Young Professionals

Need Your Participation

The Post is interested in ensuring that it is providing a meaningful experience to you and that what we provide is of interest to you. The San Antonio Post’s young professional program is for SAME members under 40. It is an outstanding opportunity for professional development, networking, career guidance, and just plain fun. All it takes is an investment in time.

We are working on many ideas to improve the young professional program. Having many varied and interesting and varied SAME activities may foster more young member involvement in the Post. Some ideas being considered include:

  • Mentoring programs and professional development discussions
  • Peer discussions on assignments, jobs, projects, etc …
  • Tours to sites of engineering interest (need ideas here…)

We encourage young engineers from the sustaining member firms to participate. There is quite a bit that military and private sector engineers can share and learn from each other.

SAME provides the young member with many opportunities to learn, to grow, and for fun. Without your ideas and participation, we can’t make these programs happen.

Amanda Navarro from Merrick & Company is the Post’s Young Professional Director and wants to hear your ideas on YP events and activities.

Networking

Most young professionals are familiar with Facebook, but did you realize that there is a networking tool available for working professionals as well?

LinkedIn is the leading professional networking tool online, used by over 10 million professionals worldwide.

LinkedIn is FREE. Besides the benefits of communicating with each other, others include:

  • Leverage the power of the network to find and reach the new business contacts you need;
  • Accelerate your career through referrals from other members;
  • Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow members;
  • Let other members know what you have to offer professionally to them and their contacts.

SAME YP Information

You will find a repository of information for Young Professionals at the SAME website. The information is designed to serve as a resource to help Young Professionals in Posts share information, plan Post activities and events geared toward Young Members and to engage Young Members in The Society’s recognition and leadership opportunities. View the SAME Young Professionals Community of Interest webpage.

P.E. Preparation Tips

Here are some helpful PE/FE Links:

The application process can be almost as difficult as the studying for the test. Each state has different rules and procedures; make sure you understand them.

In preparing for your PE or FE, find as much information as you can on the test format and content. Prioritize the subjects you will study. Both the number of potential questions and your familiarity with the subjects factor into this prioritization.

You should spend more time on a subject with two questions on the test over a subject with one question. Review the fundamentals before diving into the heavy-duty subjects.

Make a study schedule. You probably won’t keep all of it, but it forces studying into the front of your mind. Study, study, study! Do lots of practice problems, and review the solutions from solutions manuals.

Understand where everything came from. Be familiar with your references, and tab them. One individual took about 10 books to the test, but only used one. However, the individual was very familiar with all the tables and references in it.

Don’t study the week before the test. You will need it to relax.

For more information, comments, ideas, or help, on professional development you can contact James KIsiel, Post Leadership & Mentoring Director.

Post Leadership Lab Program

In 2011, the Post started an annual Young Professional (YP) mentoring program and to date 90 members have graduated from the program. The Leadership Lab is aimed at both up-and-coming leaders and established operational leaders in government and industry that would benefit from the discussion, sharing of thoughts and experiences, and readings in leadership and related topics.

The Leadership Lab’s goals are:

  • Provide students the chance to push individual comfort limits to develop their own style of leadership
  • Offer a broad understanding of leadership theories and the practical application of those concepts
  • Afford the opportunity to listen and learn from leadership speakers on their leadership experiences
  • Provide students an enriching experience that met their desire for professional and personal growth

The program includes:

  • 10 – 12 students
  • Broken up into Accountability Pairs
  • Bi-weekly meetings for about 8 months
  • Review of 2-3 leadership books
  • Group facilitated discussion on assigned reading
  • DiSC Profiles
  • Speaker Series (Military, Civic, Business Leaders)
  • Team Building Experience
  • Volunteering/Service Projects (Community Service, SAME Event)
  • Mentor-Protégé Program
  • Professional Development Plan

For more information, contact:

Our Post Lab Directors: 
Cathy Bond Cassidy and Cade Deines

Post YP Discounts

Our Post offers some special discounts to its young professionals.

The Post offers discounts for Post young professionals to special event(s) such as our Annual Holiday Gala held in December each year.

We encourage all Post young professionals to take advantage of these opportunities.

Communities of Interest

SAME’s Communities of Interest offer members a chance to engage nationally with other professionals focused on a particular technical field or demographic within joint engineering and the A/E/C industry.