Re-engineering an engineering career / Marius Odendaal

• Main Author: Odendaal, Marius
• Language: English
• Published: North-West University 2011
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10394/4755

Re-engineering is an ongoing process of change that continues throughout a person's life. It includes all aspects of life, even your career and lifestyle as you continue to grow as an individual. There is no satisfaction or of self-fulfilment in clinging to a career and its accompanying lifestyle which you have outgrown. To change this, people should approach career planning and management from a different point of view. The making of a career and lifestyle change is something most people find horrendously difficult. Making effective career and lifestyle changes incorporating your dream and passion should be seen as a challenge. There is a common denominator in this whole discussion which influences the decisions that people make when it comes to choosing their careers. It boils down to wanting to make a success of their lives and the fear of being a failure. But how does one define success? Success can mean different things to different people. For some, monetary reward is a measure of success. Yet others have multiple definitions of success. People should first determine their own definition of success before deciding what career they would like to pursue. Many of us make this decision based on what other people, such as our parents or friends, perceive as success. Exploring career choices should be a positive undertaking for high school students. A thoughtfully constructed career choice process will provide a meaningful, productive and satisfying framework for making quality career choices. Some students do not begin to explore real career possibilities until after graduation. Tertiary education institutions should provide students with relevant information earlier in their studies. Institutions could be more proactive, giving students information that they could test and use in their daily studies and ultimately apply to their choice of career. Young adults turn to their career guidance counsellors in their schools for advice on determining what career paths they should follow. The problem within the South African public educational system currently is that there is inadequate provision for career guidance or assessment of individual learners. The majority of young people leave school with only a vague knowledge of employment opportunities and with little insight concerning the career direction most appropriate to their abilities, interests and personality. Believing that their only chance of future employment is the attainment of some sort of qualification, they are pitch-forked into tertiary education without any consideration given to the appropriateness of their chosen qualification to their abilities, interests and personality. This results in a large percentage of employees who feel trapped in an inappropriate career. This leads to low morale, disinterest and de-motivation, translating into poor performance and bad service levels. In the end unhappy employees either leave of their own free will or need to be dismissed. In either case, the cost to the business is substantial. When it comes to making a career change in order to follow your dream and passion, people are normally shackled by the comfort and security they experience in their current jobs and the fear of failing should they risk following their dream. The decision to make a career change should follow a formal process in order to enable a person to make an informed and responsible career change. The value to the researcher personally is that he will have a better understanding of why he decided to change his career. Is it a real choice or is it only a pipe dream that will eventually fade away because of the challenges facing him in the future? === Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.