I’m a graduate student getting ready to start my first ever engineering job in industry. And as much as I’m excited about the company, I can’t help but feel a lot of corporate greenwashing in their messaging. I’m wondering as a fresh-out-of-school engineer working at a large company, what kind of “revolutionary” impact I can make, other than entrepreneurship? Just a struggle I have, either way thanks for the great read as usual, Tony
I'd think less about trying to have an impact and more about trying to learn the "system of the company" you are going to be within. Figure out how you fit into the organization, how you might be able to bring value, and get good at delivering on time and in full to your teammates.
The biggest difference I've seen in early hires who do very well versus flounder is not being able to establish trust within your function (I'm guessing engineering) or the other functions with whom you interact. I should probably write about this a bit more, but I've always seemed to be able to work easily outside of my R&D function compared to some of my coworkers who get treated like a hot potato.
I think start-ups tend to need the experience you might eventually bring by working for a large company, but who knows maybe you'll be working on a carbon neutral ethane cracker at some point in the future. Definitely take notes on what works within the company, what doesn't, and how it might be fixed.
I think from 21-36 we are in the "learning" phase of our careers or what I classify as "early career." I think the big impacts that you or I could make at this point (if we didn't already raise money to commercial our research from graduate school) is to be amazing when/if we do go to a start-up that is attempting to do good in the world.
Wow thanks for the long and thoughtful response! I really appreciate the advice on establishing that trust, I’m sure that’s a great way to get noticed by the higher-ups too.
I feel that growing up, I hear news and studies about how urgently we need to make the world more sustainable, and for good reason. But it feels like a bit of a bummer for a young engineer who’s “eager to change the world” to work in hydrocarbons industry to gain experience. I’m probably just impatient. Either way I can’t wait to learn what I can, and I’ll certainly be looking to work on units like CCS/biofuels the moment I get the chance!
A good way to assess what your company is doing for long term growth is look at how they are using their record profits to enhance shareholder value.
Are they buying back stock, increasing the dividend, giving you a big bonus, or putting that money into R&D spending (usually tracked as a % of revenue) or capital projects?
If they are purely looking to boost stock price that should be a good indicator of what their long term growth strategy looks like
I’m a graduate student getting ready to start my first ever engineering job in industry. And as much as I’m excited about the company, I can’t help but feel a lot of corporate greenwashing in their messaging. I’m wondering as a fresh-out-of-school engineer working at a large company, what kind of “revolutionary” impact I can make, other than entrepreneurship? Just a struggle I have, either way thanks for the great read as usual, Tony
I'd think less about trying to have an impact and more about trying to learn the "system of the company" you are going to be within. Figure out how you fit into the organization, how you might be able to bring value, and get good at delivering on time and in full to your teammates.
The biggest difference I've seen in early hires who do very well versus flounder is not being able to establish trust within your function (I'm guessing engineering) or the other functions with whom you interact. I should probably write about this a bit more, but I've always seemed to be able to work easily outside of my R&D function compared to some of my coworkers who get treated like a hot potato.
I think start-ups tend to need the experience you might eventually bring by working for a large company, but who knows maybe you'll be working on a carbon neutral ethane cracker at some point in the future. Definitely take notes on what works within the company, what doesn't, and how it might be fixed.
I think from 21-36 we are in the "learning" phase of our careers or what I classify as "early career." I think the big impacts that you or I could make at this point (if we didn't already raise money to commercial our research from graduate school) is to be amazing when/if we do go to a start-up that is attempting to do good in the world.
Wow thanks for the long and thoughtful response! I really appreciate the advice on establishing that trust, I’m sure that’s a great way to get noticed by the higher-ups too.
I feel that growing up, I hear news and studies about how urgently we need to make the world more sustainable, and for good reason. But it feels like a bit of a bummer for a young engineer who’s “eager to change the world” to work in hydrocarbons industry to gain experience. I’m probably just impatient. Either way I can’t wait to learn what I can, and I’ll certainly be looking to work on units like CCS/biofuels the moment I get the chance!
A good way to assess what your company is doing for long term growth is look at how they are using their record profits to enhance shareholder value.
Are they buying back stock, increasing the dividend, giving you a big bonus, or putting that money into R&D spending (usually tracked as a % of revenue) or capital projects?
If they are purely looking to boost stock price that should be a good indicator of what their long term growth strategy looks like