Career Pivot: Expanding Your Engineering Skillset

By Rachel Thornton

This was a panel session about what to do when you want to take a different direction in your engineering career. As a first-year college student. I thought I would take the opportunity to explore a session beyond my original focus of entry-level engineering and mental health. As a result of hearing about the panelists’ experiences, I learned about what I want out of my collegiate career.

I already knew going into this session that I want to be a chemical engineering major, but the panelists emphasized that you are allowed to have interests in other areas in addition to your passion. An interdisciplinary background is more worthwhile. The more interdisciplinary skills one gains whether they be technical or soft, the more transferrable they are between careers. This was important to me because although I am passionate about chemical engineering, I also have interests in pursuing an industrial engineering minor or sustainability certificate during my time at the University of Pittsburgh. This concept makes the pivot between careers easier because of how much experience said person has. Formal education is important, but the panel emphasized how experience is the most beneficial in industry. Employers want people to fill their gaps and lead, so gaining transferrable, interdisciplinary skills from different places is invaluable

Pivoting career paths is not easy, but, according to the panelists, having a support team of family, friends, etc. helps one get through it. Although I am not experiencing a career pivot as I just officially declared my major this spring, it is beyond helpful that my family, friends and other peers are supportive of my path no matter how I proceed in college.