John,
This a great topic and I hope more civil engineering students take the time and develop goals for themselves. Setting goals is a great way to be more productive and to improve as an engineer.
When I was an engineering student, my goal was to become a PE by the age of 30. Even though it is a very short goal, it still meets most (if not all) of the SMART goals requirements.
But even my goal of becoming a PE by the age of 30 had many sub-goals that also needed to be achieved. I needed to be attending a university with an accredited engineering degree curriculum, I needed to take and pass the required classes to be able to graduate on time, I needed to take and pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE or EIT) exam, I needed to find an engineering job to satisfy the years of experience requirement of the PE exam, and of course I needed to take and pass the PE exam itself.
Since I have passed the PE, my goals obviously need to be updated. Currently, my goal is to get promoted to a management position where I currently work by the age of 40.
Just like my goal of becoming a PE by the age of 30, my current goal as many sub-goals I need to work on. I need to know the roles and responsibilities of the people I plan to manage, I need to know the work environment better, I need to know the roles and responsibilities of the management position I want, I need to know who I would be working with in a management position, I need to take training specific to management and supervision, and I need to have ideas on how to improve the team I plan to manage.
I think setting a SMART goal is a great start to further improve yourself and your situation. But remember to identify the sub-goals that are needed to achieve your SMART goal. I feel that is where some people struggle, which leads to getting off track and not meeting their goals, because they didn't know what intermediate steps to take.
I hope that helps, and good luck!
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Doug Cantrell P.E., M.ASCE
Professional Engineer
Durham NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-02-2021 09:13 AM
From: John Schwartz
Subject: Goal Setting
Hello all,
I am an engineering student. Part of my class is to reach out to engineers with more experience than I to interview/ask questions about what their goals are, and what SMART goals a beginning engineering student should have. Here's a Great Video Describing SMART GOALS. Please let me know what you think my goals should be as an engineering student just now starting his journey to become a PE. Please respond ASAP!
Thanks,
John Schwartz
Civil Engineering Student Liberty University