2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering workforce recruitment remains a persistent issue in the United States as, yearly, the gap between the number of working engineers and the number of engineering positions being created continues to grow. Beyond this, the K-12 to higher education pipeline that is the primary means of educating the country’s engineers is demonstrating deficiencies such as issues in accessibility and achievement gaps for individuals with varying sociodemographic and economic backgrounds. To meet the country’s engineering workforce needs more efficiently, we need to identify alternative pathways (certifications, vocational trainings, two-year degrees, etc.) that can create well-educated, employable engineers that are accessible to people of diverse sociodemographic, economic, and professional backgrounds. To begin exploring this topic, a narrative analysis was performed to explore the following research question: How does a particular mid-career individual with non-engineering backgrounds successfully transition to an engineering career? A mid-career individual was interviewed specifically as this population often does not have the luxury of returning to school full-time due to additional personal responsibilities they experience which add an urgency to settle in a new career succinctly and efficiently. After obtaining the participant’s narrative, Schlossberg’s Transition Theory was used to assist in identifying (1) the engineering skills and experiences obtained that the participant viewed as most helpful in gaining their employment and (2) what aspects of their post-transition career success they attribute to the alternative pathway they followed. This paper concludes in identifying characteristics of a single alternative pathway, categorized into the constructs of Schlossberg’s Theory, that were viewed as being extremely beneficial in the participants transition into an engineering career. The narrative analysis of the participant’s career transition provides one example of an alternative pathway that may be used to successfully transition to engineering utilizing a more accessible format in terms of cost and time commitment. Identifying the characteristics of an alternative pathway and the implications it’s had on an engineering career offer insight into a new, more accessible pathway for those aiming to join the profession. Additionally, knowing the characteristics of the pathway which career success has be attributed to may be helpful in identifying additional alternative pathways.