Published: Nov 24, 2025 | Last Verified Against State Boards: Nov 24, 2025
As a professional engineer for over 15 years, I’ve seen a lot of smart, talented PEs hit a career plateau. They’re great at their job. They’re competent. But their development has stalled. They do their 15 PDH hours every renewal cycle, check the box, and call it “learning.”
Let’s be honest: that’s not learning. That’s compliance.
Compliance is the floor. It’s the bare minimum you have to do to not lose your license. It is not a strategy for career growth. The engineers I’ve seen truly accelerate their careers—the ones who become the go-to technical experts, the rainmakers, the principals—don’t just “let” their learning happen. They manage it.
They treat their career development just like they treat a multi-million dollar project: with a plan, a budget, a schedule, and a set of deliverables. They are, in effect, developing a personal learning plan (PLP).
If you feel like your skills have stagnated, or if you’re looking at the next 10 years of your career and don’t have a clear path, this article is for you. This is a practical, no-nonsense guide for PEs on how to stop “checking boxes” and start building a real learning plan.
Why “PDH Compliance” Isn’t a Career Strategy
Your PDH (or CPC) requirement is not a development plan. It’s a random assortment of webinars, often chosen based on what’s cheapest or most convenient. It’s a defensive move, not an offensive one.
- It’s Reactive, not Proactive: You take what’s available to hit the deadline.
- It’s Fragmented, not Focused: You might take a 1-hour course on ethics, a 2-hour course on a new software, and a 1-hour course on project management. They’re disconnected and don’t build on each other.
- It’s Passive, not Active: You sit and listen. You’re not applying, struggling, or building anything.
A real personal learning journey is the exact opposite. It’s focused, it’s proactive, and it’s built around a central set of goals.
What is a Personal Learning Plan (PLP) vs. Other Learning Plans?
So, what is a Personal Learning Plan (PLP)?
Think of it as the project plan for your own competence. It’s a dynamic, written document that outlines what you want to learn, why you want to learn it, how you’re going to learn it, and how you’ll know you’ve learned it.
It’s different from other learning plans you might have encountered.
- It’s not a Corporate Training Plan: That’s their plan to make you a better employee for them. It’s often generic.
- It’s not a PDH Log: That’s a record of the past.
- A PLP is your plan, for you. It’s a blueprint for your future. It’s the formal process of developing a personal learning plan that aligns 100% with your personal career goals.
Step 1: The Brutally Honest Self-Assessment (Your “As-Is”)
You can’t draw a map to your destination if you don’t know where you’re starting. Like any good engineering project, your first step is to establish the “as-is” condition.
This is the hardest of all the steps because you have to be brutally honest with yourself. Get a blank piece of paper and do a personal SWOT analysis:
- Strengths: What are you genuinely an expert in? What do people come to you for? (e.g., “I’m the best stormwater modeler in my office.”)
- Weaknesses: Where do you struggle? What do you avoid? (e.g., “I’m terrified of public speaking,” or “My project management skills are weak; I’m always over budget.”)
- Opportunities: What’s happening in the industry? (e.g., “Our state is pouring money into bridge retrofits,” or “AI is starting to impact design.”)
- Threats: What could make your skills obsolete? (e.g., “That new software is automating my core analysis tasks.”)
This isn’t a 10-minute exercise. This takes real, quiet reflection. Ask your boss. Ask a trusted peer. Get real data.
Step 2: Defining Your “To-Be” – Setting Real Career Goals
Once you know your “as-is,” you have to define your “to-be.” Where do you want to be in 1, 3, and 5 years?
“I want to be a principal” is a fine wish, but it’s a terrible goal. Your goals need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
- Bad Goal: “I want to be a better manager.”
- Good Goal: “In 24 months, I want to be qualified to manage the transportation division. This means I need to successfully manage a project over $5M, complete a project management certification (PMP), and co-present at a client pursuit.”
Your goals are the “deliverables” of your learning plan. They give you a “why.” Every learning activity you plan should directly support one of these goals. If it doesn’t, you don’t do it. This is how you achieve focus.
Step 3: Performing the Gap Analysis (Identifying Your Skills Gaps)
Now you have your “As-Is” (Step 1) and your “To-Be” (Step 2). The space between them is your “Gap.” This gap is your to-do list. This is where you identify the specific skills and knowledge you need to achieve your goals.
Let’s use the goal from Step 2: “Become qualified to manage the transportation division.”
- Gap 1 (Experience): I’ve never managed a $5M+ project.
- Gap 2 (Credentials): I don’t have a PMP.
