Training Young Engineers 19

[kylesito]

The last post (as of this date) in this thread,

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=366529,

makes the joke that new engineers are a liability for the first two years and should actually be paying the organization for putting up with them. While obviously an exaggeration, sadly my own experience with young engineers over the last two or three years wouldn't put me far off of believing this!

Instead of railing on about the quality of education, work ethic, etc of newly minted engineering grads, I'd like to propose a different question. What are some steps someone like me, a mid-senior level engineer, can do to better train young engineers and get them to the point where they are capable of flying on their own?

The challenge is two-fold:

1) They don't have the technical skills necessary to become productive and need 'taught' everything it seems.
2) In a small company, there are not the resources available to dedicate to a formalized mentoring/training program.



PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[MrHershey]

I've always been a sink or swim type myself, it's worked well for me and now that I'm making the transition from younger engineer to someone who actually does some mentoring, I try to do that with the younger engineers. I would certainly err towards the side of overwhelmed, rather than bored.

Don't give them the answer or do things for them, do show them where to get the answer. Usually I was checked in on a couple times a day, see if I had any questions. I try to do the same. Maybe do a quick glance over the shoulder while I'm standing there and point out a tip or trick I use to make life easier or address some bug in whatever program they're using. Try to remember the mistakes I've made before because it's likely they'll make the same mistakes. Kind of trying to strike a balance between overbearing and not paying attention, allow them the space to figure things out on their own but check in every now and then to give a boost or throw a line.

And don't forget the non-technical aspects of the job. Pull them in on phone calls with clients and contractors every now and then. Not to participate, but just to see how you handle it. Put them on a job with you and drag them to meetings. They don't teach that aspect of the job in school. Make them draw up details to give to your drafter and then get yelled at because they're incomplete and/or sloppy. Give them an RFI to respond to and then get yelled at by the contractor because it's too expensive or unbuildable. Ask them to put a fee together for a new small job (even though you already know what you're going to ask for).

What seems to have worked for my boss is to fully vet job candidates. Hold an interview. Actually look at their grades and transcripts if they provide them. Look for leadership experience. Ask for references and then actually call them, find out how self-reliant the candidate is.

And, ultimately, if we hire someone that needs more guidance than I or my firm can give, then maybe it's best for them to pursue their career elsewhere. We're a small firm. There are plenty of larger companies with fullblown mentor programs, almost like universities, and corporate structures and lines of command that may be better for individuals who want more guidance and structure or need some more handholding. Most of them are hiring right now and would love to have someone with a little experience. If the person can't make the decision themselves, perhaps you need to make it for them. Small firms and sink/swim are not for everyone, just as big companies and structure are not for everyone.

 

[moltenmetal]

MarkHirschi, it sounds like you have it pretty well figured out. But I've never checked on a student's progress a couple times a day, ever. That's great, if you can do it, and if you do it right- it could easily stray into hand-holding. I see some of them several times a day but it's at their bidding rather than mine, asking questions or discussing work product.

 

[vonsteimel]

Try flogging when they make mistakes...? This is surely the best solution.

 

[KENAT]

Sink or swim is over rated from what I've seen with lots of interns.

Give the new hire an instructional pamphlet on water safety and a set of water wings and put them in the pool with the life guard may be more like it in my experience.

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[urgross]

But also include the stuff that makes the pool water turn purple.

 

[mtu1972]

I know how lucky I was early in my career. My first boss (small 8 person structural consulting firm) met with me once a week to review my calc's and progress. First time I did anything he wanted a complete review. It was right at the transition from Working Stress to LRFD in concrete design, so he often ran quick checks his way to make sure he was comfortable with my LRFD results.

Second job was with a heavy industrial design-build contractor. With about 3 years of experience I was first teamed with the most senior structural drafter. It was never stated, but I figured he was asked about my competency. Never worked directly with him again. Then I was teamed with mid-level drafters and after some time I was assigned the new/young drafters. In hindsight it was a good way of getting any new employee in line with the company standards and how jobs/documents were developed.

