Professional Career Time Line (part 2 of 2)

By Stu Levy & Ed Podell, Co-Chairmen

Today is the first day of the rest of your career! Are you drifting along, letting random events or others determine your career path? Are you bored, stagnating? Do you feel ill-prepared to compete in our changing world?

YES? Then it's time today to take charge of your career...because how you plan and manage your career will determine whether it is exciting, challenging, and growing -- or dull, routine, and uncertain.

To help you set your goals, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) Career Enhancement Committee created this Professional Career Time Line. It supplies a checklist of helpful actions for assuring greater success during every phase of your career.

The Time Line begins two years prior to your college graduation and continues through your retirement. It suggests measures you should take through each phase of your career to keep it vibrant. Please reflect on each phase, set your goals, and frequently re-evaluate yourself to keep your career plan current.

Part 1 of this timeline appeared in the April 2000 issue of the IEEE Canada newsletter and covered the first two stages.

3. Early Career

3 years to 10 years in the workforce
Career Phase: Young Professional
Typical Age: 25-32

• Focus on your technical specialty, or move toward being a generalist.
• Continue developing technical skills and credentials.
• Gain exposure to management and other disciplines.
• Review your options. Consider changing your career, job, employer, etc. Make enhancements to your progress.
• Seek out and accept higher levels of responsibility. Learn to make effective decisions.
• Keep up-to-date on advancements in your discipline.
• Obtain state engineering license.
• Assume a leadership role at the local, regional, or national level of the IEEE.
• Apply for membership on an IEEE technical committee.
• Begin preparing for a senior leadership role.
• Transition from being reactive to proactive in your career decisions.
• Continue upgrading your leadership role in the IEEE.
• Consider after-hours graduate programs in your specialty.

4. Mid-Career

10 years to 22 years in the workforce
Career Phase: Senior Professional (Technical or Supervisory)
Typical Age: 32-52

• Make career path decision: remain in a technical area or move into management.
• Stay technically up-to-date in your chosen specialty.
• If moving into management, hone your management and human resources skills.
• Apply for full leadership role on an IEEE technical committee.
• Continue to take on additional areas of responsibility or assignments.
• Apply for Senior Member status in the IEEE.
• Become a mentor or sponsor.
• Achieve national recognition. Assume professional leadership roles.
• Continue upgrading your leadership role in the IEEE.
• Begin retirement planning.

5. Late Career

22 years to 40 years in the workforce
Career Phase: Recognized Expert
Typical Age: 52-Retirement

• Continue professional leadership progression by obtaining assignments (or jobs) with increasing responsibility and authority.
• Stay technically up-to-date.
• Continue mentoring and providing guidance to younger professionals.
• Represent your organization outside the workplace. Achieve national or international recognition.
• Diversify your skills or develop hobbies that could lead to a second career or added income upon retirement.
• Teach at a college or university, or start your own consulting practice.
• Continue retirement planning.

6. Retirement

40+ years in the workforce
Career Phase: Expert Emeritus
Typical Age: 60+

• Implement your retirement plans.
• Replace required compulsory activity with desired leisure wants.
• Consider opportunities for part-time work, consulting, or a second career.
• Use accumulated experience and wisdom on behalf of others in various senior roles.
• Make meaningful use of your time.
• Find new sources of professional and personal satisfaction.
• Remain active in the IEEE: maintain professional contacts.
• Tutor precollege students in math, science, or engineering.

 This Time Line is a product of the AIAA Career Enhancement Committee. It is the compilation of information and experiences of individual members. The information is intended as general guidelines for technical professionals, and should be tailored to individual situations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the AIAA or the IEEE

IEEE Canada Standards Committee moves forward with Globalization

These efforts include seeking participation from key industry sectors, obtaining acceptance of IEEE standards by Canadian regulators, and strengthening Canadian participation in IEEE standards work through membership on IEEE working and balloting groups. Other countries being considered for similar globalization activities are Japan, France, the UK and Sweden. Don Fleckenstein has been appointed the globalization consultant for the IEEE-SA Board of Governors. He can be reached at d.fleckenstein@ieee.org 

IEEE-SA Standards Board One step closer to being paperless

For the first time, the IEEE-SA Standards Board conducted its meeting electronically, using the Web to open attachments linked from the agenda. Last minute updates were placed on CD-ROMs, floppy disks, and PC cards. All future meetings will be conducted in this manner and participants are encouraged to bring their laptop computers to the Board series.

Profession recognizes the Modern Masters of Engineering

Four of Canada's modern masters of engineering will be honored by their peers and their profession when the Canadian Engineers' Awards for 2000 are presented on May 27 in Montreal. Presented by the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE), the Awards ceremony will celebrate The Art of Engineering and reveal the creative genius and design excellence of each award recipient, as well as their outstanding contributions to their profession, their community and to the safety and well-being of Canadians.

