Employer fired most of the engineering staff, time for a new job? 8

[JakeR82]

Hello,

I was hired at my company about a year ago as a mechanical/thermal design engineer. Long story short, there was a good engineering department of the company 3 years ago. Then management had the idea of moving the engineering to overseas, which has proven to be a very bad decision. So they hired back one 'engineer' who was actually more of a draftsman. About 6 months ago the engineer they hired back left the company to go work for our competition. There was really no overlap in knowledge as close to none of the design files survived the transition. The current place doesn't have any systems set up with dealing with the engineering because they have never had engineers at the manufacturing site.

Most of my time is spent doing CAD work and working on quotes for sales. Management is very determined to expand the product line with less engineers on staff than were at the old site. I would like state that I am currently the most experienced engineer.

I really feel that my skill-set is not being utilized and that my engineering training from the real work is going rather slow since there is no experienced engineer on staff. I'm basically keeping the place running by 'swim or drown'. I want to be in the technical side of engineering in 20 years with a P.E. and a Master's degree. My parent company has a P.E. I talk to a lot to sort out technical matters that require experience. He also said he would validate me for my P.E. License when I pursue it.

Should it be time to look for a new job?

 

[SNORGY]

Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out.

What a bunch of idiots.

My opinion...

 

[Jboggs]

I've been in the field for a long time and I have seen many companies "save" money by trimming engineering staff. True, all functions of any business should run lean and mean, and get the most results for the least investment. But to decide that all of a sudden some function simply isn't needed makes no sense at all. Unfortunately I do foresee a time when non-engineers will understand what we do, how we do it, or the tools we need to do it right. I've seen efficiency experts "re-design" an engineering department and try to set it up like an assembly line. They decided that engineers don't need telephones, email, or catalogs, because none of that stuff put lines on paper or on the screen. I know one boss that told one engineer to his face "All you are is a pencil."

Once a client hired me to do some layout work and when I showed up they took me to the engineering office. It was a large room with 30-40 desks, drafting boards, and filing cabinets everywhere filled with the records of decades of work. Not a single body in the whole room. It was sad. And the company knew they had made a mistake. But is was too late.

None of that helps you in your decision. I would just say to be loyal to yourself, because no one else will be. I try to look at all jobs as learning opportunities, and you are certainly learning a lot there. When you start to see the learning opportunities fade from your future, look elsewhere.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I fell into a symmetrical situation not long ago; the entire engineering staff had quit en masse. The results were about the same. The company still doesn't realize how much they lost.

The experience will only sadden you.

It can add too little to your professional development.

Find another job.
Then quit.
In that order.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[SNORGY]

Why would an engineer choose to remain in the company of others who, by virtue of their actions, have demonstrated how little they value engineers? That is like staying with a girlfriend (or boyfriend) who would dump you without a second thought the minute something about you became inconvenient or imperfect.

Me, I would rather hang around folks who like me, or at least respectme, to some extent.

 

[berkshire]

Don't forget what Mike said.
Get the new job first! Then quit.

In a situation like the one you describe, it will take just one more thing for you to say "Thats it I'm out of here." Resist that temptation , Get the new job first.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[GregLocock]

Call me Pollyanna but you might be able to make something of this. Hire a good CAD guy, get that monkey off your back. Or at least unload the CAD onto the less experienced engineers, and start behaving like the senior engineer on site.

You've said they want to get by with less engineering staff than they had in the past, do they actually have a plan to achieve that?

If not, put a plan together. Work with your PE to make the numbers sensible.





Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[ajack1]

Greg’s seems the most measured response by a country mile to me.

 

[JakeR82]

I actually am acting like the engineering senior. I've layed-out the department plans for the year, have started looking at document control programs and implementations. I'm looking at re-writing the design standards (most because they no longer exist).

However, I've asked for more people, especially a CAD guy. The response I've gotten is that our 'budget' doesn't have room for more staffing. The CAD work we do can be done by a college student as most of it is basic layout of the item. I have tried to get a temporary person from the local college, but again, no room in the budget I've been told.

The P.E. has told me that we need to invest a large amount of resources into R&D to re-figure out some of our products if we wish to remain competitive.

It is very challenging to rebuild an engineering department and keep producing products. The one thing I do make sure is done are the calculations to verify the safety. I will not let an unsafe product leave our facility.

 

[spciesla]

Unless your CAD needs are very simple, I wouldn't count on good results from a college student without a lot of hand-holding. Sounds like you are treading water. Get busy on the job search.

 

[Maui]

It sounds like a losing battle. But before you start the process of searching for your next job, I would have a sit down with your management team and have an open discussion about your concerns to determine if there is an avenue you could pursue to make this job work. If the problem is not articulated properly to the right people in the organization, then you will get nowhere. So you should identify the decision makers and talk to them directly. You may be surprised at what they share.

If you leave without doing this, you are selling the job short. And your next job might not be any better (and could possibly be worse). In this economy, there are any number of reasons why a job becomes available in a given company. People rarely leave a company that they actually like working for, especially now. Many of the available positions usually have something that is disfunctional about them in some respect (much like the job you have now). So you may not be improving your situation by moving on. If you do decide to look elasewhere, follow the advice given previously - land the next job first before you quit.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[stanweld]

Have sales been adversely affected with the engineering downsizing? If so and the current financial shape of the company is poor, do not hesitate to look for a new position. If not, GregLocock's suggestion bears consideration; however, if that bears no fruit, take SNORGY's advice.

 

[KENAT]

Is the CAD taking a long time because there's so much of it, or because you're bad/slow at it?

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[lacajun]

If you can survive until "when push comes to shove" and survive that phase, you might be in a good position, if you can get the technical experience you want at that company. You're learning some good lessons of what "not" to do and will learn good lessons about adding products and what that entails, which is non-trivial.

Although SNORGY made me laugh, Greg and Maui made some good points.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[fast4door]

I always love it when companies think they will be successful by cost-cutting. During 2009, my company sent out a memo from HR asking people to conserve paper, electricity, and my favorite, water. Was I supposed to let it mellow? Every day I used a 200 hp electric motor; I could have wiped out 6 months of light-shutting-offing in 5 minutes.

Companies are successful when they have a good product to sell. And if they're smart they'll have more in the pipeline because the first will eventually run its course in the market. The only way to have more in the pipeline is to invest in R&D.

If your company seems to understand this principle, go with Greg's recommendation and become VP of engineering in due course.

 

[abusementpark]

Better make a new plan, Stan.