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.

 

[casseopeia]

The seasoned veteran jumps ship, the company hires a newbie fresh off the boat to take the reins, the business goes into a tailspin, clients start noticing and management blame YOU. You don't work in a vacuum. You work in a dysfunctional hellhole run by spoiled children. There is nothing to 'ride out.' Are you expecting some magical turnaround from the business messiah to drop out of the sky?

Get your resume out there and start applying for a different job. If you are not gaining marketable experience at this stage of your career, it will bite you later on.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[MikeHalloran]

Cass is right. The only education you're getting is in how NOT to run a business. You can get that anywhere.

Get another job, then quit.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rowingengineer]

This is typical advice of this forum. Jump ship, find another better job, ect. easy advice to give, no so easy advice to use.

I wouldn't advise you to do so without complete consideration of your future and current aspirations.

The job market is a hard place at the moment, you place may seem bad, but have you really looked with an experienced eye. I don't know what you do, but can you get the experience required thru other means? I have gained a lot from my clients, associates and non technical people over my life time, I try to get blood from every stone. how many stones have you tried?

http://www.nceng.com.au/

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

 

[msquared48]

For your own good, please take note of the specific order of events Mike recommended that you do. Very good advice in these times.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[designosaur]

Could I get the experience through other means? Perhaps. I'm not taking the decision to leave lightly which is why I'm asking the advice of people who have been there before. I feel like first jobs should be about learning. There is no "perfect" situation, but I need to be around people of a superior skill and experience level that can teach me the ropes. I want to do things the right way, but no one around me seems to have the answers.

I've also thought long and hard about where I want to be and how this job can help me get there. If things change (a senior is hired) then it could be great. But I get the feeling thats not going to happen for a while as they don't have enough work to keep ME busy all the time. On average, half my working hours aren't billable (its been this way for months). Combine that with my relative inexperience, and you see how that could be a problem for a small company. I'm also a little disturbed because I think they were planning to let my boss go well before they hired me and neglected to mention I'd end up working alone.

On top of that, this place has a bit of a history of letting juniors go when times get rough. I know for a fact that we've had some financial issues. Lastly a close mentor of mine helped me get this job. I don't want to burn any bridges there either. Its complicated, I know. Thanks for your advice.

 

[ports394]

Professional organizations, online learning, there are ways for you to learn. But getting experience, means actually doing it.

You're being petty, if you expect them to tell you of their hiring and firing plans. Do your job and stop creating drama.

 

[fermjohnp]

Bottom line if you are not happy then you need to look elsewhere. I have been in a similar situation at my current workplace. I felt like i wasn't get relevent work experience but when i looked back it was exactly what i needed. It's a learning exerience and i made mistakes along the way. I use my growing expereince as a way to build myself up in interviews and it has gone pretty well. I have had 5 interviews in the past year and now have two job offers to weight.

Understand you aren't the only one out there. I've had about a year at my work were I wasn't happy at all. It has made for stressful situations with my girlfriend because all i seem to talk about is how bad work is. Although when i look back i see it was all relevent to me because it shows me how a company is and is NOT to be run.

Now for me comes the difficult task of running through this transition period where i go from one job to the next. I've never left a job before so it will be new waters for me.

I think as you grow up a bit you will see that it will actually help you rather than hinder you. and money well thats great that you are compensated well. If i were you i would test the market and see what you are worth. Also it may take 2 or 3 interviews before you land an offer. It took me 3... Good luck dinosaur

I wish you best of luck in this hard time. And brother i have been there -- rest assured there is light at the end of the tunnel; i promise.

 

[Compositepro]

You should always be in the market for a new job. You will either find a better job or better appreciate the job you have. That's assuming you are wise enough to not jump ship for a worse position. I had fairly good mentoring in my first job out of college that lasted almost three years until a plant shutdown. I had no mentoring in the following 30 years and I was the "go to" person for solving problems. Mentoring really had little to do with that. Being the sole technical person in an organization is lonely and not very enjoyable. Welcome to Eng-Tips. I hope to see you on some of the technical forums rather than the psychotherapy forum.

 

[fegenbush]

Compositepro:

"You should always be in the market for a new job."

This is good advice, but I would file it under the category of "Whatever you are doing, there are ways to improve upon it."

