WCX 2024: The ‘What’s Next?’ Rollercoaster Ride Can Be Problematic for Engineers

April 12, 2024

Kami Buchholz

WCX 2024, like the 2023 conference shown here, is being held at Detroit's Huntington Place convention camera. (Chris Clonts)

Uncertainties swirl as the automotive industry transitions to electrified and automated vehicles, and that rollercoaster ride can be very unsettling for engineers. The mental solution? Stop fretting.

“We don’t have to try to predict what the future might hold because we’re going to be wrong — some of the time,” said book author and career coach Gina Covarrubias. (Gina Covarrubias)

“By thinking about the future and trying to predict it, we are creating anxiety. We’re creating unnecessary stress for ourselves,” said Gina Covarrubias, a career development coach and founder of Deliberate Doing LLC. The former aerospace engineer spoke with SAE Media about mental fitness prior to her WCX 2024 Knowledge Bar session, which takes place at 1 p.m., Tuesday, April 16.

Rather than stressing over possibilities and non-controllable events that may or may not happen, focus on you. “Think about your self-development and what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis in order to build a foundation that can withstand a storm,” she said.

The launchpad for resiliency begins with continual learning. “You have resources around you,” she said. “People. Archives. Training. Conferences. A professional-development budget. You want to use resources because knowledge is power.” There is a caveat, though. “You can do something mindlessly just to do it, or you can do it mindfully where you’re absolutely engaged 100%,” she said.

Sleepwalking through the daily work tasks is a bad habit. “Sometimes people just go through the motions,” she said. “That defeats the purpose.” Engineers generally excel with a multitude of hard skills, but they can fall flat with “softer” skills. “Hard skills, the things relating to doing an engineering task — the numbers, the coding, the nitty-gritty technical skills — that’s what engineers love,” she said.

“Engineering is one of those industries that go through phases — massive hirings, then layoffs, and periods of uncertainties,” said Gina Covarrubias. (Gina Covarrubias)

Because engineers are so comfortable with the hard skills, they tend to neglect the soft skills, like communicating with others. Networking is as crucial as talking with the boss. “There should always be a feedback cycle between an engineer and his or her supervisor,” she said.

Another important zone of personal focus is integrity and confidence. “After so many months of just going through the motions, it can be depressing and put you in a spiral,” she said. “So doing your best every day — as hard as it may be — will build integrity and confidence.”

Cutting corners with work tasks can absolutely damage integrity and confidence. “You might be able to cover it up, but you know that you’re cutting corners. And after so much of that, you start blaming the job, you might start blaming your peers, and that could lead to big problems,” Covarrubias said.

The wrap-up is practice, practice, practice. “A great personal foundation is a springboard to the next level,” she said. “When the chance comes, you’ll be ready. And if the worse-case scenario happens, you don’t have to have a meltdown because you have all these skills and knowledge.”