skip to main content


Title: First Year Practicing Civil Engineers’ Challenges
CONTEXT The need to better prepare students for the engineering workplace is a long-standing and on-going concern among engineering educators. With the aim of addressing gaps in preparation, the number of new work- and practice-based programs is growing. Identifying the first and most significant challenges recent graduates face in the workplace can contribute new insights into how students could be better prepared for the school-to-work transition. PURPOSE In order to better understand the transition from school to work, this paper presents findings from the first year of a five-year longitudinal study exploring the experiences and career trajectories of early career engineers. The specific question addressed in this paper is: What was the biggest challenge civil engineers experienced during their first year in the workplace? METHODS Eighteen early career civil engineers participated in semi-structured interviews in May of 2019. Participants were recruited from national and local listservs in the United States. None worked in the same office, although two worked for the same company in different offices. They were asked a range of questions related to their experiences transitioning into their careers. For this paper, responses pertaining to the biggest challenge question were analysed through open coding to determine if any themes could be identified in participants’ responses. OUTCOMES Participants were asked about the biggest challenge they had encountered since starting their job. Their responses covered a very wide range of issues. There were three themes of note that appeared in at least four different participants’ responses. They were: 1) interdependence, 2) new practices and material, and 3) negative interactions. 1 and 2 were cited by both men and women; 3 was only cited by women. CONCLUSIONS In addition to providing insights into job readiness that engineering educators can address, the findings speak to several aspects of organizational socialization. Most participants’ biggest challenges (in the form of interdependence and new practices and materials) were related to “learning & adaptation.” Challenges related to “relationship building” and “work group socialization tactics” (in the form of negative interactions) were only the biggest challenges for women, not men. However, negative interactions also extended beyond factors accounted for in current models of organizational socialization, and should be accounted for in revised models. KEYWORDS Early career, job readiness, organizational socialization  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1929727
NSF-PAR ID:
10134973
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Australasian Association for Engineering Education Annual Conference
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. That the school-to-work transition can be challenging for many recent engineering graduates is well known [1]–[7]. However, current students and faculty rarely get an opportunity to learn directly from the mistakes, regrets, and hindsight of recent graduates during their first few years in the workplace. In order to help make students’ transition to engineering practice easier, and, relatedly, to help faculty prepare them in salient ways, this paper addresses the following research questions: 1) What do newcomer civil engineers believe are the biggest mistakes they made in their first few years on the job? and 2) If they could go back to when they began their jobs, what would they have done differently? As part of a mixed-methods, longitudinal study that aims to explore organizational socialization in engineering practice, sixteen early career civil engineers who worked in different firms around the country were asked about their work experiences, including their biggest mistakes and what they would have done differently at work knowing what they know now. Participants said their biggest mistakes related to not asking enough questions, undervaluing/not advocating for oneself, and staying in a position they dislike. Less mentioned issues included specific personal habits, attitudes, and unrealistic expectations from university education. When asked what they would have done differently from the first day at work until now, most responses related to having more confidence, networking and socializing more, and other specific personal behaviors, such as better organization. Less mentioned themes included requesting a higher salary, asking more questions, learning more material, and advocating for their own interests. The results have important implications for successfully preparing civil engineering students to begin their careers. By identifying these gaps in preparation, the paper points to recommendations for the civil engineering community. 
    more » « less
  2. Prior research has demonstrated that early career socialization experiences play an important role in career outcomes, including learning, performance, satisfaction, and retention. What is not yet well under- stood, however, is how the organizational socialization experiences of different groups of early career engineers vary and how such variation leads to different career outcomes. By examining the experiences of first year engineers, this article contributes new insights into factors affecting socialization experiences and draws attention to privilege as an important factor shaping engineering socialization experiences. The stories of negative interpersonal interactions experienced by first year women civil engineers are presented and used to glean forms of privilege that affect newcomer socialization. The primary forms of intersectional privilege identified stem from gender and race, with religion and nationality also shaping newcomer experiences. The stories are used to inform proposed additions to a model of engineering socialization. 
