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Across various contexts, socialization processes and practices have been shown to play key roles in education and career outcomes, satisfaction, and trajectories. Numerous ways in which gender intersects with and structures socialization processes, practices, and experiences have also been identified. Graduate and post-graduate education in particular likely have their own socialization patterns which influence graduate student experience and outcomes. We are interested in the intersection of gender and socialization in graduate education. In this paper, we examine the research landscape of gendered socialization in a graduate engineering education context and identify potential areas for research growth. We also review the different ways in which socialization is theorized and approached in this field. This paper is organized in three parts. The first part broadly maps the landscape of gendered socialization in engineering education. In the second part of the paper, we systematically review the subset of articles on graduate and post-doctoral engineering education, focusing on their findings and approaches. Lastly, we offer recommendations to advance this field. 

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.