Is it common for a new engineer to mess up a lot on the job?

[TheKub]

Amen to that. It only took one time to learn that you shouldn’t P2V a domain controller. I realized my mistake, owned up to it, stayed late to fix it and became better at my job because of it. It is very likely that somewhere in the hundreds of pages of documentation I read there was a foot note warning about doing that and completely slipped my mind but now that I’ve done it and seen the consequences it’s very likely I won’t make that or remotely similar mistakes ever again.

Keep learning, sounds like your boss just isn’t that great with managing new people, generally most places won’t have an issue with “poor performance” for 6 months – 1 year if you are showing willingness to learning and signs of improvement.

 

[bonkers325]

it's ok if you mess up once and make a mistake. it's a huge problem if you always make the same mistake and don't learn from them.

we just hired a Ph.D. and realized that he knew less about engineering than most fresh grads.

 

[ChopperDave]

Sounds like you're not getting the support from your management that you deserve and require.

I have seen positions that have a revolving door on them for this very reason. The bad news is that there are bosses out there who think they should be able to throw someone with x experience and y degree at a job and not have to look back at it or work at helping that person acclimate. Then the person quits. The boss assumes the person was a bad apple. The cycle repeats indefinitely for YEARS.

I've witnessed this as a bystander and once I was employee #2344 that moved through the position. I went through several stages:

1. Excitement in a new job and an eagerness to learn, please, and succeed.
2. Fear over what was turning into a failed match between me and the company.
3. Resentment and anger, after having discussed my problem with coworkers. "Yeah we can't keep anyone in this job."

Problems like this are usually not systemic at the company: it's usually the product of having a lazy asswad in a leadership/mentoring position and you drew the short straw when you were hired.

Not too long ago I was a leader/mentor at such a place and a friend of mine there was the asswad. He went through consultants like they were toilet paper. He just didn't give a shit - not about his job and certainly not about the emotional and financial destruction he was imparting on newhires that he refused to invest himself in. When I was hired he was actually assigned to me to show me the ropes of the job (we had the same role/title). He was totally fucking useless. How we managed to become friends is still a mystery, but I had to learn to see him in two different lights.

 

[SeductivePig]

What power software are you using? SKM?

Yes, SKM. Got pretty good at it.

I only do my side job 1 hour a day after I workout.. Thats not the problem.

 

[purbeast0]

i came out of school with a CS degree and went to a software engineering gig. it was totally different than what i had learned in school. i quickly learned that school had taught me the concepts of how to program and code, and got my mind thinking a certain way. and it meant that what i actually DID in school was going to be much different than what i did in the real world. it prepared me but it didn't really translate over 1 to 1 at all (other than the "knowing how to program" part).

my first job out of college was at the same place for 5 years, and i always felt like a junior developer. i never felt really challenged because i was pigeon holed i definitely made some mistakes and didn't fix bugs as i thought i did, or had bugs in there that i didn't realize, which turned out to be major issues. i learned from all of that.

after what took me 4 or so years, i started to not feel like a junior developer. but i also started to not feel challenged, and started to not like how micro-managing the company was, because they still treated me like a junior programmer. my salary was also like a junior programmer.

so that is why i landed a new job, doing totally different technology (went from C++ to JAVA). i'm still at the position right now, and came here in January of 2010. i feel i've learned more at this job in the short time here than i did in over 5 years at my first job. definitely feel i've advanced my career and have the urge to learn and do good development.

and since i've disliked the way the project has gone here, i've found another job and will be leaving here in 3 weeks. and it wil be doing newer technology as well and not the same old JAVA desktop application i've been working on for the past years here. it will be doing cutting edge technology that will bring my skills along even further and help me develop my career path. not to mention, i've literally doubled my salary once i start at htis new job from when i left my old job in january 2010.

so i guess my point is, when you first start your career there is a lot of learning and "growing" that you have to do. it took me a good 4 years or so to feel not a "junior" level at my career, which forced me to make a move as well. and now i feel i'm more of a senior level at my current position, and i plan on taking that even further at my new position.

 

[Vdubchaos]

now you see exactly why most companies look at Job experience > education now days.

