What Makes a

Successful Engineer?

5 career skills employers value

What Makes a Successful Engineer?
It’s no secret that Engineering is a growing
field and more engineers are needed every
day to drive global innovation and help
advance technology, supplying a host of job
opportunities for those with the required skill
sets. Still, one common complaint among hiring
professionals in Engineering is that there is
a skills gap in the workforce, meaning that
employers are not able to find viable engineers
with the skills needed to fit their open positions.
According to a report from the National Student
Clearinghouse, 40% of bachelor’s degrees
earned by men and 29% earned by women are
now in STEM fields. That number is increasing,
but in many countries there is still a shortage
of engineers. Overall, we’re seeing a great need
for more skilled engineers and for the industry
to raise its profile and demonstrate that it is a
viable, desirable career choice.
Design engineering
Design of equipment
27%
for in-plant use
Project/engineering management
(engaged in the supervision of
individuals performing any of the
functions listed here)
Reliability assurance
Research & development
System integration
Testing or quality control
Others
Whether you’re seeking a new job or looking to hire employees, the insights from our research can
help you better understand and achieve your individual goals.
What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value
With that in mind, Wiley—a global publisher of
engineering books and journals—partnered
with IEEE to understand what makes engineers
tick and to discover which career skills are
most valued in the engineering workplace.
We surveyed roughly 600 engineers in various
fields. Sixty percent of those surveyed said they
took part in hiring new employees for their
organization so they were well placed to give
insight into the skills and traits that employers
are looking for in an ideal candidate.
The most common industries represented
in this survey are Aerospace and Defense
(with 29.2% of the participants), followed by
Automotive and General Manufacturing (each
with 21.8%). Oil and Gas (15.4%) and Tech
Design Services (15%) rounded out the top five.
Job types represented are:
23%
15%
12%
7%
6% 6%
3%
wiley.com 2
The Engineering Skills Most Valuable
for Success
While without a doubt technical abilities are a must, surprisingly many of the skills candidates are
lacking are not technical but rather soft skills such as good communication or time management.
Concepts such as these are not always taught in school but are required in order to maintain a
successful career.

Beyond what is on your transcript or resume, soft skills are needed to get ahead. Recently we
asked practicing engineers and academics to expand on this concept and Wiley author Thereza
Macnamara (ex-BAE Systems) told us, “You have to accept that your actual technical knowledge . . .
may be only 15% to 20% of your job, but the main thing is to get on with people and to explain to
people in . . . simple ways what [things] actually mean.” It would seem employers are looking for
“T-shaped Engineers” or well-rounded individuals with a breadth of soft career skills in addition to a
depth of technical knowledge.

Whether you’re an individual considering a career in engineering or a hiring manager looking to find
skilled engineering candidates, it’s important that you understand what a well-rounded engineer looks
like and what skills and characteristics are the best predictors of success.

Considering this question, we asked our survey participants to rank skills from 1-5 (1 being the most
valued) showing what they believe to be the most valuable skills an engineer should possess in order
to succeed in their organization.

What do you think are the most valuable business skills to demonstrate for an engineer to
succeed within your organization? Please rank your top five (5) selections, with 1 = most valued.
Answer Options #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Response Count
Listening and communication 166 82 53 57 54 412
Problem-solving 284 106 57 35 31 513
Project management 63 49 42 44 43 241
Leadership potential 32 16 13 14 10 85
Networking 15 3 2 10 13 43
Teamwork 111 54 46 76 75 362
Adaptability/agility 74 44 60 53 60 291
Creativity 115 58 59 45 35 312
Process management 23 21 16 20 23 103
Writing skills 16 14 19 24 24 97
Conflict management 8 5 7 12 26 58
Time management 48 31 39 42 45 205
Human resource management 3 6 3 4 3 19
Financial management 8 5 12 10 20 55
High ethical standards 111 32 34 22 25 224
answered question 604
skipped question 0

What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value wiley.com 3

Not surprisingly, according to the engineers we surveyed
problem-solving is the top skill engineers need in order to be
successful. Every day they are faced with challenges and it’s the
nature of the job to build solutions that solve problems. The
ability to break down an issue and frame it in a way that creates
a resolution is critical.

Coming in second, listening and communication is another

critical skill set engineers need to be effective. From the start
engineers need to listen to the presented problem in its entirety
and then communicate not only the potential solutions, but
also a thorough understanding of the issue. An inability to truly
comprehend the problem will often result in the development
of a solution that does not fit the issue. To avoid wasting time
and resources, clear communication is vital.

Discussing what inspires her about Engineering, Professor Ita

Richardson of the University of Limerick told us it’s “Figuring out
what users’ needs really are rather than just accepting at face
value that the solution they tell you they want is actually what
they want.” She goes on to explain that working with clients
to understand their needs is key because as an engineer, to
her, the outcome is most important and you only get there by
providing a solution. This is a great example of how combining
problem-solving skills with communication skills is fundamental
to a successful engineering career.

Engineers, creative? Who knew?

This may come as a surprise . . . but not to Engineers themselves! Another skill noted as
increasing the success of engineers is creativity. Engineers need to be creative because some
of the problems they face cannot be solved using traditional approaches.
They must apply principles they have learned in school, through research, or on the job,
and use them to create a unique solution. And while engineers may not sculpt with clay,
they do work with their hands building prototypes and models, as well as tweaking existing
machines. So remember, a successful engineering career and a creative mind go hand-in-
hand—a crucial message to convey as it may just help to inspire more people to consider a
career in engineering.

Three additional words considered to be good descriptors of successful engineers include

“determined,” “diligent,” and “dedicated.” That’s because a certain stick-to-it attitude is
needed to successfully solve the very complex and time-consuming problems engineers face.

