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

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Mistakes are pointless if nothing is learned from them.

 

[Imp]

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.

Ha, I laughed at the boss' joke.

Sarcasm is pretty heavy among "smart people". It's a sign of narcissism and intolerance/impatience, I think. I am so super sarcastic and an engineer (yet to be licensed).

I f*ck up all the time at work (exageration), but then I remind myself that I'm still new, and training from people with the know-how has been shitty, so shit happens.

 

[litttlechica]

I wouldn't worry if you are putting forth a solid effort and improving. Like was mentioned above- you learn very little that is useful from your engineering degree other than how to study and how to learn.

I've been in the engineering field for about 5 years now and it really has surprised me how much it takes for someone to get fired. We had an engineer mess his jobs up BIGTIME to the point where we are still recovering from his mistakes 2 years later and he was no young'un. Still, it took forever for him to get fired. He had totally stopped showing up for work and when he missed a client meeting, they finally fired him. We also had a co-op that was messing everything up and he even stopped showing for work when he felt like it with no notice but it took an unbelievable amount of offenses before we finally fired him.

In summary, keep trying hard. I'm sure your efforts will be noted. As was also mentioned above - CARRY A NOTEBOOK OR BINDER AND WRITE DOWN NOTES!! This has helped me tremendously.

 

[Triumph]

To me, if a boss is giving a new hire tasks where mistakes are highly damaging, then that is not a good boss. There's a reason more experienced people get paid more, and if they're not doing the hard/risky jobs then your boss isn't getting his money's worth!

I guess I'm at the point in my career now where I'm a senior engineer, and I can tell you that when thinking about which of the junior engineers to ask to do something, I don't think of the mistakes that they've made. I think of the improvements that they've made, their ability to understand things (this is a big difference from KNOWING things), and their willingness to learn. We have one junior guy who is more than happy to sit behind his desk and watch Hulu or Netflix all day if nobody is giving him anything to do. The other engineer in his office is busy reading ASME Y14.100 Engineering Drawing Practices. Who do you think I go to when I want someone to review my drawings?

 

[OverVolt]

"Fake it till ya make it" has made quiet a few legendary people