2017 – July – Gash – An engineer’s journey to achieving conscious competence

Cassandra Gash MIRSE, MIEAust, MAIPM, BEng(Hons), GDSignalling & Telecommunications, CPPM Melbourne Metro Rail Authority, Senior Signalling Project Manager This paper highlights the requirements and likely challenges a graduate engineer will encounter in their professional formative years, and provides recommendations on how to fast-track a career in the rail signalling industry. The gap in professional engineering competence is assessed through comparison of the competence of a graduate en- gineer from university compared to that required for the rail signalling industry. The commonly used 70:20:10 learning and development model is reviewed, in the context of the industry, so that graduate engineer learning, development, and experience can be tailored to address these gaps and support career advancement. The paper concludes with an examination of competence related Australian legislation and Rail Transport Operator’s requirements that an engineer must comply with to progress from a state of unconscious incompetence to conscious competence. This paper draws upon numerous sources and highlights the commonalities and some of the inconsisten- cies in approach to achieving competence.