Why should you develop your skills as an engineer?

As an engineer, you need to have a few skills under your belt. Whether it is building airplanes or constructing bridges, as an engineer, you better know what you are doing. But having the technical background to bring your project to a successful end is only part of the puzzle (albeit a fairly important one). 

Take a look at any business in the world and you fill discover that management is interested in functioning as efficient as possible. That’s because optimally using time and resources undeniably translates into healthier budgets. Of course, this is something that most engineers that get involved in project management learn on the job. But not every problem is solved with logic and technical background. Processes and procedures require leadership and communication skills. And that is not something that is part of the Master of Engineering curriculum. 

It is definitely an option to pick up a course at PMP or to venture in to a postgraduate. We argue that it is a good career move to get some formal training in project management. Not only does there seem to be a shortage in project managers with an engineering background in areas such as construction, chances that your salary will make a jump are real.  Scope creep is the stuff nightmares are made of for many companies. Anybody who can help them get a handle on projects that go over budget or are late will be received with open arms. Project management training, together with good project management software, is the perfect answer to the challenge of getting unexpected costs under control as much as possible. 

An added bonus is that project management helps standardize procedure and repeat success. 

So here it is. 

What are your thoughts on finding the books again? This time, maybe less to stretch the mathematical side of the brain, but to add a different angle to the mix. Rewards are there for the picking. 

Pros and Cons of Being a Consultant

What are the pros and cons of being a consultant?

Being self-employed sounds appealing. There’s a lot to be said for making your own hours and rules without having to justify to the powers that be. But is it all roses?

Some benefits of becoming a consultant are:
• You decide what projects you want to take on, depending on your specific skill set. No more need to deal with companies you find hard to work with. The decision is yours and yours alone.
• You’re in charge of your time and typically you have more schedule flexibility. Taking a break from work for a 6 week trip? No problem. Picking up the kids from school on Wednesdays? Consider it done. Nobody to ask permission to.
• Showing up to an office means you meet new business contacts and participate in secret santa gifts

exchanges

• You get to set your own rates, and often make more money. All you have to do is decide whether you charge by the hour or by the project? Ensuring some easy-to-use tools to keep a timesheet of billable and non-billable hours is probably a good idea to make things easy on yourself.
• Your job can be as varied or routine as you wish. You can work with many different companies and industries if that’s what you wish. But it doesn’t need to be if a routine is what you prefer.

Some drawbacks of becoming a consultant are:
• There’s less job security, when you work for yourself. Income from consulting jobs may not be steady. You will have to squirrel away some back-up savings for the first few months when you are starting out, but also keep something aside for a rainy day.
• Being a good project manager is not enough. You will also have to be a skilled businessman or woman.  Accounting and taxes may have been a yearly chore in the past, it will become (at least) a weekly one once you are out on your own. You will also have to invest the time and effort to build a network, have strategies in place on how to build a pipeline for ongoing jobs. And the one we mostly want to forget about: the endless paperwork. The whole pile.
• There will be extra costs, like building your own website, signing up for a project management software that meets your needs, paying the accountant, getting the insurance to keep you safe, etc.
• Having your own business usually means the end of having a 9 to 5 job. It means doing the paperwork at the end of a long day and answering client emails during the weekend. It’s important to draw clear boundaries. It sounds easy enough but in reality, it’s a daily struggle for many self-employed workers.

Inspirational Websites for Web Designers

Just short of 20 years ago, when the internet was still in its infancy, I had a job reviewing websites. It’s hilarious now when you consider the fact that the reviews were published in a paper magazine distributed to customers of an internet provider.

Fast forward to the late 2010s, and there is no way in the world we could get away with some web designs that we then thought were well done. Web design no longer goes by vague ideas that were borrowed from the publishing world. What makes a great website these days goes by its own set of rules, realizations, and trends. 

It’s a fast changing industry and while it’s never a good idea to go overboard, it’s important to stay au courant with the trends. So what are some of the most eye-catching websites out there at the moment? Where do we draw our inspiration from? 

1.      Color

 When 20 years ago, fitting in was still the norm, now it has become standing out that is the aim. And rightfully so. Web design has become a business card and we want attention. What better way to get that than to use screaming bright colors. Belgian brand Sikkema went exactly for that. But they did more. They kept design minimalistic and slightly asymmetric. A difficult one to pull off, but when done well, it’s powerful. (https://sikkema.be/#inspiratie)

2.      Transitional images

Digital designer Steven Mengin goes quite the opposite direction and uses black and white transitional imagery. It’s a stunner, eye-catching but at the same time it avoids being distractive from the content. You can’t help but be entranced. (https://www.stevenmengin.com)

3.      Minimalist

When it comes to introducing new trends, it’s obvious that designers are where to find what’s in vogue. Less is more, these days. The idea that a website no longer is read, but scanned, caused web designers to reduce the written word to a minimum. Typography and strong visuals take the forefront in Dinner for Five web design. (https://dff.mitsugutakahashi.com)

4.      Illustrations

Similarly to the strong color effect, well-executed illustrations have a way of grabbing attention. Avocode went a step further and made the illustration animated. It’s an excellent way to target your audience in a laser-cut fashion and communicate difficult and boring content in an entertaining way.  (https://avocode.com/design-report-2017)

While it’s easy enough to identify trends and admire the talent behind the design, it’s always important to align with your audience and stay true to your brand. Remember that Web Design is only a part of a branding concept, albeit an important one. 

3 Important Tips for Good UX in Web Design

Never underestimate the importance of good UX

All the marketing in the world is going to mean nothing if the UX design is poor. Fancy slogans and pretty graphs may create an initial click, but when bad UX adds an extra hour on to your work load, (potential) customers are going to walk away.

1.      Color matters… a lot

People have strong emotions around color. A lot of books talk about the psychology of color.  But color is also a very individual thing. Some people like yellow, others have a passion for purple because it is the color of their favorite sports team. And then again, person C can’t stand beige (ask Billy Connolly, he’ll tell you).

There is the cultural and social side of color. In some cultures red is good luck, in the western world it’s passion and aggression.

Fair to say that it’s important to get the audience for your web design right. At the least you need to be familiar with demographics. Women and men are drawn to different colors (Research shows that women don’t like bright colors, men can’t stand pastels and prefer darker tones. Mid-tones work for both).

 It’s quite astounding but it goes as far as the color your conversion button has can have an impact on conversion rates. Really!

And then there is just the very practical side of color. There is no going around the requirement of readability.

Our advice? When working on UX use A/B colors to see what gives the best result.

2.      Create an effective user flow

A good workflow ensures that your customers have the easiest ride possible towards the conversion button.  But even if sales is not your main focus, a good workflow has effect of user satisfaction, on bounce rates,  etc.

Knowing your customers is the place where it all starts (again). But also, you want to know the usual customer journey from the entry point all the way to when they click away. What is an average timeline? What are some common problems people encounter? Map it out.

When you start creating content, adding features and added options, make sure you realize that less is more. Stick to the essentials and be very firm with yourself.

And finally… get the web design tested by some real users. Collect feedback and go back to the drawing board if needed. The focus needs to be on user experience.

3.      Get attention in a blink of an eye

These days, people no longer read websites. They scan.

This has effect on how a website needs to be designed in more than one way.

The importance of visual hierarchy as a result is undeniable. Keep design simple, use infographics, create focal points, be consistent in the use of colors and aesthetics.

The bottom-line? When you create a website, you really create an experience. People decide whether a website is interesting to them or not in half a second. UX is more than a buzz word. It has the capability of making or breaking what you do. With that, all is said.