Professionalism 5

[APH]

I just started a new job here and one of my goals is to be proffesional in all aspect, whether it is design task, communication, attitude, etc. can you guys shed some light on this.

APH

 

[sayee1]

Lots of good responses, though I would disagree on a few posts or at least a few items in a post. As human beings, all of us are always bound to be emotional. A true professional would be one who would take decisions independently of all emotions. Many good engineers tend to be very child like in their reactions to external factors, but as long as they learn to let their emotions not affect their reactions, I would gage them to be professionals in that aspect. Good communication skills, good motivational and leadership skills, good interpersonal skills are all essential for a good professional. To add to Friartucks post, don't demand respect, rather try and command respect. You can only command respect by meeting/doing the things spelt out in most posts above

Thanks and regards
Sayee Prasad R CEng MWeldI MIOMMM


If it moves, train it...if it doesn't move, calibrate it...if it isn't written down, it never happened!

 

[flamby]

Never ever be late for an appointment or deadline.

 

[HgTX]

MadMango--sadly, that guy could have been putting on a show for your benefit. Some people think that coming down hard on people under them makes them look impressive. I had a boss like that for a little while (he would jump to conclusions when we hadn't even done anything wrong, just for the opportunity to show his superiors he was "on it"). Now I see hints of it at one of our suppliers--the plant manager makes quite the show of taking people to task whenever I come around. Not as extreme as your case, and I get the impression that everyone, even the beratees, knows it's an act, but I don't like it. (Mostly I don't like it because the last thing I want is an unrealistic picture painted for me.)

Another version of that is not so much berating subordinates, but tearing down everyone else. A manager in another section where I work is known for "dissing" everyone except the people who report to him. As a result people avoid seeking out his input even when they really should consult with him, and although I'm sure he thinks that tearing down everyone else makes his group look better by comparison, the truth is that even his boss knows it's a problem.

Hg

 

[jsummerfield]

<i>Never ever be late for an appointment or deadline.</i>

Some regard being on-time as an ethical issue. This is among ethical points for contemplation. Things happen beyond your control, especially in large city traffic. Other things that you can control. In any event, sometime you will be late. With cell phones, etc. you should let others know if practical. Driving like a fool and putting lives in danger is not professional and not ethical.

John

 

[flamby]

A true professional will plan his work in advance to meet all unexpected events and yet meet the schedules. To be on time when everything goes smooth is not as big as achievement, as is the finish on time with hiccups, traffic-jams and things beyond control. True, that some events will be reasonably beyond a human's control, but these should, in practice, be recorded well so that you have something to show when you miss the deadline. Start early if you have doubts about traffic in a city life- this is firmly in your control.

Observing timings is as important as your attire, even more than attire, in my personal opinion. I do not really care whether it is part of ethics or professionalism though.

Regards.

 

[APH]

Deadline sometimes can be vague. Depend on who you ask. In my experience, the manager set up a date line based on "let's shoot for this date without looking at proper resources type of decission". If I set my own deadline, 90 % of the time I can be ontime, but that's out of the question.

APH

 

[HgTX]

Maybe a more realistic approach is figure out as far in advance whether or not you can make a deadline, and make your case as early as possible for an extension if you need one. If you say two months before the deadline that you can't make it, that can't be seen as poor planning on your part. Not to say that you'll get the extension, but your butt will be somewhat more covered that it would have been had you raced uncomplainingly toward a deadline you knew all along you couldn't meet, and then on the Day Of it turns out that, surprise surprise, you couldn't do it.

Here's a no-win situation:
If you don't work overtime, you're not giving the 110% you should be giving. But if you do work overtime, that's a symptom of poor time management. Thoughts?

Hg

 

[VEBill]

Old joke about deadlines/scheduling:

A Program Manager is someone who thinks that, given nine women, he can make a baby in one month.

 

[GOTWW]

I have seen a variaty of engineering types. And professionalism is somewhat subjective. There are those that inspire to management and play the part, well dressed, and with a firm upper nose. And those that really could give a S?+& less about such issues, and are somewhat bizzare and struggle many hours working the techological issues. Some dress strange,and have very disturbing personel habits,(and their desks, yeeeeeek!) yet when the bullet hits the bone, they practically sell their sole to provide an optimum trade off of conflicting requirements to get a system to function at various levels of maturity, that works to some degree, irrelevent of the expectations of the sales-marketing "TEAM".