Toward the end of my career, I could see how lacking the mentoring was. Any young employee that specifically asked for help was readily given it, but there was no program in place to insure that those too afraid or cocky to ask were also trained. Our boss did have us start developing "Design Guides" so that there was more uniformity across the department as to how specific items were handled. It was still in progress when I ended my career.

gjc

 

[cry22]

What I don't understand in the corporate world, corporations expect schools to provide them with ready engineers.
Let's see, 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, 4 years of high school, 4 years of college, all paid for by taxpayers.
That's 17 years of schooling (not counting pre-school) provided for free to corporations and the same corporations would not put a 1% or 2% training budget for newly graduated engineers.

Now, that is greed at it's best, isn't it? Or is it lack of sight?

 

[moltenmetal]

No, it's not a lack of "sight" (perhaps you mean "vision" or "foresight"?)- it's just what businesses have gotten used to. They have had, and now demand, a "flexible" workforce- i.e. a line-up of their competitors' former employees who they can hire at the drop of a hat, fully trained and ready to go, with enough selection to avoid paying a premium.

Again, it's my sincere hope that the demographic shift as the baby boomers retire, will wipe some of these bottom feeders off the map.

What troubles me is how willing government is to attempt to address the desire of the business community for such a workforce, by dumping more grads and immigrants into the job market. It appears that no evidence is needed- all they need to do is scream "shortage!" long enough and the supply taps are opened wide. When the crash comes, and it always does, nobody is on hand to close the taps again - the new state of the supply taps is considered normal and the oversupply simply ignored.

 

[DHuskic]

This is a topic I closely relate to. Not sure how many of you have heard of Kettering University, but it is a co-op based curriculum. We do 3 month rotations of school and work, it is mainly an engineering school but they have recently introduced Biology and Chemistry fields. I have seen experienced many different types of training throughout my co-op rotations and they have ranged from sink or swim to classroom setting software training. Dependent upon the project at hand, some methods work better than others.
A few weeks ago I was given the responsibility to train another co-op/programmer at my company and this got me thinking. I was thrown into the deep end when I started working here and given the task of finding a way to automate/streamline process’ within our company. I was 17 and 2 weeks out of high school, by the end of my following co-op term, I had a process established and began developing it for about the next year. Now, I am testing my training program on my fellow co-op and I can’t help but feel that I should take more of a teaching approach to ensure they understand the software/programs at hand and not just accept it without reason and full understanding.


DHuskic
Data Prep NX7.5
Kettering University Class of '17

 

[KENAT]

... 4 years of college, all paid for by taxpayers.

Depending where in the world you are and when you went to school etc., college may not be 'all paid for by taxpayers'.

Even if your statement about college were universally true, my guess is many companies would point out that they pay various taxes and so may be entitled to expect that employees educated in the system they pay toward shouldn't need them to spend a bunch of time & money giving further education/training.

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[kaconnol]

When I was a supervisor I developed an incoming checklist for new hires. It was more helpful for younger folks, but it would also benefit the senior guys. The list included things like:

Technical
-Company Design Guides/Technical Standards
-Applicable codes
-A good example project so they can review the entire design process; including all the deliverables. I had them review the company procedures along with the deliverables.
-A project site plan / building layout (so they can get a feel for how the site is laid out and where the structures are)

Administrative
-Company Procedures (so they know the rules of completing their work)
-Scope Description (so they know what the end product is)
-Division of Responsibility (so they know who's doing what)
-Org Chart (so they can hunt down people without asking)
-Acronym List (go to a meeting at a new company and you'll have no idea what anyone is saying..."We need a YTP form to be completed for the EKH system after we conduct the PWEN review...???")

I let them chew on this for a few days and then give them an assignment. If they ask me a question that I know can be answered in something I gave them, I'd tell them to look harder.




Kevin Connolly, PE

http://www.TheEngineeringSurvivalGuide.com