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You might have heard that highly skilled careers such as engineering offer secured jobs. This is one of the main reasons why so many do engineering: Job security, good income and other benefits. However, the high-performance expectation might have reduced job security. So is job security a myth, or has the definition of job security in engineering changed?

Although engineers are highly skilled and essential in any industry, job security has changed throughout the years. This is because, for the first time in history, there is a high supply of engineers. This means only the elite who have proven themselves to be good assets to their companies get promotions and higher salaries. This, in a way, has devalued job security in engineering. However, the job is still very secure for those who have proven themselves to be the best in their craft.

Engineers are an essential part of every industry. The level of information and intelligence they bring has not only advanced technology; it is impossible to do anything without them. Yet, in our day and age, job security is not true anymore. Security in income is about people, not the position, which means you can be dispensable unless you are very good at your job.

So if the answer is to be better at your job to have a more secure job, if everyone worked very hard, would not everyone have a secure job?

While the above is true, there is the issue with how you can become indispensable to your organisation and achieve it in the shortest amount possible. To answer this, we need first to explain how engineers lose their jobs these days.

How do engineers lose their jobs?

There are 4 reasons engineers lose their jobs in engineering, which are related to the lack of security in engineering jobs.

1- Lack of competent engineers

Engineering jobs are complicated, and it always requires someone capable enough to do them. Unable to perform the basic job duties shows a lack of competence which makes jobs in engineering very insecure.

These days there is a high supply of engineers. Universities have been graduating engineers faster than we can higher them. Because of the high admission in engineering schools, many universities have lowered their passing requirements, which has lowered the quality of graduate engineers.

This means lack of competence is very common among engineers, which has reduced job security. Many companies would rather hire someone more competent than keeping up with someone who is not.

2- Failure to take on essential positions in the company

In every engineering organisation, there are essential roles and commodity roles. Most engineers start at the commodity roles and slowly move to essential roles within the company. Moving to a more permanent role takes time, passion, and skill.

Commodity roles are roles anyone can do because a more senior engineer will always check your work. You can be replaced unless you move up to a more senior level.

The essential role is an engineer capable of working independently and has built trust and a reputation for doing their job well and with excellent results.

3- Frequent career changes

You have heard the saying jobs come and go; these days, for many engineers, jobs seem to come and go every year. Because tools such as LinkedIn have enabled networking on a massive scale, engineers get many work opportunities, making it easy to switch jobs throughout the year.

In fact, for many switching jobs is much easier than getting a promotion in their current jobs. However, this makes their position very volatile. Because failure to grow in a certain position makes those engineers difficult to trust and move from commodity jobs to essential jobs in their organisation.

Engineers generally are problem solvers, which puts them in high demand in any industry, even outside their perspective engineering fields. However, high demand can make people greedy for more salary, enabling frequent career changes and less commitment to the position. This article: Which is more important: High salary or job satisfaction? Explain how a high salary should not always come above job satisfaction.

4- Lack of passion for engineering

Passion for engineering is highly related to job security. Many people do engineering for the wrong reason. Some because of family pressure, some for the money and some for the so-called job security, yet when there is no passion for engineering, underperforming in the position is usually related, which puts engineers’ jobs on the line. What was thought to be a secured job is not secured anymore.

However, there is a solution for every issue, and it is usually trying to find a purpose in your career that can help fuel your passion. Many studies found that humans tend to perform well when they feel connected with their job.

Engineering is a purposeful career, so not enjoying the nature of work is a sign of losing passion for engineering or not connecting to your position, which might be the time to change jobs. If you are experiencing any of the above, we encourage you to read our article on the 8 Reasons You Are Losing Passion For Engineering-How to Fix?

4 Ways to become an indispensable engineer to your organisation?

The following is how to become a valuable asset to your organisation:

1- Take more responsibility

Taking on more responsibility is the best way to become indispensable. When a job needs to be done, and you are the first person to raise your hand, it shows that you are reliable and people can depend on you.

How to take on more responsibility? You can volunteer when work opportunities are available but also find ways to take on responsibility in your organisation by finding errors or mistakes and correcting them yourself or spending more time to ensure that the final product is perfect.

The more responsibility you take, the easier it is for senior engineers to notice your hard work and be willing to give you even more responsibility to become indispensable in your organisation and thus have a more secure job.

2- Have a mentor

Having a mentor can do two things for you. The first is having a senior engineer willing to guide you through your career, encourage you and give you the necessary help to develop your career. This is the active side of having a mentor, which is guidance to improve and develop your career.

The second benefit of having a mentor is having someone willing to fight on behalf of you behind closed doors when a new senior position is open and a promotion is to be given to a junior engineer. This is the passive side of having a mentor, which is a mentor who believes in your ability and says good things about you to the board of directors to get you the promotion you deserve.

Having a mentor is essential these days to advance your engineering career. To get an engineering mentor, you must take their advance very seriously, listen to their instruction and apply their teachings. This can take time, but once you establish a relationship based on respect, you will have a limitless resource of free guidance and mentoring.

If you want to learn more about how you can find an engineering mentor, read: Top 5 Reasons Why You Need A Mentor In Engineering.

3- Become an excellent communicator

Good communication skills are the secret behind moving up in your company hierarchy. You need to possess good technical skills to solve problems as an engineer. However, a lack of good communication skills makes it difficult to communicate your solutions and ideas to other engineers.

Becoming indispensable requires someone who can work with anyone and achieve excellent results. Therefore, communication skills can do a lot for you.

On the other hand, showing confidence in your work and your ability also helps to improve your image and show your competence in the workplace. If you struggle in this area, we encourage you to check our guide on How To Show Confidence In The Workplace.

4- Keep improving yourself

As an engineer, you should keep improving your technical side and work hard to increase your experience. You could never have enough experience as an engineer. Every project you do will teach you important lessons. The savvy engineer is the one who learns well from those experiences, so they will not repeat the failures in the future.

Engineering is a lifelong learning process of solving problems and finding better ways to execute your solutions to save time and money. The better you become, the more indispensable you become to your organisation. Therefore, reading books about engineering and attending workshops and seminars are ways to improve yourself.

Finally, for more reading on importing yourself and becoming irreplaceable to your organisation and having a more stable job, check our resource on the Top 7 Personality Traits Of Engineers For Immediate Success.