pp. 4-5
Now you can turn your attention to getting the job done. That’s what the rest of this book is about.

We’ll consider the roles and the duties of effective project engineers. We’ll focus on the fundamental aspects of getting a job done from the time you start to plan the first activity, until you turn the final product over to the customer.

You’ll gain a working knowledge of how to develop your own competence, personal effectiveness, and business judgment while you struggle with all the other demands of the job. We’ll explore the concepts of teamwork, leadership, and management. Even though you are a new engineer, such skills are important to your success. We’ll even consider the rudiments of office politics, competition with your peers, and an overview of business ethics. A case study illustrates all of those concepts in a relevant, understandable project setting. Chapter 9 offers advice from other project professionals and managers who started their careers as project engineers.

A common thread throughout is the issue of dealing with other people. It’s present in the every-day contacts with management, peers and the people whom you lead. It’s present, in spades, in the interactions with people from other cultures, either in your own work place or in far-off places around the globe. Chapter 8 provides an awareness of the challenges of working internationally and suggests how to deal with culture shock. It also introduces you to a set of cross-cultural communication skills and offers a simple approach to resolve cultural differences.

In all of these topics, the emphasis is the same: to make you aware and offer tangible steps you can take to enhance your job performance. This book is a toolbox of skills, strategies and options for development that you’ll find useful -- no, essential -- for launching your career. It’s not every tool you’ll ever need but it’s something you can carry with you while you’re getting started and probably for the rest of your life.