Men and women engineers in a large industrial organization: interpretation of career progression based on subjective-career experience

This paper explores the interpretation of career progression of a group of men and women engineers in a large industrial organization in Malaysia. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 20 engineers about their subjective-career experience. They were senior engineers selected from four operating units of the organization. The career-history data indicate that the interpretation of career progression of these engineers is grouped into four themes, namely, the importance of technical and managerial career ladders, engineering career from the perspective of gender, influence of structural change on career, and the importance of personal and organizational factors as well as opportunities affecting career progression.