Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Engineer not Engineering, need advice
(OP)
At my current place of work I was recently, October, part of what they call a lateral move. I got moved from a Process Engineer position on a production line to a postiion titled Process Imrpovement Engineer. In my new role I perform 5S/Lean activities around the plant, harp on area managers to make sure they are progressing with a pet project my manager and his manager developed, and work on side projects I pick up here and there. When I say harp, my manager says I am supposed to keep them encouraged. These managers I harp on used to be my managers and I like them, now I am a nuissance to them.
The big problem is I am doing almost nothing even remotely related to engineering. My manager which is the operations manager has no degree and his manager the VP of operations has no degree either. Now, I am not knocking them, its just they seem to have no idea what the value of an engineering degree is. The projects I work on which I feel are worthwhile are the side projects given to me by another process engineer in the plant who feels sorry for me. The worst part is I have heard through the grapevine a lot of other engineers and area managers in the plant think that it's ridiculous they have an engineer running around doing 5S. I try to work on side projects as much as possible, but my manager makes sure I do what he wants first.
What can I do? I have only been here 2.5 years and this is my first job out of school. Right now I just feel lucky having a job, but I don't want to ruin my future career options. I like engineering and 5S makes me feel like a glorified janitor. Sorry for the rant, just need advice.
The big problem is I am doing almost nothing even remotely related to engineering. My manager which is the operations manager has no degree and his manager the VP of operations has no degree either. Now, I am not knocking them, its just they seem to have no idea what the value of an engineering degree is. The projects I work on which I feel are worthwhile are the side projects given to me by another process engineer in the plant who feels sorry for me. The worst part is I have heard through the grapevine a lot of other engineers and area managers in the plant think that it's ridiculous they have an engineer running around doing 5S. I try to work on side projects as much as possible, but my manager makes sure I do what he wants first.
What can I do? I have only been here 2.5 years and this is my first job out of school. Right now I just feel lucky having a job, but I don't want to ruin my future career options. I like engineering and 5S makes me feel like a glorified janitor. Sorry for the rant, just need advice.





RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
you should
With what is currently going down....I would hang in there unless you have plenty of $$$ and or other resources.
Not sure if you have experienced unemployment/recession.
I have, it sucks.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Chris
"In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics." Homer Simpson
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
I think that this could easily be a great move - learn all you can about the way all the departments operate. You should use this as a step up the ladder to being the boss.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
While you're stuck where you are, use it to your advantage, learn all you can about the 5/6S's lean manufacturing etc, not just the 'engineering' or 'technical' aspects but all the jargon etc. If your current boss is impressed by this kind of thing, future bosses may be too.
While having an Engineering degree may not be essential, that doesn't mean it's not useful. I do a lot of work that an Engineering bachelors degree isn't really needed for, however I do it better than a lot of those that do similar work without one.
I'd definitely look at this as management training, if you never want to be a manager though that may not be much incentive.
KENAT,
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RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Try to find some correlation of your skills to your job to find the weak links in your company that you can help fix. In your type of position you'll have more leverage to make true throughput improvements, or at least get them started.
James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
good luck
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Apply your engineering skills to process improvement. it should be a natural fit.
Stop doing the side-jobs, that is not what you are there for. That'll give you time to do your current job properly.
If your ex-managers regard your proposed improvements as an imposition (assuming the improvements do genuinely make sense) you need to learn to present them properly, again having more time should help.
Mind you it does sound like the whole place has an attitude problem, maybe this is a self solving situation. Get your resume polished up.
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
I think this has been already said, since this is still the early stage of your career, learn (managerial stuff) what you can and when your time comes, sell that as your additional experience as part of being more "rounded" qualifications.
At the end of the day besides being a knowledgeable engineer you still learn to be a smart businessman if you want to succeed beyond just a number cruncher or problem solver, where the real money are to be made.
I must warn that, by the time you complete 5 years of initial career you must know what you want to do in life and make the moves accordingly. Trust your own abilities. If you have something to offer, there is always a market. Do not depend on others to shape your career.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Thanks just wanted to hear what others think.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Otherwise, what you're recommending is that you drink lemon juice and PRETEND it's lemonade...not something I'd recommend.
I'm all in favour of making the best of things and not being hasty during a slow time. Every business can benefit from engineered continuous improvement, scientific and economic analysis of problems, value engineering etc., which is what underlies these quality and "lean" programs once they're stripped of the marketing hype used to "sell" them to businesses.
Give it some time and some unjaded, sober reflection. If you're actually empowered to bring forward process and quality improvements, that's a tremendous opportunity which you should seize. If instead you've really been assigned to be the patsy so the business can pretend to be involved in quality and productivity improvements while actually doing nothing, then it's time to look for something else. Responsibility without authority is my personal definition of unproductive and damaging stress.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
At my site I too have the green belt and most of time am a metallurgical engineer. But 5-S is here to stay in my company and I suspect at yours as well. We did not put an engineer in charge of the overall program, but there are 20 5-S auditors including three engineers (I'm one of them) that must perform weekly audits all over the plant. Yes, there are some petty things but there are many good things as well. The key to 5-S is having management-supported improvement actions in place, if not it can become a waste of time. But it certain areas where I do spend a lot of time (i.e. heat treat), 5-S did give me an opportunity to document my two cents and not sound like I was complaining. Of course the 5-S team is going to reach my met lab, that is when I'll really have work to do. If it helps the building stay open I will support it.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice
Do not expect rewards, just because you think you are doing what you boss says. Afterall you take control of your destiny not hand to anyone else. Every effort may not succeed but you need only one or two successes.
RE: Engineer not Engineering, need advice