Conference Session

Redefining the Boundaries of Engineering and Liberal Education: Contributions to the Year of Dialogue

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cech, University of California-San Diego; Kara Boettcher, Montana State University; Heidi Sherick, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

to remain in technical positions while working towards becoming experts within theircompanies14,15,16. Higher-level people on the technical career ladder often mentor, consult, andmanage other technical employees, all the while, gaining the monetary and emotional rewards ofmoving up in their careers. Though devised to maximize productivity and employee jobsatisfaction, the technical career ladder misleads employees to believe they can avoid developingnon-technical skills such as communication and managerial skills. In actuality, as engineersprogress through the technical career ladder, soft skills will still be required to effectivelymanage and mentor other technical employees and relay ideas to non-technical co-workers.These strictly