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,

 

[DonPE]

Just be more careful. Mistakes don't "just happen", they are caused by your own carelessness, whether that is due to fatigue, stress, ignorance, working too quickly, apathy, or whatever. The quicker you learn that, the better your work will be. You are now running the risk of losing clients even if you don't charge to fix your own mistakes.

Allow yourself more time to review your own work, take on junior employees to do the more mundane tasks so you can concentrate on the review, get your financial plan in order so that is not such a worry, go to continuing education classes, ask better questions at the beginning stages of the design, move out of your home office (if you can) into a place that will allow more focus to your work, join your professional organization.

Knowing that you are capable of mistakes is better than thinking that you are not. However, you need to stop making them. Actually, make all the mistakes you want during the design, just correct them before you present your work to your client. Just my opinion.

 

[BobPE]

You might want to get some help. Jr Engineers with an EIT are great at learning the details. As the PE, it may seem like you just can't cover all the bases on a project and still make money, but none the less, you are obligated to take responsibility and with that obligation comes the risk of makining mistakes. We all make mistakes, it is more of a question of just how big of a mistake can you afford to make. Prioritize your risk and manage information by others that can affect your risk. And most important of all, COMMUNICATE with all the team and project members....Information has always been good to me when mistakes come up.

Bob

 

[ctopher]

Seems like you are stressed about something. Take a vacation.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716

 

[BJC]

Being careful is good but not enough.
Formulate a plan and get busy. Write down what it is you don't know or think you don't know. Write down where you can get it and in what order. Some will be self study, some will be classes and some will be from tutoring by people willing to help you. There are such people even though you haven't run into them lately.
Once you get your plan laid out and your on the way confidence will return.
The only people who don't make mistakes are the ones who have allready made them all. And even they still make them, their memories aren't long enough so they repeat them in variations.
When you check stuff, allways check stuff that cost the big bucks, causes the project time and lastly what makes you look bad. Lots of design is educated guesswork. For example I may follow a very precise routine for claculating that a building needs 6.25 VA per square foot, but when the drawings go out it may have capacity for 10 VA. You can't be sure they won't put a dotcom hotel in part of it or a pizza parlor with electric ovens.

 

[IRstuff]

One of the perennial problems with almost all contract jobs is the lack of time. For whatever reason, bids usually wind up thinning the execution time. You need to determine if some of your mistakes were caused by a perceived problem with contract delivery deadlines. You now have some experience and historical data on your bid vs. actual execution time. Until you become more experienced, you might just have to bid a slightly longer schedule to allow yourself the time to recheck your work.

TTFN

 

[metengr]

Airforce2;
Hang in there. I am sure you have what it takes, it is normal to sometimes take a step back and re-evaluate your job/work. It happens to the best of us, and those that don't admit it are either liars or are dumb@##*%!

I have been an engineer for 24 years and I will tell you that you will continue to make mistakes, hopefully they will not be re-occurring or more serious ones out of lack of effort or laziness. I deal with numerous engineers, maintenance and operating personnel in the support function that I provide and there will be people more intelligent than you and others less intelligent.

The key to a rewarding engineering career is the desire to learn from the more intelligent individuals by keeping an open mind and also learning from your mistakes. Over time, you will become more confident and very proficient at your profession.

The pots above provide good advice. I will leave you with this however, the older I get the more I recognize how much I don't know. To make up for it, I learn everyday.

Good Luck.

 

[HVAC68]

All very good points. My $0.02 worth.

1. You said you have identified some of your mistakes - Use that as a learning curve and start making checklists which will make your work more and more fool-proof.

2. Don't try to eat more than what you can chew - The majority of the mistakes that happen are primarily because of fatigue and overwork - set a target in terms of no. of hours per week and try and stick to it as far as possible. Yes, there will be exceptions and burning of midnight oil - but if that happens, take a break immediately after that - you get refreshed.

3. If you feel you make mistakes 'coz you are careless - then concentrate more.

4. If you feel you make mistakes 'coz you are not technically too sound - attend some classes/courses/seminars, browse the net - increase your knowledge base.

5. Last, but not the least - Get that all-important self-confidence back in you. It can do wonders.

Good luck

HVAC68

 

[Airforce2]

Thank you so much for all the encouraging words. Yet again I am thankful to this forum and more impotantly the people.

Unlike my traineeship, I know I can come here with questions that people are willing to help me with. Thank you.

I am taking everyone's advice onboard. I think this week has really rattled me due to the fact I am swamped with work and trying to do way too much. I am learning 3-4 hours sleep a night is not good for me anymore (body can't tolerate sleep depravation like it did at 18 ha, ha).

I will definately slow down and try to spend a little more time checking and re-checking. I guess the self confidence will come back in due course.

Thanks,

 

[corus]

"One guy I worked with was about 60 years old and had years of experience."

Years of experience translates as years of making mistakes. Once you've made a mistake you tend not to repeat that mistake, though it can still happen. Making mistakes is how you build on your experience, and with only 3-4 hours sleep at night you're sure to become very experienced.

