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With the emphasis today on
ensuring competent people the issue of continuing professional
development (CPD) has never been more important. Regardless of whether
you are at the start, middle or towards the end of your career, as a
professional engineer you need to continuously consider your competence
and be thinking about what you need to do to develop and maintain it. This
will keep you employable and improve your skillsets. The IRSE has
published a helpful CPD Guide on
best practice for planning and recording your CPD, which supports the
Institution's CPD Policy
Everyone’s CPD needs are
different and will depend on where you are now, your ambitions and career
aspirations. Keeping up to date with current and new technology is just
one aspect of your development that you need to consider; engineers may
also need to develop their management, teamwork, project management and
communication skills to name just a few.
As well as attending seminars,
conferences and formal training courses in work time, development of your
competences can also be achieved through other means; examples include:
Independent structured learning for IRSE Exam or other goals. Undertaking
challenging projects and / or job swaps. Talking at colleges and schools about
engineering. Reading technical journals and text books. Volunteering with
your local IRSE Section. Attending, organising or presenting at technical
visits and lectures, through your local IRSE section or through work. Gaining
an academic qualification. Supporting the development of others.
The IRSE can also support your
CPD through the following:
IRSE events: such as technical meetings and visits, technical conventions,
seminars and conferences.
IRSE publications: IRSE’s monthly technical magazine, IRSE NEWS along with various text books on systems and practices which can
be obtained from the IRSE online shop.
IRSE Knowledge page and
Library: The Knowledge area of this web-site is regularly updated and includes the
latest news, recent, presentations, technical papers and in some cases
video recordings from meetings and seminars. IRSE members can use the IET Library facilities at Savoy Place, London.
IRSE Professional Examination: The IRSE Examinations enables members to demonstrate their
knowledge and understanding of a broad range of technical and operational
subjects relevant to train control and communications.
Mentoring: The IRSE offers a Mentoring Scheme to help members to develop
their professional competence, achieve defined learning objectives and
enhance their non-technical skills through mentoring provided by more
experienced members.
You can record your CPD in a
number of ways:
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If you prefer you can download
paper copies of the Mycareerpath templates and maintain manual records of
your CPD
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Your company may have its own
CPD recording systems, paper or electronic that you can use
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If you are an IRSE Licence
Holder, then you can use your logbook for CPD recording.
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