• The Gold Medal  will be presented to Micheline Bouchard, ing., Chairman of the Board and CEO of Motorola Canada Ltd. and Vice-President of Motorola Inc., from Saint Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec
• The Young Engineer achievement Award will be present toed Michel Nadeau, ing., Chariman and CEO of Minacom International Inc., from Outremont, Quebec
• The Meritorious Service Award for Professional Service will be presented to Leopold Nadea, ing., MBA, the first Executive Director of CCPE and one of the founding members of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, from Aylmer, Quebec
• The Meritorious Service Award for Community Service will be presented to Lili-Anna Peresa, ing., Executive Director of the YWCA in Montreal, Quebec

• IEEE VLSI Test Symposium (VTS 2000)

30 April - 4 May 2000
Omni Montreal Hotel
Montreal, Quebec
Please visit http://www.computer.org/tab/tttc/meetings/vts/home.html for more information or Adit Singh at adsingh@eng.auburn.edu 

• Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE 2000)

7-10 May 2000
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Please visit http://is.dal.ca/~ccece00 for more information.

• Sustainable and Profitable Production of Electronic and Electrical Equipment

9-12 May 2000
Meridien Excelsior
Heathrow, London
For more information please contact:
Global Business Network
9 Wimpole Street
London W1M 8LB
Tel: 44 (0)20 7291 1030
Fax: 44 (0)20 7291 1001
E-mail: gbn.conferences@talk21.com
Website: http://www.global-business-network.co.uk/

• Canadian Engineers' Awards presentation

27 May 2000
Moyse Hall
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec
Please contact Anne-Marie Hayden or Leslie Dauncie at Delta Media at either (613)-233-9191 or anne-marie@delta-media.com for more information

• IEEE 4th International Workshop on Systems Management

28-30 June 2000
Montreal, Quebec
Please visit http://www.csd.uwo.ca/SMW4 for more information

• 2000 Large Engineering Systems Conference on Power Engineering (LESCOPE 2000)

23-26 July 2000
Halifax World Trade and Convention Center
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Please visit http://is.dal.ca/~lescope for more information

• Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics (ANTEM 2000)

30 July - 2 August 2000
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Please visit http://antem.ee.umanitoba.ca/ for more information

• International Symposium on Parallel Computing in Electrical Engineering (PARELEC 2000)

27-30 August 2000
Quebec, Montreal
For more information, please contact:
IEEE Computer Society
Conference Services
1730 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington D.C. 20036-1992
Tel: (202)-371-1013
Fax: (202)-728-0884
Or Conference Services Department, IEEE Operations Center at (732)-562-3878

• 2000 IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP 2000)

15-18 October 2000
Victoria, British Columbia
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Vishnu K. Lakdawala
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA  23529
Tel: (757)-683-4665
Fax: (757)-683-3220
E-mail: lakdawala@ece.odu.edu
or Conference Services Department, IEEE Operations Center at (732)-562-3878

• 2000 IEEE International Carnaham Conference of Security Technology

23-25 October 2000
Ottawa, Ontario
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Larry D. Sanson,
186 Woodwalk Ct.,
Nicholasville, KY  40356
Tel: (606)-223-9840
Fax: (606)-224-3225
Email: lsanson@lex.infi.net
or Conference Services Department, IEEE Operations Center at (732)-562-3878

• PSLM 2000 Conference

6-8 November 2000
Calgary, Alberta
For further information, please visit http://www.ualberta.ca/~pslm2000/ 

• Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference(NECEC 2000)

15 November 2000
St. John's, Newfoundland
For further information, please visit http://www.ieee.nfld.net/ 

• IEEE international Conference on Electronics Circuits and Systems (ICECS)

17-20 December 2000
Beirut, Lebanon
For further information, please contact:
Prof. M. Sawan
Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept.
Ecole Polytechnic de Montreal
P. O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7
Fax: (514)-340-4147
E-mail: submit@icecs2k.polymtl.ca 

• 2001 IEEE Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC 2001)

16-20 July 2001
Vancouver, British Columbia
For further information, please contact:
Professor Marty Shaneyfelt,
Sandia National Labs,
MS 1083 P. O. Box 5800
Albuquerque, NM  87185-1083
Tel: (505)-844-6137
Fax: (505)-844-2991
Email: shaneymr@sandia.gov
or Conference Services Department, IEEE Operations Center at (732)-562-3878

You can send any submissions by email to the editor:
Abhi Gupta at a.k.gupta@ieee.org

Please ensure you send in your submission by the 20^th of the month