 

[OverVolt]

Fake it till you make it applies here.

Although you should not fake your job, lol, thats not what I mean.

Since your boss is so condescending, just fake the confidence a bit to learn faster. If you even have the least bit of knowledge about something then go for it. Stop knocking your own memory you'll be fine. Foundering around while you learn sucks.

 

[ECE]

Yes, SKM. Got pretty good at it.

I only do my side job 1 hour a day after I workout.. Thats not the problem.

heh, i work at SKM.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
-Elbert Hubbard

 

[rayfieldclement]

I started as a power systems electrical engineer with no experience, at a small consulting firm. I tried to learn material on my own in college because our school had only one crappy course on power systems, but it wasn't enough. My position requires 1-2 years experience (I have none) - it's been 4 months almost and I find that there's still so much I don't know.

I have made MANY big mistakes on the job but my boss is still being patient. I stay late occasionally to try to finish work, I'm taking lessons from my director for theory, and I'm putting in a solid effort.

I improved a lot but I'm still messing up occasionally and my boss's condescending attitude isn't helping.

Is this normal?



I think bosses(some) would tolerate it. Others no. If I were you I would heard to a local college for more power systems courses.

.

 

[torpid]

Normal. College work is generally isolated and clean. Real work is annoyingly intertwined with everything else and unbelievably messy.

 

[trungma]

heh, i work at SKM.

Where is the undo button?!

 

[ECE]

Where is the undo button?!

Only applicable for one-lines. It's on the Edit > Undo.

 

[polarmystery]

I wired up a couple of buffers wrong on a JTAG schematic at my job, and I was taken off of the program because the lead engineer (of 30 years) was frustrated that I didn't know any better.

(I've only been doing the current job I have now for 5 months and it was mostly backplane stuff - not active components).

Some engineers are extremely impatient. Fuck 'em

 

[CountZero]

My advice for a new engineer:

1. You'll make mistakes. Own them and learn from them. Don't just learn the exact item you messed up buy why you did that. Did you make a bad assumption? Did you not actually know how to use that tool/command?

2. Don't make the same mistake multiple times. Once, maybe twice is ok but if you are coming over because you made the same mistake a third+ time that's a problem. The notebook someone suggested is a great idea. I keep two. One is a composition book that has important notes I'll likely want to refer to (commands, people's names, magic values I'll need again and again) and the second is an engineering pad I use for scribbling down stuff that I just need in the short term. I throw out the pads as I use them and keep the composition books. My work is pretty cyclical so being able to reference the stuff I noted when I encountered this issue on the last program is useful.

3. If you don't completely understand what is being asked of you ask. Do not start working based on assumptions you've made to fill in the blanks. With experience you'll know what to fill in the blanks with, as a new guy you might be wrong. It is far better to spend time up front asking the right questions and delivering the right stuff than to deliver stuff no one wants or needs.

4. If you cannot meet some constraint (be it a design constraint or schedule) talk to someone as soon as you realize this. Don't sit on it until it is too late and then lament that you couldn't make it

5. If you see risk mention it. This is similar to 4 but bears repeating.

I just got done mentoring a bunch of new guys through their first product and these were a few of the pitfalls I saw. These were the things that I was looking for but every manager, lead and company will be different so you'll have to feel that out.

You'll notice 99% of the problems are communication related. Every new engineer seems afraid of looking like they know nothing and every experienced engineer knows that you learn more in your first 6 months on the job than you did in college.

 

[SeductivePig]

Today I made a mistake, my boss laughed it off (I'm sure he laughs when he's pissed).

I was supposed to move a part of a drawing but he drew it a little ambiguous, and it turns out I did it wrong. This is just formatting at this point in SKM, but it was around 1 hour of wasted work.

Stuff like that is what's killer - formatting. I've messed up in formatting way more, I really hope it's not something people get fired for.

 

[Doppel]

If you are clearly improving, I wouldn't worry. They aren't keeping you around to get good, learn the system, and then fire you. If you were hopeless you'd already be kicked out most likely, so they are investing this time in you.

Again: improving, don't worry (not that you can't get fired, but my money is against it). If you're spinning your wheels then do worry.

