EngineerHer

I’ve been talking to a lot of people over the last few weeks about them being stuck in their careers. To the point, I put together a small booklet to help people get started on getting “unstuck”.

It happens, there’s nothing wrong with it. Anyone can get into a rut or feel a bit down about work. It’s not all excitement and high spirits and adrenaline. (Thankfully, because the results of too much adrenaline are not pleasant at all) But what do you do when you feel that “meh” feeling?

What’s causing the problem?

Well, this gets interesting. Can you identify what’s causing the issue? It could be any of the following:

• The normal let-down at the completion of a hectic project
• Back to work after a break/ holiday
• Return to normal duties following a secondment or off-line project
• You’re not feeling well (no, seriously)
• Things are incredibly stressful or not good at home and it’s bleeding into work
• You’re going through life or health or children or something else and work is just One. More. Damn. Item on the list.

If you can legitimately tick all those items on the list, then we need to dive into the work itself,

What about the work?

Well, how long have you done this work? Is it work that you can actually do in your sleep?

Now, this isn’t always an issue. Sometimes, when life outside of work is hectic and too busy, having work be run-of-the-mill and easily dealt with can be a blessing.

But for most engineers, turning up to work, day after day, doing the same thing with no real problem solving or engagement needed sounds like a nightmare. And remember, The work that was exciting and filled you with joy and possibly a bit of anxiety even a year ago, will be default and run-of-the-mill today. Seriously, it’s like sport or any sort of training (those who know me are bursting themselves laughing right now, given my attitude to sport!) But to keep getting better and more skilful, you have a) keep practicing the basics and b) learn and master new skills.

And, there are some of us, certainly at some seasons of life, who can be a bit like an adrenaline junkie, needing lots of new things all the time.

Which is grand, but it’s also a good way to burn out for most of us.

So, striking a balance between learning new things, allowing things to settle into memory and developing deeper skills in some areas is important. And, truth be told, that balance isn’t equal amounts on everything. At times, you may need to focus on getting better at an existing skill, such as interviewing or writing technical reports.

At other times, you might need to learn entirely new technologies because you’ve joined a new organisation or you’re taking on a whole new department.

So, if what you’re doing day-to-day isn’t lighting you up, have a think about if it’s too much learning, too little learning or just something you aren’t interested in. Because all of those lead to different next steps.

Not enough learning

If it’s not enough learning that’s the issue, there’s an easy solution for this. There are all sorts of presentations, training, etc, many for free on the internet. Free training is probably not accredited, but it’s a great way to check out if something is worth learning more about – for yourself anyway.

Most larger organisations have means to free internal training as well. It might be called an academy, or have links to research on topics that interest you… there are a lot of areas that you can search out like that.

A great place to look is trade magazines. Yes of course, you can sign up to paid ones as well, but there are a lot of examples of places with plenty of free articles to learn more. I have found websites like Reliability Web and the Institute of Asset Management really helpful in the past.

Another place to learn more is LinkedIn. You’d be amazed the great information share on there (I mean… I share this blog on there weekly, so… y’know…)

Too much learning

If you feel you are on a really sharp learning curve, you may feel like work is getting too much and can’t be done. This can lead to serious problems in work – when it doesn’t appear to be achievable, it can lead to you just giving up, or feeling really hard done by. Which is fair.

I will say though, that very often, we make the learning curve steeper than it needs to be. Particularly as women. Seriously now, no one expects you to pick up a complicated production process in days. It takes months to be able to actually discuss something properly, in some cases. So you depend on your team and learn as quickly as you can.

And only you can say how you best learn. So, it might be drawings, and procedures and words. Or it could be walking the lines, taking in the equipment’s movements and alarms. It could be a combination of things. But you know how best you learn. So, especially when starting a new project a new organisation, cut yourself some slack. It might be that taking that extra time allows you to understand things better.

If it’s not the case that it’s yourself putting the pressure on, then take a look at what’s achievable for you. I mean, especially in the pharma and medtech world, it’s a standing joke that the first 2-6weeks are spent on reading procedures on the training system and you’re lucky if you remember the damn things exist at the end of the time…

That’s sometimes a hurdle to get over. But have a look at whether you can space that sort of learning out and do an assessment on which procedures will have greater impact on your role. Pay more attention to those procedures. If it’s something that you’ll use once a year, maybe put some time in your diary closer to the time of use to revisit that particular procedure. You can’t, and aren’t expected to, remember every word of every procedure you’re asked to train on. But try and remember the damn thing exists.

If it’s really pushing you – have a chat to your manager and see what can be pushed out or left til a later date. Seriously – managers aren’t usually ogres. Most of them, anyway… And they do understand that it can be overwhelming when you get thrown in at the deep end. They’re there to help. So use them!

If none of this works?

Well, here’s where exercises like the one in the booklet I put together last week can help. It brings you through a “Wheel of Life” type assessment aimed purely at your work life. It helps show up which areas of your work life are lacking and suggests some potential actions to take. One action I mention from about 10years ago, is that I put an action down for myself to sit with someone new once a week for lunch and actually speak to them… That took so much energy on my part.

I’m not the most sociable at the best of times, and forcing myself to go and spend time with new people over lunch, when I’d usually take some quiet time in my own head, was difficult. But it was worth it. Because, after a few months, I had contacts, allies and people I knew in different departments and different areas of the plant who I was able to reach out to when I need some help and advice.

Some actions might seem really small and easy to others (I mean, as an adult, who’d worry about sitting with someone new at lunch?? Me. That’s who!!) The important bit comes when the action matters to you and makes a difference to you. The whole point here is to hone in on what areas are there in work that you would like to be different.

• Do you feel you should be paid more?
• Are you happy with the benefits you receive?
• Are you happy with your manager?
• Do you get on, even at a superficial level, with your colleagues?

There are loads of things to consider, but I’d advise diving in and seeing what comes up for you as areas of dissatisfaction. You might surprise yourself!

Getting unstuck

Sometimes, the smallest actions can make a big difference. Like possibly sitting with someone new at lunch. Or even starting to read a professional organisation’s blog or magazine. Or having a chat with your manager about something that’s bothering you.

Sometimes it takes a bigger overhaul: changing roles, changing organisations, changing careers…

It’s up to you. But as long as you’re unhappy and not doing something, it’s not going to change!