In this week's newsletter, Aaron Moncur has a conversation with Anthony Fasano, PE, civil engineer and founder of the Engineering Management Institute, where his team develops management and leadership skills for engineering professionals.
When asked what another company could offer to entice them to leave, engineers gave a surprising answer: the number one answer that we get is, believe it or not, is training. Not salary. Not title. Not benefits or remote work flexibility, but structured learning and development programs that most engineering companies fail to provide.
In this episode:
Why engineers cite inadequate training as the top reason they'd leave their company—ranking it above compensation, titles, and benefits
How public speaking serves as a force multiplier for every other professional skill by building the confidence needed to execute communication, networking, and leadership abilities
Why traditional one-day training sessions fail compared to structured learning and development programs that combine instruction, on-the-job application, and quarterly coaching support
How the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) identifies which career skills generate disproportionate returns—and why focusing on the critical 20% outperforms scattered skill development efforts
Bonus Content:
The Case for Better Professional Communication Standards
S3E5 Anthony Fasano| Communication & Soft Skills for Engineers, & How to Retain Engineering Talent
Most engineering companies approach retention with the wrong toolkit - offering higher salaries, better titles, or additional perks while missing what engineers actually want. In a survey of over 700 engineering professionals, 60% ranked career growth and development as their top priority, outranking compensation and benefits. Yet when those same engineers were asked what would entice them to leave their current company, the most common answer wasn't money: it was training. This disconnect reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what drives engineering talent. Anthony Fasano breaks down why learning and development programs serve as the foundation for both recruitment and retention, how public speaking builds the confidence that enables all other soft skills, and why the 80/20 rule should guide which career skills engineers prioritize. The companies that understand this distinction create environments where engineers actively choose to stay.
>If YouTube isn’t your thing, check out this episode and all of our past episodes on Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.
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Why Engineers Leave Companies That Don't Invest in Development
Engineering companies routinely lose talent while completely misunderstanding why. They assume it's about money, or titles, or work flexibility. The data tells a different story.
I did a survey recently on LinkedIn and I had over 700 engineers respond to the survey, I think it was close to 60% selected career growth and development is the number one thing they want from the company over pay over a title over benefits over work from home flexibility.
That finding would surprise most engineering managers, but it gets more revealing. When Fasano's team interviews employees at engineering companies, they ask a diagnostic question: what would another company need to offer to make you consider leaving?
The number one answer that we get is, believe it or not, is training. Really, most engineers say we don't get training here, we have some like online programs, we can log into once in a while, but it's not very engaging. You know, we need more training in management, management transition, how to communicate with people, etc.
This represents a massive blind spot. Companies invest in recruiting bonuses, competitive salaries, and benefit packages while engineers are explicitly stating they'd leave for better learning opportunities. The problem is that most engineering firms approach development incorrectly.
If people are answering that question with the word training, then you know, developing these learning and development programs is gonna be a return on investment, because that's what they're looking for. And if you don't give it to them, they're gonna go look for it somewhere else.
The Case for Better Professional Communication Standards
The professional world operates on a double standard where companies ghost candidates without consequence while expecting employees to maintain perfect courtesy. This article makes the case for better communication through individual action, empathy from all perspectives, and a call to stop perpetuating broken systems by demanding the same respect companies expect from us.
This topic has been on my mind constantly. My journey back to full-time employment has been fraught with case after case of hypocrisy and power imbalance. This "seller's market" means companies demand more from candidates during the interview process with expectation of returning the professional courtesy. We've all heard the horror stories - companies using candidates to solve problems for free, multi-day interview processes that vanish into silence, promises that upend people's lives. But isolating this problem to just the interview process doesn't do justice to what's really happening. The reality is that the system we live in accepts and perpetuates silence. Somehow, somewhere, we've decided this new norm is acceptable and just shrug it off. I want to make my case for individuals to take control of their actions, learn to empathize from all perspectives, and actively participate in changing this.
Read the full article on The Wave.