 

[gorcorps]

Today I made a mistake, my boss laughed it off (I'm sure he laughs when he's pissed).

I was supposed to move a part of a drawing but he drew it a little ambiguous, and it turns out I did it wrong. This is just formatting at this point in SKM, but it was around 1 hour of wasted work.

Stuff like that is what's killer - formatting. I've messed up in formatting way more, I really hope it's not something people get fired for.

It's not

Companies don't like firing people anymore. There's too many ways to fuck a company right back in a lawsuit, so you really have to screw up to get canned.

You're supposed to be worrying LESS, not more. Maybe your problem is not listening because it doesn't sound like you've read the thread at all, or think we know what we're talking about. Quit being so nervous and down on yourself. This is exactly how you learn. This is NOT... I repeat, NOT how people get fired.

 

[SeductivePig]

It's not

Companies don't like firing people anymore. There's too many ways to fuck a company right back in a lawsuit, so you really have to screw up to get canned.

You're supposed to be worrying LESS, not more. Maybe your problem is not listening because it doesn't sound like you've read the thread at all, or think we know what we're talking about. Quit being so nervous and down on yourself. This is exactly how you learn. This is NOT... I repeat, NOT how people get fired.

I've read all the advice and it helps a lot.

I spend time with my director whenever I can after work and he knows I'm putting in effort, but he also knows I don't know very much at all. They have me signed up for training courses in the future and only my direct boss is disappointed.

 

[nageov3t]

My position requires 1-2 years experience (I have none)

I have made MANY big mistakes on the job

my boss's condescending attitude isn't helping.

I will admit that I've made the same mistakes over and over

is your resume up to date at least?

maybe I'm biased... getting asked the same question more than once is just my biggest pet peeve. hah.

my favorite people to train are the ones who I can give some documentation on how to do a procedure, who then come back with specific questions (as opposed to the guys who instantly give up and ask me to walk them through something multiple times when the aforementioned documentation is comprehensive with step-by-step pictures and everything)

 

[PowerEngineer]

today my boss comes by my cubicle and sees my multivitamin/fishoil (I workout and diet) and laughs, makes a few jokes, calls over another coworker and comments that I'm taking steroids. Then he has the balls to say "I know you're taking steroids, that's why your performance has been so bad - just kidding."

Stuff like that really depresses me because this guy is so damn smart and has the memory of an elephant.. makes me look retarded all the time. Laughs when I get shit wrong.

It might help to remember that most engineers become engineers because they understand numbers better than they do people. As a group, engineers have stunted social skills. Making jokes that are inappropriate and/or insensitive (like your boss did) is pretty much par for the course. Being damn smart and having the memory of an elephant doesn't mean he can't be a social clutz.

 

[OlafSicky]

i

we just hired a Ph.D. and realized that he knew less about engineering than most fresh grads.

Who hires Ph.D expecting them to know how to work LOL:biggrin:

 

[coloumb]

Sounds like a crappy boss [and maybe a crappy company to work for]. If it's possible - I'd look into transferring over to a different boss who's more supportive. I couldn't stand to work for someone like that and I'd either try to find a way to transfer to a different position or another job.

I've read all the advice and it helps a lot.

I spend time with my director whenever I can after work and he knows I'm putting in effort, but he also knows I don't know very much at all. They have me signed up for training courses in the future and only my direct boss is disappointed.


FYI: today my boss comes by my cubicle and sees my multivitamin/fishoil (I workout and diet) and laughs, makes a few jokes, calls over another coworker and comments that I'm taking steroids. Then he has the balls to say "I know you're taking steroids, that's why your performance has been so bad - just kidding."

Stuff like that really depresses me because this guy is so damn smart and has the memory of an elephant.. makes me look retarded all the time. Laughs when I get shit wrong.

I'll keep my head up and I appreciate the advice though, just have to work harder at it.

 

[SeductivePig]

hmm

 

[trungma]

Only applicable for one-lines. It's on the Edit > Undo.

J/K. All the modeling software I've used; SKM, EDSA, ETAP, etc. all have limited undo capabilities. Most of the time it just messes up the model. Understandable though, I can imagine how complex the software must be.