Creating a personal work portfolio 1

[jari001]

Hi everyone!

TL;DR
My question is: What information and documentation do you keep to build a portfolio of work that can be used during job interviews and formal networking events? Below is some personal work history if you would be interested in customizing your response

My background
I graduated college with a bachelors of chemical engineering in 2014 and spent 2014 to 2015 working in operations as an operator and then shift supervisor. I will have worked as a project engineer from 2016 to 2017; 2017 employment plans are still up in the air.

My time working as an engineer has been at an aseptic vaccine filling and lyophilization site working as the process engineer on re-commissioning a skid that makes an oil-water emulsion product. My main accomplishment has been troubleshooting and resolving equipment issues and automation issues to a lesser degree (had an automation engineer colleague on the project) faster than projected in the project schedule. I also helped the validation engineers write their protocols and risk assessments by acting as one of the subject matter experts on the process.

I've certainly learned a lot about engineering standards and codes, different types of specialty equipment, basics of SCADA systems and PLCs, and about the "art" of aseptic manufacturing but I don't think I have any tangible examples of my performance for my time on the project. I would appreciate your thoughts on how I should be self-assessing my work to find opportunities for portfolio building.

Thanks for your time,
J

 

[truckandbus]

I don't have a portfolio myself but I do like to see one when I interview a job candidate. Two or three representative samples of what you do; redacted if needed. I'm more interested in how the candidate presents the information than what he content is

 

[MacGyverS2000]

A list of on-the-job accomplishments is VERY useful in helping a prospective employer decide if you would be a good fit. Be able to talk intelligently about your contribution to that project/product, as well as how it benefited the company in the short-/long-term. Do NOT take company materials, show diagrams that give away company secrets, etc. Often it's smarter to mention a product, then quickly sketch your contribution (assuming, again, that it doesn't violate company secrets)... as you get better at this, it shows an ability to quickly describe an idea without pulling out professional drawings, etc.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[moltenmetal]

Every engineer looking for work should have a portfolio. Very few actually do in our field, and the ones who do have one, really stand out.

 

[ctopher]

Be careful what docs/dwgs you add to your portfolio. If they are proprietary/ITAR, it could be a red flag to the interviewer.
I interviewed an engineer once that had drawings/photos from various major aerospace corp's. He didn't seem trustworthy to me.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks '16
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[berkshire]

If your company awards merit certificates I.E “Atta boys “take those, but do not take anything determined to be Proprietary without permission.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[KENAT]

For certain fields what ctopher says is definitely an issue.

I tried to get around this by basically linking to information available on my former employers public website or similar but even that can be questionable.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[drawoh]

jari001,

When I was young and I worked on a drafting board, it was customary to bring examples of one's drawings, so that the interviewer could examine the line work and lettering. That long ago ceased to matter. Portfolios are for artists. Can you wave a page of engineering calculations under someone's nose for fifteen seconds?

On your resume, list the stuff that you did.

--
JHG