Navigating The Void – Skills Growth without a Syllabus Michael Walker, P.Eng., PE, PMP, Canada Michael is a Senior Project Manager located in Regina, Canada, with 18 years of consulting and construction experience. Working at Associated Engineering, he helps his clients deliver a variety of municipal and nation building projects and programs across Western Canada, including work for private corporations, municipalities, provincial and federal governments including clients such as Parks Canada. These projects include traditional delivery models, as well as P3 and Design Builds. Michael has a long history of contribution to FIDIC and ACEC-Canada through presentations, conference participation, committees, and working with DFS to deliver the FIDIC Future Leaders Management Certificate program. In these areas, Michael works to assist the progression of the industry to provide better value to clients and fellow consultants through training and the promotion of the growth of communication and other critical skills for business and life. In addition to his continued work as the Canadian representative for FIDIC’s Future Leaders Committee, Michael is an observer for the Capacity Building Committee and participates in the ACEC-SK Careers in Consulting Committee, which both aim to attract, advance skills, and retain people in the industry. Attending multiple FIDIC Conferences in person and virtually, Michael looks forward to attending in person and bringing his wife and three kids to the next conference to catch up with the many friends they have made over the years. Kindergarten, grade school, university, then what? With my own children starting their journey of formal education, and myself having many years since my last course at university, I have been thinking more about the lack of structure that causes issues and stress for many young graduates in our industry. Personally, I have been lucky to have a strong presence of “mentors” and structured growth throughout my career, provided either through individuals that had taken an interest in my success and growth or through organised plans provided by my employers. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many new graduates and especially intermediates, and I have received feedback that there is no “guide” or “syllabus” available for them to expand their skills after graduation. It seems that these individuals are conditioned through formal education to see the logical progression of their learning but then are thrust out into the world without a path to follow. While some like myself find this wide-open space with a surplus of options very inviting, I cannot help but sympathise with those that did not have the assistance that I had. So, what are we to do? I am personally not fond of the victim mentality for this case, where we could simply avoid the problem or blame our educational institutions for sending these people out into their careers without a guide of what to learn, read, and listen to.
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