How can involvement with IEEE SA’s committees and working groups make your career more fulfilling? Some of the ways may surprise you!
Working with peers and colleagues who share a common interest in a particular technology or product opens the door to knowledge sharing, creativity, and innovation. Collaboration can expand your expertise in your chosen field. And it creates greater opportunities for networking, which is a key factor for continued professional growth.
Edward Au is the current Vice President for Standards Activities of the IEEE Computer Society, which manages 18 standards committees.
Edward believes that involvement with IEEE SA impacts professional growth by boosting your skills and providing access to more resources. “Standardization actually creates a fundamental framework that enables businesses to create specific and innovative solutions,” he said. “Understanding this framework can help bridge the gap between our technical knowledge and creating innovative market-relevant products to better serve our customers. And further by participating in standards development we can get access to helpful resources and join other innovators from the industry to capitalize on the future of the technology.”
Guido Hiertz is a Principal Researcher at Ericsson focusing on IEEE 802.11. He is also involved in various committees and boards at IEEE SA and reports that working with IEEE standards and volunteering with the organization has been vital to his career.
In terms of day-to-day work, Guido’s knowledge of the fundamentals of IEEE 802 networks and their design helped him develop the track-side network used at Formula 1 race events. He also credits his experience with IEEE 802.11 as helping him in his work supervising master’s thesis students and writing for scientific publications.
With more than 35 years of experience in senior-level roles, Yousef Kimiagar is a management and technology executive in multi-billion dollar rail transit projects and is currently vice president of advanced technologies at Hatch. Yousef has served in various volunteer positions, including IEEE SA board member, member of IEEE VTS Board of Governors, and chair of the IEEE Standards Committee for Communications-Based Train Control Systems (CBTC) and Signals, managing 16 standards and studies.
He values the learning experiences with colleagues and peers at standards development meetings that helps fuel his professional growth. Attendees can expand their knowledge base by getting involved with IEEE and engaging with the different committees, subcommittees, and study groups.
Yousef spoke to the power of networking that IEEE and IEEE SA provides: “Networking is the number one factor in how people can succeed. A lot of jobs are filled through networking. IEEE has over 400,000 members. By getting involved and volunteering, you get a lot of opportunities that you may not have been exposed to otherwise.”
“Don’t think that you are just attending a committee or a working group session,” Yousef continued. “This is a constant hidden interview, especially behavioral interview: how we deal with issues and how we find ways to work together, collaborate with each other. You never know, at some point you could just get a call from someone asking if you are interested in an opportunity.”
Edward also mentioned the excellent networking opportunities he has enjoyed through IEEE SA. With members coming from different industries and organizations, one can create good connections with people you might not otherwise have met. He adds that these networking opportunities can even lead to new friendships or mentorships. As an example, one of Edward’s IEEE SA committee colleagues eventually became his manager and has since helped him accelerate his professional growth and achieve his personal goals. Serving on committees has also improved his leadership and management skills, he says, which can directly impact promotions at work.
Yousef also noted that by working together with colleagues and peers from a variety of firms to collectively improve standards, he has been able to sharpen his collaboration skills and abilities.
Guido said that serving in IEEE SA leadership roles has helped him engage in leadership positions elsewhere. He describes the principles he learned from discussions at IEEE 802 committee meetings as helping him manage situations in his day-to-day work and other committees.
Edward also highlighted the diversity of people and companies involved with standards: “Creating a standard involves people with different backgrounds and agendas. Because they may have different solutions or preference to different designs, you need to have good negotiation skills to convince people why your solution may be better. How we reach consensus is an art, and it’s much easier to learn by doing than from a textbook.”
Edward, Yousef, and Guido each strongly recommended that engineers and other technical professionals consider getting involved with standards if they are not already.
“Simply sign up and get involved in different committees and working groups,” Yousef said. “You may think that involvement will consume too much personal time, but believe me, the self-satisfaction that you have been able to make a difference is worth it, in addition to the opportunities that you will find.”
Guido points to other, less-obvious benefits: “There is the technical side required to draft a solid piece of engineering work. On the other hand, there is the aspect of lobbying and marketing for your work. Both tasks help to grow your skill set and to widen your personal network,” he said.
Guido added that writing meaningful scientific papers and writing standards have a lot in common: “Paper authors provide insights into how they created new knowledge and they share their insights and the knowledge that they achieved through their research. Similarly, through a standard, authors share their experiences from the field, help others to avoid mistakes, and present their ideas to provide for interoperability between different implementations.”
Finally, Edward offers this advice: “Just get involved and contribute. Be a part of our team in IEEE SA standards development, bring your expertise to this community, and reap all the career benefits it has to offer.”
