I have to make a decision soon 2

[HemiBuell]

So, I am currently working at a great job in a temp to permanent position. Perm is based on if a new product line takes off and it has. I have been here for two months.

My current company (company T) is really small but the past year has grown like crazy. Got rated in the Boston Globe as one of the top ten small medical device in MA. There is tons of growth potential here, but nobody above me that I can learn from directly. The only problem I have with company T is the lack of a senior engineer to provide career direction to me based on his personal experience. Something which I valued in my previous job. Small companies are also more risky.

Well I have a job offer from a great company (company A&A). One of the top medical device companies in the world (seriously), maybe the best. It is actually within a group at A&A that I have been applying to since my 3rd year in college (about 5 years ago).

I applied and interviewed a couple months ago. They have a lot of openings and are busy. So I finally got the offer.

I need to accept by Friday (two days away).

The commute is the same, salary is similar. Benefits at the A&A are bit better. People do not leave A&A. You stay, move up, get fat and rich, and then retire.

So, do I ask my current boss about my standing within company T? Do I mention the new job offer? I currently have no benefits and am in need of medical insurance because of my alergies.

I'm thinking if it was looking really good for me here they would have already said something to me.

I have completed all of my assignments here on time and done correctly.

Anybody have any advice?

Maybe I just need to feel out my current boss gracefully?

The last thing I want to do is to burn a bridge.

I hate being pressured with a decision.

-Chris

 

[Roadbridge]

So how’s it going now? Have you started work with A&A yet?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Congrats on the offer with "A&A" It sounded like you mostly had a "big fish in a small pond" type of thing going, but also that you made the right call. I would be very interested to hear how the corporate culture varies between the two jobs.
Where I am now is the rapid-growth underdog (medical devices even), and I often wonder what it's like to work for a multi-national corporation, or really anywhere with more managers than workers (no offense to any management types.)

 

[HemiBuell]

So, I'm here. Job is great. Tons of available training and I have an actual Mentor.

What a difference in attitudes also. Everyone seems to enjoy being here.

Thanks for all of the advice.

-Chris

 

[ShaggyPE]

I just read this thread. Congrats on the job change. I too have been in a similar situation. I can't say that I am now at my dream job, but I am closer to the goal. At my previous company I had no mentor, I was the engineer. Mind you I am 3 years out of school. At the new company I work with numerous ME's, EE's, and Software guys. I can finally work towards getting my PE.

There is a lot that can be learned when you get into the big pond.

Congrats.

 

[UNLengineer]

I disagree Shaggy18VW, I am currently the only engineer at my processing plant and graduated a little over a year ago. Nothing else forces you to learn so much in so little time.

 

[ShaggyPE]

UNL, I can guess that a processing plant is a world apart from the company I worked for. I am sure there is historical documentation pertaining to the operations of the plant; Safety documentation, tradeoff analysis, just an abundance of design history.

The last place I was at was a small (nah, tiny) company, about 15 employees. They brought me in to start documenting their existing products and designing new ones. There was no structure to the design process at that place. Before I got there, Mickey Mouse in the shop would bend some aluminum with pliers to make brackets to mount components into various types of enclosures. The enclosures were designed and fab’d by real sheet metal houses. It was my task to remove the control of the designs from the outside shops and control it with our own documentation. We would also document Mickey’s brackets produced in house so they could be manufactured outside. The problem is, I was brought in by the head sales guy, who knew the company needed formal documentation. It was almost as if the owner hired me just to humor the sales guy.

New designs were a similar story. No requirements, no design reviews. The owner didn’t want to waste time reviewing my designs, “just get them done and get ‘em built.” Once built, he had all sorts of suggestions to make them better. Suggestions that would have been great in an early design review stage, but costly after the first article was delivered. He would usually have Mickey rig something up to change the design. Then I would be told to document his method.

I attempted to implement (and failed) a rudimentary document control (with part numbers and revs... new concepts to the people there). It was a struggle every step of the way (with the owner). My lack of experience in a formal design environment produced a lack of confidence in support of the need for structure. I'll admit, had I been more stern with my demand for structure, it may have come to fruition. Now, a year and a half later, after working in a company that makes a solid attempt to follow a design process, I could take this new found knowledge back to the old place and probably whip them into shape.

The experience gained from working at an established firm with experienced individuals following established design practices is essential IMHO for the new grad. Sure I learned a lot while I was at that small company, but I didn’t learn it from anyone there. I learned from the sheet metal vendors that I worked hand in hand with to get products manufactured. The only thing I learned from the company was that I didn’t want to work for them.

Without some sort of guidance, be it a mentor or historical design data, how do you know that what you learned is actually correct?

 

[jmw]

Shaggy18vw,
the problem with the small company you worked for was that they should have employed someone who already had all the experience they needed but they would have had to pay a lot more and probably couldn't afford it.
That meant that you learned the hard way.
It is hopefully a measure of the trust they have in your training and natural ability that you will do the job however you learn it. Sometimes it isn't knowledge that is valued but ability.
I think that a period of "hard way learing" makes you much more appreciative of being mentored than if you go straight into a mentored position.
While a great deal is spoken about not repeating the mistakes of others, making your own mistakes is a great learning experience i.e. you learn the benefits of learning from other peoples mistakes.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com