training topics 4

[boldfish]

If management asked you what training would be beneficial to you as a day-to-day worker as well as career enhancement, what would you suggest?

Please excuse software specific topics, ie AutoCAD, SW, UG...

I'm asking about subject matter such as GD&T, FEA...

I know this is broad, but I'm just inquiring so that I may orient my career goals with those of the industry. For example, I don't want to waste time learning something that has become obsolete due to computational power (log tables & slide rule efficiency).

 

[ctopher]

Assuming you mean for mechanical engineering?
-SolidWorks, PhotoWorks
-CAM software
-FEA (Cosmos, Algor, any)
-A PDM file management software (I use PDMWorks)
-Any MS Office product
-HTML
-JAVA
just a few listed here

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)

 

[ewh]

GD&T

 

[jmw]

With many different diciplines in the work place and intending to work effectievly with others, it is never a bad idea to ask for some training or grounding in the fundamentals of the other diciplines; it will help you interact with them much more effectively and may even earn you some more respect for taking an interest in their dicipline!

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[jmw]

Sorry, forgot to add, it is also a defence mechanism. Consider: on any given sales training course there will be a cerain number of buyers.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MintJulep]

Logic

Critical Thinking

Structured Problem Solving Tools

 

[Twoballcane]

I think soft skills are improtant too. Join Toast Masters for effective communication and if you can get a leadership class (how to motivate and persuade different types of people) that would be great also.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[GregLocock]

Practical applications of statistics. I don't want to sound like a Six Sigma salesman (I'm not), but some of the techniques they use are actually useful. Probably the most important one is the old Deming improvement circle, in its more complex forms, DMAIC and DMADV . If you can sell management on those two then you are well on the way to seeing real improvements in quality. However, 6S works best when implemented from top-down, as its salesmen are fully aware.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[zdas04]

I'm at the ASME World Congress this week and I would recommend it to any mid-career ME that wants to feel like he has a clue where the feild is going. I'm jumping from topic to topic like a grasshopper and learning more than I want to know about a bunch of unrelated fields (there is nothing on Oil & Gas and nearly as much on compression), but it is interesting and possibly useful someday to learn what the universities are doing in fuel cells, noise modeling, water as a refrigerant, etc.

Makes more sense than most university courses.

David

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The harder I work, the luckier I seem

 

[bvanhiel]

Mine would be from a design engineer's perspective.

CAD: I know you said to leave this out, but it's your pencil, and you should know how to use it.

Manufacturing Methods: Hard to design a part if you don't have a good idea of how it's getting made. For me it's mostly machined parts, injection molding and sheetmetal.

Tolerance Analysis: Obviously related to GD&T and statistics, but worth noting on it's own, since you only need a little of statistics and no GD&T to apply it.

Paperwork: Understand your companies ECO and other procedural documents. This is even more important if your in some heavily regulated field like medical.

Prototyping: Depending on the industry this may be a mathematical, CAD, cardboard, or fabricated steel model. Learn the appropriate techniques to get it made. Iteration is the key to good design. Making early, inexpensive mistakes is the fastest way to the best product.

-b

 

[TPL]

Hi zdas05

I'm intrigued by your observation that "(there is nothing on Oil & Gas and nearly as much on compression)"

Did you get a feel for why that is? Is it perceived that there is no future in oil and gas? Has it 'all been done' or is it just not attractive enough when compared to other branches of engineering.

 

[zdas04]

ASME has not had any real activity in Oil & Gas for decades. They are trying to fix that by renaming the Petroleum Division as the International Petroleum Division or some such, but that is just getting off the ground and the workshops they put on are all just as lame as SPE. Maybe it will get better in the future, but right now it is even more worthless than the SPE.

David

 

[TPL]

Thanks David,
As far as Oil and Gas are concerned, ASME sounds real good compared to the IMechE

 

[Senselessticker]

In general... Engineers need the following training to maximize his/her daily productivity:

History
Philosophy
Literature
Religion

oh...and some form of crash course in: "How to Communicate Effectively to the Non-Technical".

 

[JStephen]

First off, I wouldn't recommend spending much time learning something unless you actually anticipate using it in the near future. Learning stuff in a crash-type course is okay, but if you promptly go back and forget it because you didn't need it in the first place, it doesn't do much good.

Consider any common software that you don't use and possibly could. Consider more in-depth programs in software you do use. Consider safety, regulatory, legal, financial requirements pertaining to your work. Personnel issues? Maybe foreign language.

With common software- Excel, AutoCAD- the programs are so involved, that you can use them for years and still have functions you never heard of, which tends to make classes in them somewhat worthwhile for nearly anyone.

 

[Ashereng]

Defensive driving.

You drive every day. If you are a better/safer driver, that will only safe the company because you will get to work more often on time.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[HgTX]

Did anyone mention technical writing yet?

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[bvanhiel]

Good one HgTX. Star for you.

-b

 

[KENAT]

I guess part of the technical writing one but how about some basic grammer and vocabulary.

For anything other than customer product manuals this place is awful.

One ECO read something along the lines of "the current cabling is a mother to instll"!

 

[jmw]

Ah yes KENAT, technical writing .....

I came across this statement in the online help manual for a signal converter:

"If the program was unable to find the correct location it will log this in the ERROR.LOG file in FC Configuration’s program directory.
For a successful translation it will say:

Unable to find location: LOC_WOBBLY_BITS
Successfully translated to: LOC_DANGLY_BITS

For an unsuccessful attempt it will say:

Unable to find location: LOC_SQUISHY_BITS

and nothing else."

I spoke to the writer of this manual and he told me it had been in the manual for the last seven years and no one had complained. "In fact," he said, "You're the first one to spot it. It means either that no one reads the manuals or that the clients have a sense of humour."

Of course, in this era of "user friendly" and "Intuitive" programming, I may be the only one dumb enough to have to read the manual.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com