Get someone eles to check your work as checking your own work will only find half the mistakes, and the blatently obvious, in your face, stupid mistake, that we all make, you'll miss. It happens.

corus

 

[Beggar]

I suppose this is obvious but seems worth stating: Make sure you don't get in over your head and take on work that you're not qualified to do.

To me, the phrases in your post about you being an "HVAC Designer" and your "lack of HVAC knowlege" sound incongruous. Contract work is not the place to brush up on your skills.

I'm sure you know that you're potentially exposing yourself to liability if you're doing something for which you don't really have the skills.

Please don't allow this to be a blow to your self-confidence and certainly don't tie your value to your work or your skills. Just be careful about what you take on and aggressively seek to ugrade your skills where you need to.

For what it's worth, I spent some time at a company where I was essentially forced to do work for which I wasn't really qualified (forced in the sense that I needed to keep food on the table and I had to choose between accepting the new work or leaving with no alternatives). It was very, VERY stressful. I tried to learn as much as I could and use generous safety factors. I jumped as soon as I could even though I now commute 3 hrs/day.

Hang in there. You are not your job. Your worth and value come from your impact on the people around you, not from what you do.

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

--------------------

 

[ajack1]

Exactly my thoughts Beggar, however I am sure I could not have put it so eloquently.

 

[ELEcontrol3e]

Hey Airforce2,
I think there are some good responses on this thread.
I'm not that experienced, but from my limited experience it sounds like you are taking biting off more than you can chew. How's your health? Ask yourself what are your core belief's? Take inventory of yourself. That's probably why you are so self conscious, and why you can not focus.
We've all been in those situations.

I grew up in a family business, and from what I've read and heard from engineers and business people you should ease into your business.

1) Take less business if you can, mabey work for one contractor.
2) Use the time to stream line your billing, CAD blocks, design methods, etc.
3) Do your best work, to establish your reputation.
4)Take courses to fill your gaps, and establish a stream of information (fellow engineers, web-sites, tech journals)
5)Network Market and establish a business plan. Stick to it too, you don't want to stress out and expose yourself to unessary liability. Grow at your own pace.
6) Balance your life so you can enjoy life and your work.
Good Luck!
ps
Check out the starting your own engineeringh business forum

 

[Airforce2]

There has sure been some good advice here. This may sound silly, but I think I will print this whole thread out and put it in my work folder.

I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I do have a high work ethic. If my work output has mistakes, I really get down on myself. That is how much I HATE mistakes and failure. I just don't feel right about charging for something that isn't right.

I have one main client (consulting engineering firm) that I do work for. He has been real slow in paying me lately (approx. 4 months behind) though. I am learning loads of new things with that firm. I never want to take the firm for granted though, so I bust my butt studying online, reading Ashrae, Carrier, Trane and other manuals. Lately, I read through this forum to bolster the knowlege. Sometimes it is hard to retain it all, but I do my best. Some of the stuff they taught in school was so generic and not really in my field... I am not happy with gaps in my knowlege so I really strive to get better. I am looking at some more schooling, but need to enroll at a time where the workload isn't so big. Working for myself is great, but it really keeps you flat out.

I am an overly cautious person and have a fear of making mistakes. Maybe this is a part of why mistakes happen?

I ended up going into business for myself due to the fact we moved and I struck up a deal with the company I worked for and kept working for them on a contractual basis. I had to get some other work since this company started getting tardy with payment, so I was kind of thrown in the deep end. I am not complaining, the work is great and helps me pay off our debts and puts food on the table, but it has been a challenge.

Sometimes I do loose focus. That may be a side effect of not getting enough sleep and working too many hours.

Can anyone share with me some good methods for reviewing drawings, Heat Load Calculations and so forth? I don't really have someone else to check my work. I could get my 2 year old son, but I think he would sign off on just about anything (ha, ha).

Thank you again for all the advice. I have greatly appreciated it.

 

[HVAC68]

Quote

"I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I do have a high work ethic. If my work output has mistakes, I really get down on myself. That is how much I HATE mistakes and failure. I just don't feel right about charging for something that isn't right."

Unquote

Not charging for a mistake, is not a solution by itself. The best way to go about this would be to get a junior do the job for you which can then be reviewed by you. This should reduce the mistakes that creep in due to oversight, carelessness, etc. Notwithstanding the above, knowledge is something you have to acquire and there are no shortcuts to that. There is a HVAC/R engineering forum in this website itself. Become a member of your local ASHRAE chapter. If you get a chance, look up for the work of other engineers - all these may contribute to your learning curve.

Good luck


HVAC68

 

[SolderingGunslinger]

One of the problems posed by working at home is that you never leave work. Everyone needs to decompress from time to time.

Believe me. I have worked from home and while it might seem to be a wonderful thing at the outset, it can become a major pain in the neck (or a couple of feet lower) if you cannot leave the work in the "office" at the end of the day.

For telecommuting to work you must separate the home side from the work side. If you cannot do that, rent an office space from which to work.

A good compromise would be to convert the garage into an office, and resist the call of work after you have done your daily 9-5 at the office.

If you are making mistakes which you otherwise wouldn't, your subconscious may be telling you to take a break.

