How to Become an Engineering Consultant
An engineering consultant provides an independent expert opinion, service, or solutions to engineering or science-related matters to industries, construction firms, governments, and other interested developers.
The size of the consulting firm will vary from a partnership with two or three consultants to a fully-fledged corporation with thousands of employees in multiple countries.
What Do Engineering Consultants Do?
Engineering consultants offer expert advice on a subject or bring different perspective to virtually any engineering project. The consultant plays a multifaceted role and will take whatever position the job at hand requires.
As an engineering consultant, you can be an adviser to an upcoming engineering company that took on a delicate project and needs an expert touch to do things right, or be a fixer and stabilizer who comes in to ensure that everything is done right. Other responsibilities include:
- Being the project specific boss
- Being an adviser or catalyst who provides actionable decisions to accelerate a project
- A general critic to find flaws in a system and offer suggestions that will make it better
This makes engineering consultants the big guns who come in when companies, engineering firms, the government, or other industries need a quick boost of expertise that they cannot find in their current employee base and cannot afford to hire and maintain on the long run.
How to Become an Engineering Consultant
You will need a solid educational foundation in the industry in which you want to work. For instance, if you want to be an electronics engineering technology consultant, you will need a related degree.
Aside from earning a degree, some practical experience could help you reach your goals. Choose a university with hands-on learning methods, externship or internship opportunities, and modern industry-standard equipment. With a little research upfront, you can set yourself to graduate with experience.
As a specialized role require expert-level knowledge, the ability to demonstrate your expertise will come in handy. Keep track of school projects and start building a portfolio which you can showcase after graduation. Knowing your trade is the best way to convey your competency, and specializing in a niche can help you stand out in the best way:
- Developing and troubleshooting automation robotics
- Programmable controllers
- Integrated systems design, implementation and troubleshooting
With a specialty, you have the freedom to pursue more certification courses and training to improve your skills in the niche. Moreover, you will have the time to generate and implement policies that will make you noticeable and set you up to being an authority in that niche.
Another advantage of formal education is the chance to start building connections. Instructors, guest speakers, and fellow students are the first members of your new industry network, which can help you find opportunities and build a positive reputation.
A Typical Day as a Consulting Engineer
The morning might begin with a meeting with the project manager to review your projects and determine any modifications to the next phase of a design implementation. Since you might not be the one overseeing the implementation, you will have to inspect what the team has done, make comments, and suggest changes in case something wasn’t done right.
After this, you might have a couple of hours to do calculations, create more sketches, and make any necessary improvements to the project before meeting with more team members, perhaps a Computer Aided Drafting operator, to make approved modifications.
At other times, you might have to channel your opinions through the top-tier decision making platform. In this case, you will be scheduling meetings with the project managers and stakeholders who are responsible for receiving your professional guidance.
Tips to Get Started
You need to stand out to make it as a consultant. Here are a couple of tips to help get you started:
- Find Your Niche: Identify a specific topic and make it your mission to be better than anyone else in a particular area. As a generalist, you'll overlap with many competitors but as a specialist, you can rise up and stand out.
- Be Multi-Faceted: Develop as many tools, procedures, concepts or solutions to problems as you can to grow your resume and portfolio. Keep them updated each time you complete a project--it will be much easier than going back later and trying to remember what you worked on.
- Communicate Clearly: Form an educated opinion and be ready to back it up with concrete and objective information or examples. If you're bringing a problem to the attention of management, have a solution ready to present as well.
- Be Prepared: Always research well before giving any opinion. You may only get one chance to explain your point of view, so it's best to be ready when that chance comes.
Could you see yourself as an engineering consultant? If you're interested in the field of engineering technology and want to learn more about earning a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology with a concentration in Mechatronics, consider ECPI University for your education. With year-round classes and an accelerated schedule, you could earn your degree faster get into your field sooner. For more information, contact a friendly ECPI University admissions advisor.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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