Arjun Gillard’s Post

Engineering Managers, are you struggling to attract the best engineers within the industry? I have put a case study together for a project we have recently completed for one of our clients. We were up against it on this one, but yet still managed to attract and secure engineers within a 2 week timescale!!! If you're struggle, utilise a specialist. Give me a call to have a discussion on how potentially we can support you in the future.

Proactivity: The Key to Senior Engineering One of the key differences between a junior and senior engineer is proactivity, even when the system appears to be running smoothly. As a junior engineer, I often focused on ensuring the product was functioning correctly without considering potential issues. However, a senior engineer takes it a step further by implementing alerts, identifying ways the system could fail, and adding fallback mechanisms to prepare for potential problems. This proactive approach is what sets senior engineers apart. #ProactiveEngineering#EngineeringGrowth#SeniorEngineer #TechLeadership #EngineeringMindset#DevBestPractices#CareerGrowth#EngineeringExcellence #SystemReliability #TechCareerTips

Success in engineering goes beyond technical skills 🔩 Critical thinking, adaptability, and strong communication are just a few attributes that drive outstanding engineers. Stand out with these key qualities! 🚀 #engineeringcareers #skillsforsuccess #engineeringjobs #engineer #engineering

Yesterday someone said to me that the true Engineering Managers job description is: To enable really smart people to make them look good. I think in truth there is a bit more to it than that phrase. I like that they have included the word 'enable' and that they are highlighting really smart people. If I had to try and rewrite this in the same vain perhaps: To empower and enable really smart people to achieve business outcomes and deliver business value. How you empower and enable those is the art of Engineering Management.

5 reasons why the Engineering Manager role is so demanding. Having been an Engineering Manager myself, I can confidently say that it’s one of the most challenging roles in tech. Here is why: 1️⃣ Engineering Managers are no longer individual contributors but need to be very hands-on in different ways. This apparent dichotomy is sometimes hard to crack and can lead to a sense of “identity crisis”, but mastering it is key to success. 2️⃣ Engineering Managers need to be very versatile. On any given day, they face a very diverse set of challenges that require a very wide range of skills. The ability to switch gears rapidly and tackle these diverse challenges is essential. 3️⃣ Engineering Managers are the bridge between teams and senior management. They need to communicate, mediate, and translate asks and expectations from two worlds that are sometimes very distant and often speak very different languages. 4️⃣ The Engineering Manager role is open to many interpretations and flavors. Expectations can differ from company to company and sometimes even from department to department within the same company. 5️⃣ Engineering Managers have the great responsibility of building and fostering a healthy and positive culture. Keeping people motivated and engaged while helping them grow personally and professionally is a truly demanding task. Do you agree? Did I miss anything?

Be CURIOUS. As a Junior Engineer, I am always trying to collect the dots wherever I go: - In the meetings that seem irrelevant - When someone's describing the project I'm not working on - In the discussions my colleagues are having - At lunch time, where someone is discussing how they broke the production once - When my colleague is explaining something to other. I just collect the dots, and hope they'll get connected in future, and fit into forming a big picture. #Engineering

Today's senior engineer role is severely deflated. 📉 It's not technical skills, education, years of experience, or building high-quality solutions that define senior engineers. It is the ability to influence decisions and significantly improve a team's or organization's environment that defines them. It's not only about how well senior engineers can do their own work. It's more about how they can help others do their work well. It is a leadership role in the first place, the technical leadership one. What the majority of senior engineering positions are today is perfectly suitable for a mid-level role—designing, building, delivering, and maintaining decent solutions. Let's be honest, many "seniors" with lots of years of experience haven't managed to reach even this level yet. This distorts the role even further.

Are you in Systems Engineering, new to the field (1-2 years), and looking to get that extra jump start to your career? Read below for a tip many overlook - plus an extra pro-tip! Want to get picked for the "cool" projects? Line up a lead systems engineering role a few years down the line, or even move into engineering leadership (management)? Then something you can do as a new Systems Engineer is to focus on helping be the solution to the issues facing management. These are often related to scope, cost and schedule - but not always. In the past, I spent extra time on presentations we were giving to customers. While not my "day job", management really wanted these interactions to go well. Recently I was working in a systems team - and we had some difficulty developing some requirements. GREAT! I'm super at writing requirements from needs statements, CONOPS, and early rough drafts. HOWEVER that was not the problem management wanted me to solve. They wanted to solve the problem of the line engineers being too busy to meet consistently enough to develop the requirements themselves. This for me, was not an authorship task - but a herding-cats task. I then when on and facilitated about a year's worth of meetings, with 1-2 per week, walking through requirements, sequence diagrams, even a few use cases. At the end, the right artifacts were developed - specifications, diagrams, process flows - BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE management wanted to work this task. In short, leadership was very happy with my work - and it even led to a promotion! More importantly I became known as being able to solve a teaming and people problem not just a requirement problem. This in turn helped me get my current engineering spot on a highly-visible program with a tight deadline and a lot of technical content. If this is what you want also - getting the inside track for the key assignments in systems engineering by increasing the types of problems you can solve - then at least occasionally step into management's shoes and try to solve some of their problems. Extra pro-tip: do this, WITHOUT BEING ASKED FIRST! COMMENT BELOW, what you think. Has this worked for you? Is this something you are willing to try? #systemsengineering #management #engineeringleadership #softskills LinkedIN is where I post my new content: https://lnkd.in/gtc9RzQx

🔧 Why Engineers Need More Than Technical Expertise Today... Engineering roles have always been synonymous with technical precision and problem-solving. But in today’s fast-paced, interconnected world, that’s only half the equation. 🌍 Here’s the truth: 🚀 The most successful engineers aren’t just building systems—they’re also building relationships. 👉 Soft skills like communication, collaboration, and leadership are no longer “nice-to-have”—they’re game-changers. Think about it: 1. Can you explain a complex technical concept to a non-technical stakeholder? 2. Can you lead a diverse team through a challenging project? 3. Can you brainstorm solutions with people from different disciplines? ***These skills are what set you apart in the workplace. They help you transition from being a technical contributor to a trusted leader.*** 🌟 The Rise of the Well-Rounded Engineer The shift is clear: Companies value engineers who can connect and collaborate across teams just as much as they value coding, calculations, and CAD. 🏃♂️ 🏃♀️ Follow our LinkedIn page Proactive Recruitment Solutions (PRS) to get industry insights, job advice and our latest jobs we’re recruiting for. What’s your edge? How are you growing your influence in both technical and interpersonal spaces? Let’s discuss below! 👇 If you’re looking for roles where these skills matter, reach out—we’re always looking for the next generation of engineering leaders. 🚀 ✉ Contact Oonagh now at ——>> oonagh@proactiverecruitment.ie 📲 Or contact us via linkedIn. #Engineering #SoftSkills #Leadership #CareerGrowth

As part of my ongoing Medium journey sharing management insights over the past 2 years, I published a new article on 5 key things to know before becoming an engineering manager. Having made the transition myself, I cover critical insights that can help prepare engineers for a management role: https://lnkd.in/dZFWDQtZ