Professional Growth Through Mentoring and Community Engagement

May 26, 2023

In the years following a remote and hybrid workplace standard, many have forgotten the importance of mentoring young engineers through personal interaction at the office. Young engineers rely upon mentorship and collaboration from their senior engineers and managers to aid their professional growth. The opportunities to participate in design meetings, ask follow-up questions to project leaders, or simply overhear a design topic discussion in our open office layout are very influential for professional development as an engineer.

To encourage mentorship and professional development, our office holds monthly “Webinar Wednesday” technical presentations and various after-hours events which allow young engineers to learn about important industry topics, code updates, and the latest technology being used in practice. Recently, we held an after-hours event focused on ASCE’s Future World Vision and Megacity software for WSP’s Developing Professional Network (DPN) members. All in attendance were able to utilize our VR software and participate in a casual discussion recognizing that the built environment could look very different in the year 2070, and learning how to use these tools to foster innovation and growth among future engineers and the next generation of industry leaders.

Over the past 20 years, Odeh Engineers has been committed to mentoring the next generation of future engineers, designers, and members of the construction industry through participation in the ACE Mentor Program of Rhode Island (ACE RI). Several of our engineers have volunteered their time and knowledge to teach high school students from the local schools about our industry through interactive in-person presentations and design activities. The structural design sessions include building model trusses using straws to form a bridge, creating a pasta tower, learning SketchUp basics, building foam core beams and load testing them, and various other fun, engaging projects.

For more information about the ACE RI and how to get involved please see their website: ACE Mentor Program RI