    more » « less
  3. Prior research has demonstrated that early career socialization experiences play an important role in career outcomes, including learning, performance, satisfaction, and retention. What is not yet well understood, however, is how the organizational socialization experiences of different groups of early career engineers vary and how such variation leads to different career outcomes. By examining the experiences of first year engineers, this article contributes new insights into factors affecting socialization experiences and draws attention to privilege as an important factor shaping engineering socialization experiences. The stories of negative interpersonal interactions experienced by first year women civil engineers are presented and used to glean forms of privilege that affect newcomer socialization. The primary forms of intersectional privilege identified stem from gender and race, with religion and nationality also shaping newcomer experiences. The stories are used to inform proposed additions to a model of engineering socialization. 
    more » « less
  4. While the importance of school-to-work transitions is increasingly recognised, little research has examined the roles that gender plays in those transitions. This is a problem because of the higher rates of attrition of newcomer women engineers than newcomer men engineers. To address that gap in research, this article addresses the questions: What gendered experiences and observations do practicing civil engineers have within their first three years in the workplace? And How can those experiences be accounted for in a model of organisational socialisation? Three sets of interviews were conducted with men and women early career civil engineers in the United States. A model was then created to account for the findings. Men and women had different experiences that point to ways in which gender structures organisational socialisation, and those must be accounted for in studies of organisational socialisation. 
    more » « less
  5. There is an urgent need for young people to prepare for and pursue engineering careers. Engineering occupations comprise 20% of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs in the U.S. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). The average wage for STEM occupations is nearly double that of non-STEM occupations, with engineers commanding some of the highest salaries in STEM (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Moreover, engineering occupations are expected to be some of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. over the next 10 years (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2018); yet, there are current and projected shortages of workers in the engineering workforce so that many engineering jobs will go unfilled (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015) Native Americans are highly underrepresented in engineering (NSF, 2017). They comprise approximately 2% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013), but only 0.3% of engineers (Sandia National Laboratories, 2016). Thus, they are not positioned to attain a high-demand, high-growth, highly rewarding engineering job, nor to provide engineering expertise to meet the needs of their own communities or society at large. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that encourage or discourage Native American college students’ entry into engineering. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994; 2000), we examined the correlates of these students’ interests and efficacy in engineering to accomplish this goal. Participants were N = 30 Native American engineering college students from the Midwest; 65% men, 30% women, and 4% other. The mean age was 25.87 (SD = 6.98). Data were collected over the period of one year on college campuses and at professional development conferences via an online survey hosted on Qualtrics. Three scales were used in the study: Mapping Vocational Challenges – Engineering (Lapan & Turner, 2000, 2016), the Perceptions of Barriers Scale (POB; McWhirter, 1998), and the Structured Career Development Inventory (Lapan & Turner, 2004). An a priori Power Analysis (f2 = .50; α = .05, 1 – β = .90) indicated our sample size was adequate. For all scales, full-scale Cronbach’s α reliabilities ranged from .82 to .86. Results of correlation analyses indicated that engineering efficacy was negatively related to lack of academic preparation (r = -.50, p = .016), and perceived lack of ability (r = -.53, p = .009), and positively related to academic achievement (r = .43, p = .043), career exploration (r = .47, p = .022), and approaching engineering studies proactively (r = .53, p = .009). Engineering interests were negatively related to perceived lack of ability (r = -.55, p = .007), and positively to proactivity (r = .42, p = .044), and academic achievement (r = .45, p = .033). Engineering interests were also related to support from parents, teachers, and friends to study engineering and pursue an engineering career. There was no significant relationship between engineering interests and engineering efficacy among these students. The relevance of these results will be discussed in light of SCCT, and recommendations for practice will be included. 
    more » « less