I relocated across the country (USA) for my first job. I was reluctant to move (but graduated during a mini-recession when people were getting lots of interviews and callbacks that said "thanks for coming for the interview, we've decided not to hire anyone at this time"). In retrospect, relocating was the best career move I could have made. I would not have been able to get a job that gave me half as much experience as quickly if I had stayed local. I've had more exposure to more diverse types of people, projects, and systems because of that relocation, and I would definitely not be where I am today without it.
The perspective of having lived and worked in various locations is invaluable. Some of the biggest innovations in places I've worked started with someone coming in from another firm or a different area of the country and bringing that new perspective.
For a quick example, I did a number of tilt-up concrete buildings when I worked in the south. That project type is uncommon in central PA (where I live now), but when we had a mid-western-based contractor come into our area who wanted to build that type of building in a design-build project, guess who was the only person in the office with experience in that project type and stepped into the role of project manager because of it? In my area of the country, this building type is considered "innovative", while in the south it's old hat.
I also think do you have to consider your career ambitions......if you want to become an expert in seismic design and already live in California, I wouldn't relocate to Texas to start your career. But, maybe you live in a small town in CA and can relocate to a larger (or even different) city.
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Stephanie Slocum P.E.
Founder
Engineers Rising LLC
www.engineersrising.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2019 12:31
From: Jameelah Ingram
Subject: How has moving shaped your career path?
Even with today's ability to work remotely, the types of projects that engineers work on may be greatly influenced by physical location in my experience. Location is something that graduating seniors should consider in search of their first engineering position. How has moving to a different region of the United States (or moving internationally) shaped your career path?
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Jameelah Ingram, P.E., M.ASCE
Washington, D.C.
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