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Future Students

Certificate for Engineering Leadership

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PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS

Guide technical projects and become a team leader.

NEXT START DATE: January 3, 2024

Get details Apply


LOCATION

UW SEATTLE, ONLINE


DURATION

11-12 MONTHS


TIMES

EVENINGS


COST

$11,860 (ESTIMATED)

ABOUT THIS PROGRAM

Successful engineering projects require more than just technical expertise. Effective leadership is the key to managing all the moving parts of a project and ensuring they combine to meet established requirements and objectives.

In this four-course certificate program, you’ll gain the tools and knowledge to become a successful technical lead, first-level manager or program manager in an organization of any size. We’ll explore how to communicate with business professionals and participate in negotiations and the decision making process. Increase your confidence in leading diverse teams, mentoring employees, making data-driven decisions and guiding complex projects to completion.

DESIGNED FOR ENGINEERS, TEAM LEADS, AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS

Engineers who are new to a leadership role or want to improve their leadership skills.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have:

  • A bachelor of science degree in engineering or a related technical field
  • A cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in the last two years of relevant coursework
  • Professional experience in an engineering-related field

English Proficiency

If English is not your native language, you should have at least intermediate English skills to enroll. To learn more, see English Language Proficiency Requirements – Credit Programs.

International Students

International students are welcome to apply to an online offering of this program, which doesn’t require a visa. To enroll in a classroom offering, you must have a visa that permits study in the United States. This program does not enable students to obtain or maintain F-1 visa status. For more information, see Admission Requirements for International Students.

Technology Requirements

  • Access to a computer with a recent operating system and a major web browser with cookies enabled
  • High-speed internet connection
  • Headset (Logitech Stereo Headset H151 recommended)
  • Webcam (recommended)

Earning the Certificate

You earn the certificate by adhering to the syllabus of each class and successfully completing all required courses. You must receive a grade of at least 2.7 in each course, and you must complete the certificate in two years or less.

 

Approved by the UW College of Engineering in collaboration with our Professional Advisory Board.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

  • Ways to align technical projects with business strategy and how to scope projects from concept to final approval
  • Qualitative and quantitative methods for decision making, including decision trees, Monte Carlo simulation and other decision analysis tools
  • How to leverage technology, manage risk and communicate project objectives and progress to senior management.
  • Approaches for handling cultural and generational diversity and team dynamics.
  • Project management strategies, tools and best practices

EARN GRADUATE CREDIT

By completing this certificate program, you can earn graduate credit. Learn more about credit options.

 

Your journey begins here...

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

You must complete all 4 courses, in any order, to earn this certificate. You may be able to take individual courses without enrolling in the certificate program; check the course pages for details.

 

IND E 581

NAVIGATING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

 

IND E 582

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

 

IND E 583

DECISION ANALYSIS

 

IND E 584

PROJECT PERFORMANCE

 

 

Certificate Achieved!

 

LEARNING FORMATS

 

Online with
real-time meetings

Combine the convenience of online learning with the immediacy of real-time interaction. You’ll stream courses online and interact with your instructors and fellow students via chat, web conferencing or phone, all in real time. Learn More »

   

Blended
(classroom & online)

You can choose to attend classes either online or in person each week. Classroom sessions are held at the UW Seattle campus. Online classes are streamed live via web conferencing, and all sessions are recorded for later review.

PROGRAM SESSIONS

ONLINE WITH REAL-TIME MEETINGS

  • AUTUMN 2023

    About this Course:

    As an up-and-coming leader in your organization, you're beginning to marshal resources and direct individual contributors as a technical director or mentor. You already possess the engineering skills — tools that have attracted the attention of management. Now it's time to take charge of an idea and drive it forward.

    But how do you navigate the business environment so your projects are successful and create real and lasting value for your organization? This course offers a series of tools and frameworks that you can apply to move project ideas from rough concept to management approval.

    What You'll Learn:

    • Corporate business strategy: how to connect and integrate your projects with your firm’s plans
    • Marketing fundamentals: how to use marketing techniques to help sell your ideas to stakeholders
    • Accounting and finance: how your company’s health and financial direction determine which projects go forward
    • Project valuation and ROI analysis
    • How to pick smart projects and sell them to management

  • WINTER 2024

    About this Course:

    Technical leaders are not necessarily managers, but often lead from positions of unofficial authority. This course will cover the skills needed to build, lead and motivate high-performance teams as a technical leader.

    The first step in becoming a leader is to develop self-awareness, including how others perceive you and how you react in stressful situations. You’ll start the course by taking a personality assessment to determine your general traits and how you interact with other personality types. We’ll discuss communication styles, team composition, negotiation skills and decision making within the context of this structure. Team diversity can be an asset, and we’ll explore various types of diversity in the course, including cultural and generational.

