Lacking confidence in my position 6

[Airforce2]

I now work for myself as a HVAC Designer for 2 different Consulting firms. I do the work out of my home office for these people. I also produce workshop drawings for for a number of HVAC firms.

My problem lately is I am starting to loose confidence in myself and my work. I had a couple of projects where I made a few mistakes basically through lack of knowledge and some as a result of not checking over the work enough.

I have taken precautions now so that I check better over work, but wanted to get any further tips there.

The other part is hard. Sometimes, I wonder if I have what it takes. It always seems like I am dealing with somebody that knows far more than I. I did a traineeship some years ago with a HVAC Engineering/Construction firm. It could have been a fantastic traineeship, but I was given such a hard time by certain people of the staff. One guy I worked with was about 60 years old and had years of experience. I tried to learn off him, but he never seemed to want to help me or pass on his knowlege. He seemed more intent on setting me up than anything. Another guy was a very hot-tempered guy, so I left him alone and the other 2 guys were mostly out on job sites so I didn't get to learn from them much (the other 2 were good people, but never in the office).

I feel like my traineeship scared me a little, but I don't hold on to that or try not to.

I know mistakes just happen. It is a human element that is sometimes out of our control, but I really stress about it. The last project involved some errors due to me not knowing somethings about the project, lack of HVAC knowlege, me not reading something correctly on the civil plans and something being changed by the Architect. After I got a call about these things, I basically went into "you are uselesss mode" (which is common after I am told of some errors) and the rest of my day was bad. I am now worried that companies I work for will think they can find someone better.

I have a policy that I fix any mistakes in my own time and never charge for the time it takes to fix it. I make that known to all my clients. I hope that counts for something...

It would be great to hear from some people with more experience than I. Are these feelings normal? How do you get past it?

Thanks,

 

[johnwiss]

First a few questions Airforce2:
How many years are you in your profession?

If you are a newbie and you work in isolation how do you expect to increase your competence in your job?

What are you consulting for if you are a newbie? Consultants in my field tend to be very experienced.

I do not know anything about HVAC but there is a critical period in most professions where you need to work with someone with superior abilites to be mentored from--is that happening? If it isn't you need to get in an environment where it does--or else you will have a much tougher time getting to the level that will make you feel comfortable.

Please don't be offended, Are you a man or woman?

My advice:
Find a smart guy and recruit him/her as your mentor. Listen to his/her suggestions, ask his/her opinions. When on shaky ground research a little try a little and if you are still stuck ask the smart guy. Never be contrarian when you ask the opinion--if he/she gets it right most of the time trust and try that way first. Sometimes the best learning is after the thing works and you don't quite understand it then explore further--you will learn the most on this "second" try after implementing a successful solution even if you didn't come up with it.

Some of the suggestions above are good--some are rubbish. Concentrate more, or, take a vacation aren't going to get at the root of the issue.

Making mistakes is very important--but don't make big ones. And every one you do make should make a profound impact on your understanding (revelations if you will).