I remain,

The Old Soldering Gunslinger

 

[stretched2thin]

I can certainly empathize with you. I constantly worry about making mistakes and often lose sleep at night second guessing myself. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times, I worry for nothing. However, several times in my career I've discovered where I've made a decision in the past that I thought was correct only to find out later that it wasn't. About all you can do is own up to your mistakes and ask someone with more experience to review the mistake and the risk.

Since recently becoming a PE, the stress has tripled. Now, I worry about EVERYTHING. I worry that I'm always missing something. It seems like every time I get to a point where I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about my field, I discover there's something ELSE I don't know. And on top of that, you have to assume that the people who taught you knew what they were talking about.

To start with, I wouldn't take on any projects that require work for which you don't feel you're qualified. Of course, there are going to be times when you are going to have to stretch your "comfort box" and work on the edges of your knowledge. If you have to do that, you need to put as much effort as possible into understanding what you are doing. Never guess. Make informed decisions. YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES, THOUGH.

Another concern I have is "continuing education". CE credits are a good thing. However, does a one week class make you an expert? If you take a class on a topic, you are going to get a decent understanding of the topic. So, you should be able to make a good decision 85% of the time. But there will be things that you won't learn what you need to know except through brutal experience. The thing that keeps me up at night is that sometimes you don't know what you don't know. I mean, if you knew you didn't know it, you'd try to figure it out, right?

I know many engineers will criticize my post, but all I can say is, "You are going to make mistakes." Try to be as conservative as possible. Try to learn as much as you can before you start something. Try not to be arrogant. (Hard for many engineers.... ha ha) And when you discover you're made a mistake (and you will), be up front about it.

To make a long post even longer.... It's good to be a little paranoid. You should never assume you know everything. Not everyone had the luxury of training under a "Yoda-like" mentor and learning the absolute best way to do everything. Some of us don't get to stay in a "niche" of expertise. We have to spread ourselves over several areas of expertise and will never be "the guru" on a single topic.

I also pray for confidence. It works for me.

 

[SolderingGunslinger]

I guess this ought to be in the "Best Engineering Advice..." thread, however it is a piece of advice I recedived and am no passing on to you.

An old friend who was going through Med School passed this along:

If it isn't written down, it never happened.

Take notes on everything. Save those notes. In the future, being able to read b ack through those notes might just keep your bacon out of the fire.

I keep several spiral notebooks for various projects and sites. It has saved my posterior on several occasions.

There is a joke among broadcasters. How many engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?

"Just a minute, let me look it up. I changed that bulb this time last year, a new one is on order and it will be replaced as soon as the new bulb comes in".

I remain,

The Old Soldering Gunslinger

 

[haggis]

AirForce2

I wish I had seen your post earlier but I see you have received a lot of good advice and bolstering from other members. Although, I think I can pick up a lot from someone’s post as to there demeanor and it might be that you are a very placid natured individual who can be intimidated rather than it being the case that you lack knowledge or are incapable of absorbing it. I’m one of those old guys around 60 but helping students who pass through my workplace gives me great pleasure as opposed to the guy you described. When I was young, I used to call the likes of him a stale old f**t.

You say that you made some mistakes through the lack of knowledge. That tells me that you muddled through something with the “I’m doing this job so I’m supposed to know this” feeling. If in doubt……ask! Even ask of the people for whom you are doing the work. I assure you they will be only to glad to clarify something rather than have problems surfacing later. Never feel embarrassed or inadequate for asking questions even if in the back of your mind you feel you should already know.

I might add, that while these forums are great, you’ll notice that when someone like yourself posts a technical question, too often the responses turn into a full blown argument on what is right which leaves you no further ahead in your quest.

You also say that it seems you are always dealing with someone who knows a lot more than you, and, in a lot of cases this will be true by virtue of years of experience and you also get the gum flapping motor mouths who can make a lot of noise and not much else but you soon learn to differentiate between the two.

Sometimes dealing with people can make your day more daunting than advancing your knowledge and this can often lead to the “useless feeling” if that is your nature.

When any of the students or new starts ran into someone who was less than pleasant, I used to make a joke and say “My old Scottish grannie taught me that people can be@#!**@” Something that I won’t put in this forum.

I can only add to the advice that you got in other replies about not taking on too much, get a few hours more sleep, and save a few additional hours for the wife and that 2 yr. old.

Believe me, when the older guys were finished teaching me about life in the world, I was a much more confident person. Then again, I’m now one of those crusty old guys around 60 Hang in there and good luck.

In finishing, If yourself or any other member thinks me a bit judgmental or presumptuous about someone I don’t know, don’t hesitate to say so.

 

[Airforce2]

Thank you Haggis...

As with everyone elses responses, they have been a real help.

You were quite intuitive of my personality Haggis. I am a quiet kind of guy that takes my work very seriously. Above all, I can't stand it when I make a mistake. Funny thing is that is someone else makes a mistake, that is fine.

After reading your post, I really wanted to say that the "older" people in this industry are so valuable! I feel that some of the colleges out there don't teach this stuff well enough, so that leaves the younger people needing to be mentored. I sure wish I worked around people like you when I was just starting out. I am sure I would have been a lot further advanced in my knowlege.

Thank you again, everyone...