    What You'll Learn:

    • Methods for working on virtual teams
    • Key techniques for teaching and mentoring future technical leaders
    • Important aspects of ethical issues
    • A framework for evaluating decisions

  • SPRING 2024

    About this Course:

    This course prepares you to apply decision analysis tools and processes to solve complex decision problems. We’ll explore the nature of complex decisions, the role of decision analysis, and some of the limitations of human decision heuristics. You’ll review data analysis concepts through statistics and probability modeling. We’ll practice using decision analysis tools and approaches by analyzing real-world engineering decision situations and case studies. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to judge when and under what circumstances decision analysis is appropriate.

    What You'll Learn:

    • How to use a variety of decision tools, including AHP, influence diagrams and Monte Carlo simulation
    • Concepts related to decision trees and influence diagrams for decision making under uncertainty
    • Ways to perform simulations for decision problems, including spreadsheet modeling
    • Methods for evaluating decision quality

  • SUMMER 2024

    About this Course:

    Good project management skills can often make the difference between the success or failure of a project. In order to be an effective engineer, you must be able to competently organize and manage the time and resources for a given project. Even when you’re not a team leader, this skill set can greatly influence your ability to contribute to business value and boost your career. When you’re a team leader, these skills are even more important and difficult to perfect.

    This course focuses on the fundamental skills you need to effectively align your projects with company business strategies, build motivated teams, select appropriate technology tools, manage risk, and communicate project objectives and progress to senior management. We’ll explore a combination of case studies, team projects and other knowledge to gain insight and better understand what determines successful project performance.

  • COST OF PROGRAM: $11,860 (ESTIMATED)

    Divided into quarterly payments. Additional fees apply. See Cost Details.

BLENDED (CLASSROOM+ONLINE)

  • AUTUMN 2023

    About this Course:

    As an up-and-coming leader in your organization, you're beginning to marshal resources and direct individual contributors as a technical director or mentor. You already possess the engineering skills — tools that have attracted the attention of management. Now it's time to take charge of an idea and drive it forward.

    But how do you navigate the business environment so your projects are successful and create real and lasting value for your organization? This course offers a series of tools and frameworks that you can apply to move project ideas from rough concept to management approval.

    What You'll Learn:

    • Corporate business strategy: how to connect and integrate your projects with your firm’s plans
    • Marketing fundamentals: how to use marketing techniques to help sell your ideas to stakeholders
    • Accounting and finance: how your company’s health and financial direction determine which projects go forward
    • Project valuation and ROI analysis
    • How to pick smart projects and sell them to management

  • WINTER 2024

    About this Course:

    Technical leaders are not necessarily managers, but often lead from positions of unofficial authority. This course will cover the skills needed to build, lead and motivate high-performance teams as a technical leader.

    The first step in becoming a leader is to develop self-awareness, including how others perceive you and how you react in stressful situations. You’ll start the course by taking a personality assessment to determine your general traits and how you interact with other personality types. We’ll discuss communication styles, team composition, negotiation skills and decision making within the context of this structure. Team diversity can be an asset, and we’ll explore various types of diversity in the course, including cultural and generational.

    What You'll Learn:

    • Methods for working on virtual teams
    • Key techniques for teaching and mentoring future technical leaders
    • Important aspects of ethical issues
    • A framework for evaluating decisions

  • SPRING 2024

    About this Course:

    This course prepares you to apply decision analysis tools and processes to solve complex decision problems. We’ll explore the nature of complex decisions, the role of decision analysis, and some of the limitations of human decision heuristics. You’ll review data analysis concepts through statistics and probability modeling. We’ll practice using decision analysis tools and approaches by analyzing real-world engineering decision situations and case studies. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to judge when and under what circumstances decision analysis is appropriate.

    What You'll Learn:

    • How to use a variety of decision tools, including AHP, influence diagrams and Monte Carlo simulation
    • Concepts related to decision trees and influence diagrams for decision making under uncertainty
    • Ways to perform simulations for decision problems, including spreadsheet modeling
    • Methods for evaluating decision quality

  • SUMMER 2024

    About this Course:

    Good project management skills can often make the difference between the success or failure of a project. In order to be an effective engineer, you must be able to competently organize and manage the time and resources for a given project. Even when you’re not a team leader, this skill set can greatly influence your ability to contribute to business value and boost your career. When you’re a team leader, these skills are even more important and difficult to perfect.

    This course focuses on the fundamental skills you need to effectively align your projects with company business strategies, build motivated teams, select appropriate technology tools, manage risk, and communicate project objectives and progress to senior management. We’ll explore a combination of case studies, team projects and other knowledge to gain insight and better understand what determines successful project performance.

  • COST OF PROGRAM: $11,860 (ESTIMATED)

    Divided into quarterly payments. Additional fees apply. See Cost Details.

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