- Gap 3 (Skills): I don’t know how to build a project budget from scratch.
- Gap 4 (Skills): I’ve never been part of a “go/no-go” pursuit decision.
- Gap 5 (Skills): I’ve never presented to a client selection committee.
See how this works? You’re not just “learning.” You are now on a surgical mission to acquire these five specific things. This is the entire foundation for your plan.
Step 4: Sourcing Your Learning Materials
Now that you know your gaps, you can find the learning materials to fill them. Most PEs only think of “PDH webinars.” This is a massive failure of imagination.
Your learning materials can and should include a huge variety of resources:
- Formal Courses: PDH webinars, university classes, certification bootcamps (like for the PMP).
- Publications: Technical journals, code manuals, design guides, trade magazines.
- Conferences: Technical sessions, vendor presentations, networking with experts.
- Self-Study: Buying the book, downloading the software, and doing the tutorials.
- People (Mentorship): Your single best resource. “Hey [Senior Manager], can I buy you lunch once a month and ask you how you manage project budgets?”
Step 5: Choosing Your Method (Beyond the Webinar)
This is about how you’ll engage with the learning materials. Don’t just default to passive learning (sitting and listening). True learning is active.
- Passive Learning (Low Retention): Watching a webinar, reading a book, listening to a lecture.
- Active Learning (High Retention): Applying the knowledge.
- Instead of just watching a webinar on a new software, download the trial and do a project with it.
- Instead of just reading a book on project management, volunteer to manage a small internal project.
- Instead of just listening to a presentation on public speaking, join Toastmasters and give a speech.
This is the core of learning and development. Your learning plan must be built around active, hands-on application.
Step 6: The “Project Management” Phase (Budget & Schedule)
You’re an engineer. You know how to manage a project. Do it.
- The “Budget”:
- Time: This is your biggest cost. You have to make this time. When are you going to do this? Be specific. “I will dedicate 60 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday morning before work, and 3 hours every other Saturday.” Put it on your calendar.
- Money: How much will this cost? A PMP boot camp? A conference? A stack of books? A university course? Get real numbers.
- The “Schedule”:
- What’s your timeline? You can’t fill all 5 of your “gaps” at once.
- Year 1, Q1-Q2: Focus on Gap 2 (PMP). Schedule the boot camp, set your study time, and book the exam.
- Year 1, Q3-Q4: Focus on Gap 3 (Budgeting). Take the in-house project accounting course and ask to shadow your PM on the next budget build.
- Year 2: Focus on Gap 1 (Experience). Actively pursue managing that $5M+ project.
This turns your vague “I want to learn” into a concrete, actionable project schedule.
Step 7: The “Personalized Learning” Approach in Practice
This whole process is the definition of personalized learning. It’s not a one-size-fits-all curriculum. It’s 100% tailored to you.
This is also where self-directed learning comes in. No one is going to do this for you. No one is going to assign you this work. You are the client, the project manager, and the intern all at once.
This is where practical application is key. A generic management course is fine. But a personalized learning approach says, “I’m going to take that generic theory and immediately apply it to my real project meeting this afternoon.” You connect the theory to your personal experience.
Step 8: How to Measure Progress and Stay Accountable
How do you know if your learning plan is working? You need to measure your progress.
Your “Key Performance Indicators” (KPIs) are not “hours logged.” Your KPIs are the milestones you set in your schedule.
- Did I pass the PMP exam? (Yes/No)
- Did I shadow my PM on the budget? (Yes/No)
- Did I present to a client this quarter? (Yes/No)
This is how you track progress against your goals.
Accountability is the other half. This is the hardest part of any self-directed learning plan.
- Tell People: Tell your boss. Tell your spouse. Tell a mentor. Giving someone else visibility on your goals makes you 100x more likely to achieve
- Find a “Learning” Partner: Is someone else in your office on a similar path? Compare notes.
- Use Tools: Use a simple Trello board or a spreadsheet to track your “To-Do,” “Doing,” and “Done” tasks for your learning plan.
A Final Thought: Your PLP is a Dynamic Document
Your Personal Learning Plan is not a static document you write once and file away. It’s a dynamic document. It’s a blueprint, not a final as-built.
You should be reviewing it every 6 months.
- Did your goals change?
- Did you achieve a milestone? What’s next?
- Did you discover a new gap you didn’t know you had?
- Did a new technology emerge (a “threat”) that needs to be addressed?
Developing a personal learning plan is the single most powerful strategy you can use to take control of your career. It’s the process of moving from a passive passenger to an active, engaged driver. It’s the difference between a career that happens to you and a career you design for yourself.