I try to look for increased productivity and efficiency in everything (even ironing my shirts). I feel that attitude has served me well in my career and allowed for continual personal and technical growth.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

NO ONE has ever thrown me a curve ball I couldn't handle. Could I do it in five minutes - NO - BUT I got it done!!!

I have one engineer here (a PE) that routinely comes into my office and says he can't do this or that. I do one of two things:

1. Tell him to take the project down the street (literally) to our competitor and I am sure they will figure out a way or -

2. I give it to another engineer to complete.

His days are numbered......

Do you want a little cheese with that whine??

 

[ports394]

Mike, that's a great attitude. A career as an engineer is a life of learning.

 

[bigTomHanks]

I always have a good story of something I have learned at even the worst jobs. I have had jobs that were stressful and I have had jobs that were easy to the point of being boring. I'd much rather take the boring job and concentrate more on myself/family rather than working myself to death at some company that won't even remember my existence 5 years after I leave. Working for smaller companies can be a great learning experience if the company allows you to wear many hats and not just the technical ones. If however you work for jerks, the only thing you are learning is how to survive working for a jerk. If you do decide to look for another job don't worry about what people will think of you. I'd say that 75% of all managers/engineers that you would work for were in a similar situation that you are in at some point in their career.

Mike - did you pat yourself on the back before or after you moved that mountain all by yourself? Not to be confrontational but you sound like you would be quite difficult to work with/for. Have you tried to develop this person or is it your way or the highway?

 

[ayoung802]

I'm a 2007 grad, I interned for a small company through school and went to work for them for another nine months after school to help them finish a project. Moved on to another company and decided to go for my PE recently. Guess what after four years experience I wasn't able to go for my PE because the small company didn't have an in house PE. I'm lucky because it was only nine months, so I didn't lose too much time.

I think you are learning valuable non engineering skills, but for being young I think it is very important that you work under experienced engineers to help you build a strong foundation. Even if you don't want your PE, go to work for a bigger company with an engineering department that wants to see you succeed. You will learn a lot and gain a lot of confidence.

Best of luck.

 

[MadMango]

Designosaur, after letting this topic soak for a few days I think this is your warning sign:

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.

I'd say quit browsing those job openings, and start applying to the ones you want. There's no harm in doing that, and if you land a few interviews, attend them. You know the working environment you are in now, so you should have a pretty good idea of the types of questions you need to ask your future employers. Don't forget to let them know what you want out of them.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[drawoh]

designosaur,

I wish I had had proper mentoring when I started. I learned much of my stuff by trail and error. Don't think the errors will not follow you around.

I suggest the new job.

JHG

 

[MiketheEngineer]

NO - I am not a MY WAY or Highway type guy at all. I have been doing this for almost 40 years. He has been with me for almost 15 years - probably my fault - should have dumped him years ago.

I have nurtured, trained and held the hands of dozens of engineers - most went on to very successful careers.

I have trained dozens of people in product use, software use and given numerous seminars. Always got rave revies for training.

Right now this is my "FROG" - something I have to eat and get rid of.

 

[bigTomHanks]

Mike - the context of the thread was a fairly recent graduate so I assumed this person was young. Given that he has 15 years of experience I can understand your frustration. I have however worked with guys who wouldn't allow their coworkers to develop because they were always stealing the show and would never take a back seat to allow them to develop. The other person just got used to it and took advantage of the situation to their benefit. I can't blame them for that because it's either take a back seat and coast or take charge and risk a confrontation with that person.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

NO - you got to let any engineer or for that matter any person in ANY job go FREE and learn. Yes they will make mistakes - but hopefully you will catch them before someone gets hurt. THAT is how they learn.

If they do a good job - I reward them and let my boss know that this person can be trusted and groomed.

 

[controlsdude]

I worked at this one place where I was the only controls engineer. Most places had a base project to work from, not this place. The manager was a piece of work, said everytime there was a problem, his only solution was, "Make it go away".

I made a ton of mistakes, made some projects late but they all got done, alot of sink or swim scenes. Even sometimes had outside help, but hey that time I was sinking.

So was it worth it? I don't know, all I know is I don't make those mistakes anymore, only because they are painful memories burned into my brain. Is all the stress worth it? Was all the experience worth it? To me thats a personal call. If I could do it again, I think I would not of taken that job.