Importance of a Mentor in a Civil Engineer's Career

[civilguy123]

I started this thread to get a feel for how other engineers feel about their experiences with their mentors throughout their careers. Mainly, I'm wondering how bad my situation is, and if there are others who went through what I am currently going through at my current employer.

To start, I graduated in May of 2014 with a bachelor's degree, and began working for a civil engineering consulting firm upon graduation. My first project was a bulkhead design. I did all the drafting, design, and specifications for the project with no help. During design, I asked my boss a design question, and brought up a kip. He looked at me and asked me what is a kip?

Long story short, my mentor worked for the state for 15 years and basically has no design background AT ALL. Now I have been given the task to design a 128 home residential development on my own. And when I ask my mentor a design question, he tells me to consult the county engineer. In my mind, county engineers or local government are there to ensure their specifications are followed through the design process, not to teach engineers how to implement their accepted methods of design.

I would like to hear from others just how common this situation is, and how much if any it will negatively affect my career. I did pass the PE Exam in April, but as most of you know passing the exam does not really qualify someone to say they are adequately educated in their field to design anything. Although I am learning, I am learning based on negative experiences.

 

[Ron]

Sad. It's unfortunate that you don't have a qualified mentor and that you have been thrown into the water to sink or swim. You will learn a lot; however, you're more likely to make a mistake that will cost your lazy boss some money. He obviously doesn't recognize this.

As for consulting other engineers, like the county engineer.....nothing wrong with it. They know their requirements (which you usually must meet) so it is good to get their input and along the way, if you need a little guidance, ask for it. Learn to balance asking for a little guidance and giving the appearance that you don't know anything. That usually comes from listening more than you talk and take in everything. It sounds as though you might have the capability to discern when you're being buffaloed, but be careful along the way and validate whatever you are told by checking other resources. This forum is certainly a good resource, but we obviously can't serve as your mentor....but we are glad to help when we can, particularly if you are trying to help yourself first!

Good luck.

 

[bimr]

The boss is not necessarily the employee trainer. However, the boss should be able to refer you to a coworker with the experience that you are looking for.

If there is no one at your place of employment that is willing to answer your questions, then you should look for a new employer.

 

[oldestguy]

Ron has some good advice. That KIP thing floored me.

Is there any way you can call your old college professors that might (I say might with tongue in cheek)have some ideas for references, papers or contacts. Sometimes well experienced contractors will help out with ideas, since they may do this for a foot in the door for actually doing the job. In doing consulting work I frequently dealt with contractors on jobs and it is amazing how sometimes these friendships helped us both.

 

[msquared48]

You learn almost nothing practical in school - everything after.

One of the strengths of an engineering office is being able to bounce your ideas and questions off other professionals. That helps everyone grow professionally as engineers. That is also why we are all in this forum, or it should be.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[civilguy123]

Thanks for all the feedback. One thing I've been doing is watching presentations and webinars on websites that offer PDHs. Those have been very helpful.