New job and lack of mentorship. 14

[designosaur]

Hi everyone,

So I'm a recent (2010) grad. I have one year of work experience so far in product development which consisted of a six month internship and six months at my current job. Before I moved to take the new job, I was informed that my boss had been let go. Ordinarily this wouldn't have troubled me as much, but it is a small company and now I'm the only technical person at my location. I was assured that they were looking for a replacement and I figured it would be a good learning experience in the mean time.

Lately there has been a lot of confusion and disarray in the company. I have a difficult time getting clear direction and I find myself with a lot of downtime between projects. The person I now report to lives in a different city and, to make matters worse, spends a lot of time traveling. There is really no one I can turn to in the office to get solid technical guidance from and I find myself spinning my wheels quite a bit. Our clients have even begun to question our technical competency. I brought this up with the ownership and they responded by questioning my maturity and commitment level and reminding me that I could be easily replaced. On the plus side, I'm well compensated and I'm getting some good exposure. I do worry about my long term technical development though, as I more or less feel like I work in a vacuum.

Part of me wants to stay put for a while and ride it out. The other part of me sees attractive job postings elsewhere and is considering jumping ship. I would appreciate your advice and insights. Thanks.

 

[supercub]

That is a great opportunity to command the ship. Youre not stuck with someone holding you back with old ideas. Take advantage of the responsibility by letting yourself shape the company and position that you have.

 

[patprimmer]

supercub

You sound young and so inexperienced that you don't yet know enough to be afraid of your own lack of knowledge.

Hint. What you learned at university falls far short of what you need to know in the real world.

Regards
Pat
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[crthompson]

@patprimmer... I was lucky enough to have a professor who told us early on that when we graduated, we knew nothing. That piece of paper only proved that we were capable of learning the required knowledge to do the job. I worked while I was taking classes and the learning and experience went hand in hand. I am quite confident that I wouldn't have understood my work as well if I hadn't had the classes but I also wouldn't have understood my classes as well if I hadn't been working...

@designosaur... If it were me I would take the downtime between projects to further your knowledge in the form of research and studying the fields that you feel you are lacking in... I'm not saying that you don't already do this but you can learn a lot on your own WITH EFFORT... Good luck!!!

 

[lacajun]

designosaur, congratulations! I hope your new job will provide everything you desire.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[BMKR]

I am in the same boat as designosaur, except I don't have much down time. All of my boss' work has been put on my shoulders and I simply don't have enough time in a 7-5 day to get it all done. To boot they expect me to train a new engineer probably 10 years older than I (24) to pick up the slack which has proven difficult seeing as English is not his first language. Again, its a small company and I am thinking of jumping ship.

 

[boottmills]

BMKR,
This sounds like more of an opportunity to shine than a bad situation to me, but I can see where there is difficulty. MOST companies understand that when an employee leaves, there is often a small period where productivity will drop off if there is no immediate replacement. All you can do is make sure you are doing your best and try to stay positive. I would stick it out and make the best of it, but from a lot of the posts I have seen, I have a rare outlook on some of the situations that have been presented on these boards.

Boottmills

 

[BMKR]

Boottmills,

I guess I forgot to mention that The engineering department is myself and the new engineer, and I have only been working here for a year and some change. The company is quite top heavy and I feel like I am being under compensated for my time and efforts.