Job Training? 1

[Ztrain1985]

I’ve been working for a company for about a year now, and I'm almost to the breaking point.

This is my first job out of college and I was thrilled to get it. They pay me well; in fact I have the highest starting salary of my class.

To avoid a wall of text, here are the highlights.
- When I started the job, I had no education in electrical power systems (my college focuses on computer/hardware, not power).
- They started me off doing drafting work, so I self - taught myself Autocad, and eventually they moved me up to checking electrical drawings for typos.
- My first project was probably 1.5 month after being hired, where I was told to copy an existing design and ask questions on anything I didn’t understand. Simple design project, 2-3 drawings, didn’t learn much from it, just copy and paste because that’s all there was to it.
- My next big assignment was a service upgrade. In this job, I was given the NEC and basically told do it, and ask any questions you have. I learned a lot from it as this was my first experience with the NEC but my learning was entirely reliant on asking questions.

As a side, its hard to ask questions you don’t know you should ask, or sometimes, the correct question to even ask.

- Next couple projects were all the same. Use the NEC, ask questions if you don’t understand something.

If money wasn’t involved, I would have a problem with this, except I am the sole designer/engineer on the project, so there is no one to check my work until the end review. It is here I normally find out they wanted the project done a certain way, but didn’t realize they had to tell me that. (ie. Use a certain brand of device, drawn a certain way, use a certain font, etc.)

With each project I have been on, I am the lead drafter, lead designer, and lead engineer. I am responsible for everything on the project, even work done by senior members of the company. I am responsible for contacting the client, arranging meetings, etc. I am also in charge of the drafters assigned to this projects. I am not instructed what to do, and typically have to use my own engineering judgment on how to solve something, or ask someone else and then decided what to do based on their answer.

Looking back I have learned a lot, but at the same time, I feel humiliated and useless when it comes time to review the project. The people who critique my work have been in the field for 10 years, sometimes up to 45. I am not a physical or wiring designer. I do not know the NEC or NFPA or UL codes. I am not a skilled drafter. This company does not have their own drafting/design/engineer standards I can look at it to learn from. It pretty much goes on a project by project basis.

Is my experience in the electrical power systems field typical and I just need to suck it up? Is this typical for small company of 50 to 60 people?

I feel so cheated going to school for engineer for 4 years, and walking away from it knowing almost nothing that assists me in the field I got into. I feel even more cheated working so hard in school under the belief that “work hard now so you can play later”, only to have no work some days of the week (extremely boring), and then being told “we are working overtime and weekends”, meaning I don’t get to see my family, friends, or Girl Friend (I have a 1.5 hour commute so overtimes means get up, go to work all day, go to bed).

At least hearing this is typical would let me know Im not alone in dealing with this. Thanks for taking the time to read this by the way, I’m just really down at the moment.

 

[csd72]

Gymmeh,

You sleep with more than one code book? Do they get jealous of each other?

 

[Gymmeh]

Well the AWS is a little thicker and tends to get jealous of the CMAA because she'z slim and colorfull, and I spend more time with CMAA.

The funny thing is my wife don't get jealous at all ;-)

 

[MTPipeliner]

Your experience is pretty typical from what I've seen at the companies that I've worked for. My first 2 years were pretty rough, it seemed that what I did always seemed to be the wrong way to do it.

I really don't think the "training system" of just give the new guy a project and let him sink or swim is a very good way to go, but it happens a lot.

It sounds like you may have some other reasons to move on to another job, but I wouldn't get too discouraged over the way you've been given projects just yet.

I'm always amazed when I look back and see how much I've learned since I started. Nothing makes this more evident than working with the next new guy and being able to answer his questions.

 

[Krautso]

Run. Run Fast. This is not the right environment to begin your career. In Canada, it is part of our Code of Ethics that licensed engineers must contribute to mentoring younger engineers. By making you "reinvent the wheel" on each project you are taking months which should be learned in days. Engineering is a profession built on improvement. Having questions is natural, if not mandatory, when you are starting out and you are looking for exposure and should not be expected to develop everything yourself.

You must be exposed to industry practice, professional standards and company protocol which requires mentoring during the process and not just trial by fire (which ends in a pride-swallowing review at the end).

To quote the Professional Engineers of Ontario Code of Ethics....

7. A practitioner shall,
i.act towards other practitioners with courtesy and good faith,
ii.not accept an engagement to review the work of another practitioner for the same employer except with the knowledge of the other practitioner or except where the connection of the other practitioner with the work has been terminated,
iii.not maliciously injure the reputation or business of another practitioner,
iv.not attempt to gain an advantage over other practitioners by paying or accepting a commission in securing professional engineering work, and
v.give proper credit for engineering work, uphold the principle of adequate compensation for engineering work, provide opportunity for professional development and advancement of the practitioner's associates and subordinates, and extend the effectiveness of the profession through the interchange of engineering information and experience

 

[Ztrain1985]

Just figured as an update, Im still working at the job.

I plan on moving in about 2 months, cutting my trip down to about 45 minutes on average. Im still not happy with the situation, but the job market is bad in my area atm. I got a year review, which I scored (Average) on everything, and a decent raise.

**Is power engineering stressful in general? Between deadlines and contracts it just seems to be a rollercoaster of up and downs.

 

[ykee]

Engineering in generaly is ruled by market forces, which are up and down. Some areas are worse than others. I'd always thought that power engineering was one of the markets less prone to fluctuations, but maybe I'm wrong, cause there's always companies like Enron that play havic with that field.

 

[cranky108]

Power engineering can be up or down, but here the economy is down, but the retirements are up. So power engineers are in demand, mostly because there are not very many grads.

 

[Ztrain1985]

I can understand why they have a hard time getting grads.

- Pay only a little higher then other Engineers
- No (or little) Power Education in college.
- Decent amount of traveling required
- Working out in the field (not a nice clean Tele. Comm. lab)
- No Overtime Pay
- Lots of Overtime
- CAD is becoming a necessity (my employer will only hire CAD competent people)
- Very easily overwhelmed with new information and essentially expected to pick it up by doing it and making mistakes.
- Almost requires the EIT/PE

Strange enough, I got this list from one of the old timers who started talking to me about not having enough "young blood" in the field