What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value wiley.com 4

Why People Choose to
Become Engineers
According to those surveyed, far and away the most popular reason for entering the engineering
field is to be engaged in problem-solving. And often the deeper reasoning behind this is to be engaged
in a career that uses problem-solving skills to help society. One respondent summed it up by saying:
“It allowed me to be creative and help the human race by improving and innovating the machines
we use.”

Engineers identify with being excellent problem solvers who can define troublesome issues and
develop attack plans accordingly. They tend to do more re-reading and reviewing of research—
and their own work—than others, which are important attributes for those building and designing
machinery, projects and devices where there is little room for guesswork or error. In addition,
problem solvers can tweeze out key ideas from a problem and focus on what is relevant. Rather than
working on problems as isolated circumstances, they use these key pieces of data to generalize across
problems, identifying trends and using what they have learned to help them with future tasks.

Advice for a New Engineer

The first few months as an engineer can be overwhelming. Despite years of education, much on-
the-job training is required to understand the nuances of the work environment including what is
expected of you, how business is conducted, and where your company fits into the industry.

So, what is the most popular advice for newbies? Listen!

Remember, advice is inclusive. Helpful information can come from any of your coworkers, there is no
place for self-importance. One respondent said: “Listen carefully to technicians even though they may
not be a college graduate.” Valuable insight can come from anywhere; keep an open mind.

Other advice offered centered on having—and nurturing—a love of learning. As technology rapidly
evolves, the best engineers are those who have taken it upon themselves to be ready for whatever
tomorrow’s innovations require by keeping up-to-date on their field of interest.

Candidate Selection
Interviewing candidates is something that is tackled in different ways across
different organizations. Some interviewers ask for live programming—writing
code on the spot. Others prefer to assign a “take home test.” Either way, the
hiring engineer may use this opportunity to present a few problems the
team is working on so the candidate can experience what the job is like and
how the team works. Both parties can benefit from such an arrangement
as it demonstrates the ability of all to work as a team and teamwork is
important. In fact, teamwork came in third in our survey of most-valued
business skills.

What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value wiley.com 5

 Interview Tips
Whether you find yourself responsible for interviewing a potential team member or
you’re wondering what may be going through the recruiter’s head as you discuss your
next opportunity, here are a few things hiring managers consider when looking at
potential candidates:
• Cultural fit: Will this person be a great addition who will work well with others?
• A
 daptability: Will the person’s skills transfer to other projects? If not, is the applicant willing
to learn what might be required.
• P
 assion: Several respondents mentioned how important passion is for the engineer. As
the adage says, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” People full of
passion for engineering go the extra mile without a thought.
• T
 he big picture: Focus on architecture, design and approach to problems rather than the
fine details of the solution.

The Academic’s
Perspective
We’ve looked at Engineering careers in industry, but
what about those who would like to pursue Engineering
academia as a career path? A group of Wiley Journal
Editors were asked “What do you think are the most
valuable skills to demonstrate in order to succeed as an
Engineering academic?”

While there are nuances to working in academia vs.

industry, we found that many of the skills needed are
similar. Problem-solving still ranked first among skills
required in Engineering academia. However, creativity
came in second as a skill deemed to be highly important.
Perumal Nithiarasu, editor of the International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, observes that
“One should be able to break new ground by creating new
research topics. To be a very successful researcher, one
has to think outside the box.”

What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value wiley.com 6

What Part Do Research Journals
Play for Engineers?
Engineering is a vibrant field because technology is always changing. Innovations move the field
forward and journal articles allow the larger engineering community to stay informed on these
changes as they happen. In fact, 86.3% of the engineers taking the survey said they “often” or
“occasionally” read articles in journals.

Published journal articles generally go through peer review, during which independent experts
provide the author critical commentary and suggestions to improve the final paper. These well-crafted,
expertly reviewed articles help to provide a strong foundation for future inventions by delivering up-
to-date information on the latest discoveries. This quick delivery of current information is critical to a
successful engineering career.

Conclusion
So, when we break it all down, what are the five business skills employers value most? Top of the list
would be problem-solving, listening/communication, and creativity, but alongside those teamwork and
a love of learning are also key. Developing and practicing these five skills and traits will go a long way
towards building a successful engineering career.

What Makes a Successful Engineer? 5 career skills employers value wiley.com 7

Additional Resources on Career Skills
If you’re interested in learning more about how to master the skills discussed in this paper, check out a
few of our top career development titles.

Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields
Traci Nathans-Kelly, Christine G. Nicometo
ISBN: 978-1-118-00296-4
Teaching Creativity in Engineering Courses
Shanna R. Daly, Erika A. Mosyjowski, and Colleen M. Seifert,
Journal of Engineering Education
Vol. 103, issue 3
A Scientific Approach to Writing for Engineers and Scientists
Robert E. Berger
ISBN: 978-1-118-83256-1
The Fully Integrated Engineer: Combining Technical Ability and Leadership Prowess
Steven T. Cerri
ISBN: 978-1-118-88635-9
Ten Essential Skills for Electrical Engineers
Barry L. Dorr
ISBN: 978-1-118-80768-2
International Virtual Teams: Engineering Global Success
Pam Estes Brewer
ISBN: 978-1-119-06408-4
The Essential Manager: How to Thrive in the Global Information Jungle
James W. Cortada
ISBN: 978-1-119-00493-6
Engineer Your Own Success: 7 Key Elements to Creating an Extraordinary Engineering Career,
Updated and Expanded
Anthony Fasano
ISBN: 978-1-118-88657-1
Engineering Your Retirement: Retirement Planning for Technology Professionals
Mike Golio
ISBN: 978-0-470-11246-5

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