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100+ RESOURCES FOR CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Created: Friday, 08 April 2016 12:00 

As an engineer, you know that continuous learning is the only thing that can make your skills stay sharp. Technology is constantly changing and so is the world.

As such, we were really excited when we came across this article that shows 100+ ways to be a lifelong learner.

Our humble additions to the list:

1. Attend an event: For example, this could be a workshop or a trade show. Explore local events by going to event calendars of local associations that interest you. Workshops like the ones hosted by the Rochester Engineering Society and trade shows like the upcoming IEEE PES T&D Conference and Expo are a great way to learn something new and meet interesting people in your industry. We will be at both events to teach, learn, and meet new/old friends.
2. Mentor a young engineer: If you’ve been in the field for a while, there’s a recent graduate who would love to learn from you. However, mentoring is not a one-way street. If you take the time to become a mentor, you’ll find that you can learn as much from your mentee as they can learn from you. Here at Superior Tray, we strongly believe in nurturing new talent because (a) we all have to start somewhere and we were where they are now and (b) their fresh approach to old challenges allow us to learn from them as much as they learn from us.
3. Talk to your manufacturer’s rep: We love our reps. If we didn’t, they wouldn’t be our reps. They have a broader view of different segments of the industry because they need to know what’s happening in order to perform well. Establish a good relationship with your rep and ask him/her about the trends they are seeing. If, for example, you’ve always used Product A in your systems, and they tell you that many of their clients (who design systems similar to yours) are switching to Product B, this information is worth investigating. You want to stay current in your knowledge of the changing marketplace.

No matter how you choose to learn, as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We wish you the best of luck with that first step!