Are there any skills that you think are useful that you weren't taught in school?

First and foremost, not all engineering majors lean heavily into a coding environment. However, it will benefit you greatly to take the time to pick up these skills on your own. As the world continues to move towards more automation, the more you know about Python, R, and other popular languages used in engineering, the better off you'll be.

Additionally, learning how to ask for help is vitally important when working as an engineer. When in school, you'll often be working with others and have many resources when you're stuck on a homework assignment. However, it may feel different when working in the field. But that's a fallacy. It's good to keep in mind that everyone is still learning all the time (even the most experienced engineer), and asking questions will only make you better. No one expects you to know the answer all the time. If you're spinning your wheels and getting nowhere, ask someone for help.

There are some basics that will help you in almost any endeavor you take on:

• Create a community for support and networking: this helps socially, but also when you need to brainstorm on a special project or a tough problem or decision.
• Have an empowered mindset: see each problem as an opportunity for a solution. This will help to stay positive as you encounter new situations.
• Take care of yourself by eating well and getting exercise: The impact of nutrition and movement on your ability to adapt and learn is profound.

Moving away from home and taking on a new and challenging curriculum will be an adjustment. Go into this stage with openness and excitement!

There are some soft skills that will help you not only throughout an engineering career, but also through just about anything else you tackle in life going forward. There are traits/skills I look for when hiring: integrity, honesty and reliability are some key traits, but there is also one skill that is very beneficial to a good engineer, which is owning some project management mastery. Everything you will work on (as an engineer) is basically a project – it has a beginning and an end. The skill to master the organization to complete a project is a very valuable skill!

Wishing you the best in your engineering career and know there is a whole group of women supporting you as you grow!

It is useful to learn about different tools like power drills and hand tools. On many occasions as an engineer, I have been expected to assemble things. Proficiency with tools is very empowering both professionally and personally.

It depends, honestly. You should first decide which stream of engineering you are looking to enter. By stream I mean your specialization. For example, If I take myself I had studies in Electronics and Engineering and I had a lot of different concepts and technologies meshed in. But definitely in today’s day and age I cannot overemphasize how learning at least one programming language (especially Python) can be super beneficial.

If you’re planning on Mechanical or Civil I suppose AutoCad and MatLab can also be beneficial. You can try to get in touch with any alumni of colleges you are planning to enroll into and talk to them about the curriculum they had and what they could advise on you to brush up.

One thing I found is not directly taught is how to understand ourselves and how to use that understanding to more effectively and harmoniously interact with the world. I’m not even sure what to call this type of information, but my favorite presentation of it is Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Here is my brief summary of the seven habits:

1. "Be Proactive" - I think of this one as “There is power within me.” Covey tells the story of a prisoner at a Nazi concentration camp who took the attitude of “you can take away my freedom and maybe even take away my life, but you can’t take away my happiness.” It can be very difficult, but each of us can make the choice of how to respond to a situation. We can choose to be angry or choose to laugh at a comment we hear. Embracing the power within myself is very empowering and enables me to respond to every challenge as an opportunity.

2. “Begin with the end in mind” - I think this one is probably self explanatory.

3. “Put first things first” - I think this one has gotten even more important. It’s easy to spend one’s entire day responding to texts, phone calls, and emails. These things appear urgent, but are they important? Sometimes the urgent items are important and sometimes they aren’t. If responding to urgent things is getting in the way of completing important tasks, then changes should be made to bring the important things up in priority.

4. “Think win-win” - I am really bothered when I see the Democrats or the Republicans taking action to make the other party be unsuccessful rather than identifying a solution that allows everyone to win. Identifying win-win solutions can require creativity, but it helps us all be more successful.

5. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” - When there is a disagreement, my first instinct is to explain my position to the other person, but I have found that I sometimes get in a back and forth of “no, you don’t understand.” But, if I listen to the other person, then state their position back to them, it sometimes leads to a quick solution.

6. “Synergize” - I always had trouble understanding this word, but it means bringing two different things together that add up to more. Can you make 1 + 1 = 3? A simple example would be if someone needs a question answered in another language and person A knows the answer and person B knows the other language, together persons A and B can be successful in giving the answer in a different language, but separately, neither of them can accomplish it. Like for the win-win solutions, creativity can be key in identifying the opportunities where working together we can accomplish more than we could alone.

7. “Sharpen the saw” - We must choose between the productivity that comes with constantly using a saw and stopping that productivity long enough to sharpen the saw so that it will be more productive. We should all take time for ourselves to be healthy and to develop new skills.

I suggest that you try to develop critical thinking and analytical skills. Be able to think outside the box, i.e. to be creative and not just follow the norm sometimes and also learn how to leverage on relationships (learn how to network).

Yes, I wasn't taught in school the importance of servant leadership. Your team isn't successful if you aren't kind, and the type of team player that is willing to roll up your sleeves to help any team member that is drowning. Schools may encourage you to lead but they don't focus on serving your team well so that everyone looks like a star on your team. Hence it's important that you focus on observing your team members and learning where you have opportunities to help them shine in their respective roles. This is what truly makes you a great leader. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”