U of T ENGINEERING

Engineering Graduate Studies

PhD Grad Maps

Resources for PhD students to enhance your graduate school experience and ease your transition into a rewarding career

How to use this resource

This resource offers guidance on navigating your graduate degree. Read the chart both by row and by column to discover opportunities to enhance your graduate school experience and ease your transition to a rewarding career. This resource provides recommendations and will not reflect everyone’s experience of the program. 

Start your graduate studies

Visit the School of Graduate Studies’ GradHub for essential information for your graduate degree: uoft.me/gradhub. 

Department-specific information

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS FIRST YEARMIDDLE YEARSFINAL YEAR
MAXIMIZE YOUR RESEARCH IMPACT
  • Identify a research question that meets a gap in the field (read lots! - the Engineering & Computer Science Library is a great resource)

  • Formulate your research objectives

  • Identify a project plan and specific milestones to guide your project completion

  • Learn how to design, conduct, optimize, and troubleshoot an experiment

  • Develop strategies to communicate effectively with your supervisor/team to support your needs

  • Consider completing TEP5500: Research Methods and Project Execution and using this online resource

  • Review SGS and your department's websites to learn about scholarships and awards

  • Master core technical methods required for your project experiments

  • Transition from collecting preliminary data to creating publication-quality data

  • Establish a peer network to gain feedback on your research (not just in your own lab!)

  • Refine your research question and don’t be afraid to walk away from a bad idea

  • Develop the critical thinking skills to assess your own and others’ research

  • Co-author a paper to understand the publishing process

  • Present your research orally at conferences and meetings with industry partners or collaborators to master research storytelling

  • Mentor an undergraduate research student
  • Aim to publish your research in a journal

  • Present at an international conference to get exposure to your research field. Apply for SGS and your department's conference grants.

  • Select an external examiner who will potentially increase the impact of your work

  • Understand what research question is next
SELF-ASSESS

  • How does my proposed research approach differ from what has been done before and why is it more likely to be successful?

  • How generalizable is my research question and solution?

SELF-ASSESS

  • How can I refine my plan into manageable chunks that still have broad implications?

  • How can I design my experiments for the best chance of success?

  • How confident am I in my data and what does it mean?
SELF-ASSESS

  • How can I best communicate the key ideas behind my findings?

  • How can my findings be taken to the next level (practice, commercialization, further studies, etc.)?
DEVELOP YOUR PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
  • Develop a plan to achieve your professional development goals

  • Create a system to manage your time
  • Intentionally develop professional skills to achieve goals set in Year 1

  • Complement your discipline-specific knowledge with the ELITE Emphasis in entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, and technology

  • Grow your professional skills at the Centre for Graduate Professional Development: uoft.me/CGPD

  • Improve your communication skills at the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication: uoft.me/GCAC

  • Inspire your leadership potential at the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (Troost ILead): ilead.engineering.utoronto.ca

  • Customize your degree by completing a Technical Emphasis in sustainable energy, robotics, and more
  • Establish examples of impact to highlight your professional skills
SELF-ASSESS

  • What are my professional skill strengths? What skills do I want to grow?

  • What skills are most valuable to my degree and career interests? How can I develop or practice these skills?
SELF-ASSESS

  • How far have I come in my professional development?

  • How do my professional skills and activities align with my strengths and personal qualities?

  • What experiences have enabled me to effectively develop my skills and confidence?
SELF-ASSESS

  • What experiences from graduate school and beyond highlight my professional skills?

  • How can I utilize my professional skills to further my impact and transition in my career?
CONNECT WITH YOUR PEERS AND MENTORS
  • Consider taking on a leadership role in a student association

  • Consider mentoring a first-year student

  • Continue to cultivate your relationships with your mentors
  • Establish mechanisms to remain connected to your peers post-graduation
SELF-ASSESS

  • What skills and experiences do I want to gain?

  • What student associations align with my interests?

  • What do I need from a mentor? How can I grow my network to find this?


SELF-ASSESS

  • What impact do I want to have in my community?
SELF-ASSESS

  • What skills and experiences did I gain? How can I utilize them to further my impact and transition in my career?
BUILD YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
  • Create an email signature

  • Create a LinkedIn and Engineering CONNECT profile (uoftengineeringconnect.ca). Get feedback on your profile from peers and mentors.

  • Practice your personal introduction

  • Conduct an informational interview with someone working in a field of interest. Find people using LinkedIn, Engineering CONNECT, and Ten Thousand Coffees (uoft.me/tenthousandcoffees).
  • Listen for job opportunities in your network

  • Facilitate connections between new students and your established network
SELF-ASSESS

  • Who can I connect with to gather relevant information about potential careers and/or further studies?

  • What do I want to learn from networking?
SELF-ASSESS

  • What am I learning about potential careers and/or further studies?

  • What careers and/or further studies interest me the most and why?
SELF-ASSESS

  • How can I leverage my network to transition from graduate school to my next opportunity?

  • How will I continue to network when I am no longer a student?
LAUNCH YOUR CAREER PLAN
  • Develop your career management skills with engineering students by attending OPTIONS Complementary Events: uoft.me/optionsprogram

  • Further build your career management skills at university-wide workshops with the Centre for Graduate Professional Development: uoft.me/CGPD

  • Attend a workshop or book a 1-on-1 appointment with Career Exploration & Education to discuss your career exploration and job search plan: careers.utoronto.ca

  • Explore U of T Engineering alumni career trajectories on Engineering CONNECT (uoftengineeringconnect.ca)
  • Refine your resume and cover letter
  • Practice your interview skills
SELF-ASSESS

  • What career management skills do I need to grow?

  • What transferable skills from my degree are valuable to my career interests?
SELF-ASSESS

  • Who can I share my career aspirations and application material with for feedback and guidance?
SELF-ASSESS

  • Who can I share my career aspirations and application material with for feedback and guidance?

Identify Your Transferable Skills

  • Advanced technical skills
  • Data analysis
  • Critical thinking
  • Project management
  • Teamwork
  • Collaborative problem-solving and decision-making
  • Interpersonal skills and relationship building
  • Communication
  • Time management

Further Your Education

Conduct an Informational Interview

  • What career path did you take to get to this position?
  • What are the most important skills you use in your work? How did you develop these?
  • What do you wish you had learned that would be useful in your position today?
  • What possibilities are there for advancing in this company/field/industry?
  • What is a typical day like for you?
  • Can you tell me about a current project you are involved in?
  • How is your work-life balance?

TIP: Follow up after your meeting — on the same day as your interview — with a thank you note. Include a LinkedIn invitation and ask any further questions.

More information:
uoft.me/informationalinterviews

Supports & Services

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Acknowledgements

We would like to credit Queen’s University for the original creation of Grad Maps.  

© 2024 Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering