Training New Hires

[tonyiggy]

In an effort to keep up with the latest trends and possibly improve my firm's methods. I want to know how other structural engineering firms train new hires, particularly those fresh out of college. Do you have a designated engineer or manager work one on one with the new hire? Does training involve dedicated CAD or Revit training? Do firms train new hires on current projects or have them learn from previous projects? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thansk

 

[Howlyn2]

Hey Tonyiggy we typically give our engineers a buddy that they shadow for the foreseeable future. At first the senior buddy shares their job knowledge through training guides, etc. that are typically Powerpoints, Design Examples, Lessons Learned, etc. Then we unfortunately have them read the code albeit boring just so they understand and have a reference point for future work. They're new after all so who had read code during college? Next, they work several example jobs to see the process both with engineering and our company "flow." Finally when they have been through the example projects the senior buddy shares "pieces" of their work with the new hire that they go through together. Really the new hire is working from the senior engineer's plate. Finally, when the new-hire has all of their pieces and parts put together from the senior engineer they can understand what a whole project takes. It's submitted to the Quality Control / Quality Assurance process through the senior engineer and the the new hire fixes up the comments while consulting the senior engineer. For the next several months this senior engineer is their main point of contact. This process has successfully built relationships between the new hire and the senior. Also, the senior can guide him or her to other engineers that have the ability to help the new hire with their own skill sets.

 

[EdStainless]

I am not in structural (or any Civil field) but have a bunch of experience with this subject.
Most companies are terrible at this.
We built a system that has four tiers to it.
1. Overview of all functional areas of the company. This is given to all new employees. They will see and meet people form every department, get some company history, and hopefully have some grasp of where they are in the organization. This typically ran 1.5 days.
2. More detailed information about the functional areas where they will work and interact. This is often 8-12 hours of information spread over 3-5 days.
Part of this knowing where they can turn for specific things or where they will need to interact, and part is because we expect people to move within the company and this gives them a better idea of what some of the related areas are about.
3. When it came to software and Code work, we sent them to outside classes to get a basic understanding of these. These typically ran 1-5 days, were offsite, and were spread over 6-9 months.
4. From there it was shadowing a mentor and learning the details and gradually working into the position.
Most of this information isn't about teaching anything technical, it about a few specialized tools and how to operate in the environment and gain confidence.
While it wasn't a policy that many people knew about our senior management would look very unfavorably on a manger that turnover in new hires.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[rb1957]

we did an intern system like that ... until mgmt lost interest.

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[RPMG]

The young hires are told to do nothing because they're not competent, and when they do something, they're berated for it.

 

[dik]

I've never experienced an employment environment like that. Any new guys that are given a project... maybe spend half an hour going over it, describing it... and if any hiccups, they can simply ask questions. Only one time did I experience something that 'didn't work'... I could explain something and asked the new guy if he understood, and he would say 'yes'... and then ask a question that showed he didn't understand any of it... only one guy in 50 years.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[SandwichEngine]

I used to be in charge of training up new engineers at a previous company. It was a 2 week session of drinking from a firehose. Basic introduction to the company, basic building terms like rakes and eaves, introduction to design programs, basic introduction to the codes, basic introduction to internal engineering design manual. I'd tell them that there is no way I could teach them everything and even if I could, they'd never remember it. It was a good introduction but they really learn by getting in the schedule and starting to design things.

At that company, every project is checked by a senior engineer. Even if it was designed by a senior engineer, another senior checks their work as a courtesy. For new people, the process can be difficult at first. They might turn in their design but make a bad assumption at the beginning that invalidates the entire design. The checking engineer would make them do it all over. Then with a design not based on bad assumptions, they'd tear the design apart again. Not in a mean spirited way. Just because new people don't know anything. Long hours at first but in a few months, the new people get the system.

One of the tenets of that system was telling new people that it's their job to ask questions and it's everyone else's job to answer questions. I see a lot of posts on here about the experienced engineers feeling too busy to help much but it wasn't that way at my old company.

At my new company, I'm too busy to mentor brand new people so I've completely gone away from hiring new grads. Only experienced pros are allowed. I realize that strategy may not hold up but it's what I'm doing now.

 

[EngrPaper]

I'm not structural obviously, but this probably is a good example for most firms on tight budgets.

When I first came to an engineering firm, my manager set aside a lunch every other week for a couple months to teach pipe design and piping engineering to us "new career" folks. I was a couple years out of college, but still a really green EI. It was honestly a great experience. He brought in some of our experienced piping designers, senior pipe stress folks, and design leads to talk about not only what they did, but tips and tricks for their jobs and what we'd need to know starting out. Went all the way from tricks like counting bolt holes on a flange in the ceiling to help guess its size, down to how to lay out guides and restraints for expansion loops. He then similarly set aside lunch times for us to be taught PDMS and SmartPlant, which were mainly used in the office. None of it on billable time and the folks coming in to teach were paid in free lunches.

 

[rb1957]

you were lucky to have such an interested manager (even acknowledging the self interest ... the better you are, the better I look).

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?