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  • 1.  How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 07-22-2021 02:14 PM
    Feel free to elaborate as much as you like about how your personality places you in your current career or work position. Do you feel your personality could be better suited at another company or job position. If yes, then why?

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    John Schwartz
    Liberty University Civil Engineering Student
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  • 2.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-05-2021 05:40 PM
    Hi John,
    Interesting questions.

    And of course, the answer is "It Depends."

    To offer you useful answers, one would need to identify the psychological life space for:
    a. An individual alone,
    b. Working with others,
    c. The variance in culture and gender.

    One source to consider would be the Myers-Briggs tools.
    I learned using this tool that there were types (MBTI) that my type would be able to work with harmoniously,
    and of course, the others that would take more thinking prior to engaging them.

    Stay Healthy!
    Cheers,
    Bill



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    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-06-2021 05:15 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 08-06-2021 05:15 PM
    It's true that you will learn to go out of your comfort zone and it will give you advantage if you cope with it in early life, such as encountering different people who came from different family cultures, and sometimes turns out to be a people that you found difficult to approach. In everyday life, people or your companies can influence you consciously or subconsciously to your perspectives, and behavior that's why it's important if you checked/ exercise yourself too by engaging/ choosing the right people to surround with. For example if you want to be a leader you need to be involve in gatherings that will brainstorm ideas and have actions to do something about it. And maybe you want to exercise your professionalism then you must apply a job regards with your fields. Along the way it's important to have character and personality development. However, some instances like being extrovert, I used to surround myself with people who know more and could help me understand certain problems unlike introverts that can analyze, and they are good at problem-solving in their own ability (although it's not prefer to say it's accurate but there is instances like that). But I am better at multi-tasking and giving ideas because extroverts tends to be more expert in general but not really in some specific (vice versa with introverts and it depends too). And being extroverted, I love working in teams, and I get my energy charged when I was surrounded with people, so basically I can be in management, Software experts, a team leader, etcetera I guess. But its significant too if I will learn the ways of introverts as my personal personality development engage in certain things that is very new to me.

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    Llala Chrishaye Ocampo S.M.ASCE
    Student
    City of General Trias Cavite
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-07-2021 09:26 PM
      |   view attached
    This is a good one. Doesn't add much value to the discussion except to illustrate a widely held stereotype of the personalities of engineers.

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    Bevin Beaudet P.E., M.ASCE
    President/Owner
    Bevin A. Beaudet, P.E., LLC.
    Bethlehem PA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-12-2021 01:22 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 08-12-2021 01:22 PM

     If I may suggest, the last thing our engineering profession needs to continue is "a widely held stereotype of the personalities of engineers."

    This view from our past was the result of the sociocultural psychological mores of the times. It was not and is not a "Constant."

    While not containing all of the answers we seek, the paper below points us in the direction of the future.

    A.L. Monheim, "An Engineering Manager's quick-start guide to managing personalities," 

    2007 IEEE International Engineering Management Conference, 2007, pp. 300-303,

           doi: 10.1109/IEMC.2007.5235048.Naval Satellite Operations Center, Point Mugu, CA, USA

    • Abstract:

    Most engineering curriculums do not include dedicated courses on managing people.
    The first experience many engineers have with managing people happens on the job.
    While there are many tools available on the open market to help,
    it is often an inefficient process of trial and error to develop a management strategy that works for your unique situation.
    This paper attempts to provide a starting point for new engineering managers to quickly gain an accurate picture of the
    individual and group dynamics within their organization so they can make more effective use of the management tools available.

    Stay Healthy!

    Cheers,

    Bill

     

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    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-13-2021 09:17 AM
    It is an interesting question.

    I consider that in some way the personality influences the career, it directs you towards the role where you feel most comfortable ... (I am a scout and there we learn and encourage young people and children to develop their personalities and skills with the support of their colleagues, in a group, groups of people with similar interests, we call them natural groups), however we must also understand that if we want to reach a goal we must do things that are not necessarily those where we are comfortable, all skills are learned, but it costs work you have to make an effort and exercise of self-knowledge to understand that if you do not have certain characteristics and you need them to reach the goal you have no other option but to work on what is necessary.

    So, in resume, I think that we are all "affected" by our personality, in different ways; for example, I have a small company dedicated to consulting in structures, I am not an "authoritarian" person, I tend to be permissive, but during the years of professional practice I have always felt the concern of manage a company, so some time ago I decided to do it and I have been making progress in it, it has taken me a lot in a matter of time and reflection to achieve what little or much I have done so far. However, I would not change it just because it involves me leaving my comfort zone.

    I hope my contribution will be useful.

    Greetings.

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    Horacio Galicia-Gaona Ing., S.E., M.ASCE
    Morelia
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-13-2021 02:11 PM
    This is a great thread and there have been many valuable responses.  The one personality trait that has served me well in my career has been the ability to communicate confidently to engineering teams, supervisors, governing boards and outside stakeholder groups.  This trait did not come naturally to me. There were two major efforts which helped me excel in this area:  Opportunity and practice. Frankly, I don't think that engineering schools sufficiently emphasize communication skills.  Young engineers can maximize opportunity and get practice by working with their supervisors, who should be encouraging, to give short presentations within their organizations on their current projects. Lunchtime presentations are a good start. They can also submit presentations to local and state ASCE (or other professional organization) meetings or seminars which give opportunities communicating with peers outside their organizations. A really good opportunity would be to help supervisors prepare and deliver presentations to outside stakeholder groups such as homeowners association meetings or even public hearings.  An example would be briefings on projects which impact these stakeholder groups, say a road widening or a pipeline installation project.  All of these types of presentations usually afford many follow up conversations with attendees which also hone communication skills. Finally, briefings to governing boards on proposed projects or project status are very helpful in developing confident communication skills, albeit the most anxiety ridden at times. Opportunities with governing boards should be encouraged by supervisors who of course would be present to perhaps initiate the briefing, introduce the young engineer and to back up the young engineer's briefing and handle difficult questions thereby reducing the young engineer's anxiety in this situation.  

    Young engineers should be willing to discuss and request such opportunities with their supervisors and supervisors should view these opportunities as important employee development opportunities.

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    Bevin Beaudet P.E., M.ASCE
    President/Owner
    Bevin A. Beaudet, P.E., LLC.
    Bethlehem PA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: How does your personality and character affect your job position as a civil engineer?

    Posted 08-14-2021 03:25 PM

    I am of the opinion that personality and character – are not something RIGID. They are rather TRANSFORMATIVE. One important aspect of it, is defined by one's association, and social interactions – e.g. with whom one socializes and interacts frequently – including the materials of the cyberworld. And of course, education and training play a great role. True, one inherits certain personality traits – from parents, childhood and early education, etc. But those are something – that just defines the beginning – not the whole life – in this context, the professional life.

    Neuroplasticity says that one's brain reconfigure things based on one's thought processes, association and practices. So, the issue of personality and character is just a distraction – while the real issues are: competence, experience, education and motivation.

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    Dilip

    Website

    ORCID ID

    Google Scholar



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    Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
    Vancouver, BC, Canada
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    Original Message


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