Career Move

[Zaster85]

I have 7 years in the same field and an excellent grasp on the material and expectations of me with my current company, but I want to keep expanding my abilities. I am considering a move to a different company, but am cautiously concerned about training at the new position.

The new job would "temporarily" have me working without contact of fellow discipline engineers for an unknown period of time. The company is massive so resources for training would exist in other branches, but I would be the only electrical in the branch. I would have no local technical supervisor or support, no technical counterparts to review or bounce ideas off of, etc.

I am confident in my abilities, but it is also reassuring to have a local technical supervisor and support staff.

Has anyone had experience being the sole discipline engineer in a branch? Can I actually expect training?

Thank you, and my apologies for typos... This is written on a tablet.

 

[Ron]

Yes. I was the sole discipline engineer in a branch office of an international firm. I utilized mentoring resources in other branch offices, interacted with numerous people in other offices and it resulted in the most rewarding learning experience of my entire career (I've now been a consulting engineer for over 35 years). The experience of having only yourself to depend on caused me to be more thorough, more investigative, to do more research on the issue at hand and to deal with people in a variety of disciplines and exposures....in short...the best experience I could have ever gotten as an engineer. Because of the way it taught me to be resourceful, I tried to always have the right answer before I confirmed with my mentors. I think, all in all, it made me a better engineer.

I had this opportunity after only 18 months out of school. I took it and I'm glad I did.

 

[makesparks]

Yes. In most of my career up to this point I have been the sole EE at the various places I have worked at. As Ron said, you get exposed to a variety of diciplines. It is quite a ride, but worth it. Get to know local technical people that sell parts and services to your branch, they can be great resources for ideas, training, and technical help.

 

[urgross]

Most of my career I have been the sole ME. After 30 years, I'm on a staff that has a design ME and ME for construction period services. Having peer review and protection against tunnel vision are really nice bennies, especially for areas where potential for harm is large.

 

[Zaster85]

Thank you all for the input. This does appear to be a career defining choice, just waiting for the remaining answers from the potential employer before I make a decision.