from your school days (through our AWIM program), college, through your career and even when you reach the CXO-levels of an organization, and also after retirement!

The governing equations of computational fluid dynamics (that you studied in engineering) are fundamental to the design and application of mobility products. Similarly, your engagement with SAE is fundamental to your career growth and fulfillment. SAE chapters and affiliates are in every region of the U.S. and in many countries around the world, eager to help promising young talent leverage our immense resources and to build great careers.

I get asked another question in my informal meetings with students and early career professionals. It is about money - a sensitive topic for most people. There's an old saying that money doesn't buy happiness. In my view, money buys freedom and that's all. What you do with that freedom determines your happiness, so the connection is associative and not direct. So, imagine if you had a career you enjoy where you also earned good money (engineering is among the highest-paid professions), happiness is a likely outcome because your growing career becomes your expression of freedom. Everybody cannot be that entrepreneur who had a newsworthy multi-million-dollar exit - as engineers, you understand the probability (or selection bias) involved in such news stories.

For a large number of students, a professional career is the principal path to a life of fulfillment. That is the path I took - it can be fulfilling if you are passionate about engineering and its potential to positively impact society. This isn't to discourage entrepreneurship but we should consider the odds of being a successful entrepreneur versus a successful engineering professional. I say this despite being a mentor to a venture capital fund and an adviser to start-ups over the last 7 years. If entrepreneurship is your primary passion, there are plenty of investment dollars to go around, with both established large companies and dedicated private capital pools. With so much happening at the interface of technology, software, design, safety and manufacturing, if you have a viable idea that you can take to a proof-of-concept stage, there are eager investors who will back you up for commercial success and scale up. Mobility engineering is where a lot of the action is for next generation ideas, technologies and business models.

Some of you told me that you don't like the stereotype associated with being called millennial by industry, implying "being entitled". Many of you were born after 1996, technically making you 'post-millennials' or Gen Z. There are always generational challenges in any industry. When I first began my career as a research engineer in the early 90's, my cohorts dealt with the stereotype of being "soft", implying that we preferred modeling and writing PLC code over getting our hands dirty building engineered products. I would often quip to the senior colleagues "Let me build the brain and you build the muscle so, together, we can make something beautiful". In the end, it is all about delivery and track record while assessing yourself honestly. Much like you learned in signal processing, as your own performance track record builds in industry, that signal registers far more than anything else. So, any stereotypes get attenuated to feeble background noise.

Another important thing. Your career is like a nonlinear process that you studied in engineering. Seek diverse experiences and focus on learning even when a particular project or a job in your early career isn't exactly what you have in mind. You never know how these experiences correlate to drive your future career success. As Steve Jobs said, you can only connect the dots looking backward. Knowledge and success compound non-linearly. As engineers, you understand nonlinear growth quite well - you would have modeled it in many assignments!

The new decade has started with unexpected economic turbulence. But like other crises before this, the world will get past Covid-19. The world of mobility continues to evolve and present both opportunities and challenges. Together, we will meet those challenges and create ever more opportunities to learn, grow and flourish. You have a big role to play in whatever career path you choose to have in the exciting world of mobility engineering. To the graduating class of 2020 engineers: The world is your oyster even if it sometimes feels like you are inside a clam-shell. Stay focused. You have a bright future ahead.