Engineering Mentoring
Engineering Mentoring
(OP)
An interesting paper I stumbled across. I was lucky enough to have a pretty good mentor myself when I got out of school.
Any good mentor stories? Are there still people and companies willing to take time to mentor these days?
http://www.jflf.org/pdfs/papers/mentoring.pdf
Any good mentor stories? Are there still people and companies willing to take time to mentor these days?
http://www.jflf.org/pdfs/papers/mentoring.pdf





RE: Engineering Mentoring
RE: Engineering Mentoring
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Engineering Mentoring
Your version is what I would call 'ideal mentoring'.
It grades down from there until 'no mentoring' is reached.
Less than ideal mentoring is better than none at all.
RE: Engineering Mentoring
RE: Engineering Mentoring
My subsequent bosses have not been mentors. I have tried to be one to my junior co-workers.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Engineering Mentoring
1. There is a fine balance as to how much hand-holding you do. A successful mentoring relationship needs to be fine tuned to the abilities of the person being mentored. Some engineers are very much self-learners while others need more hand-holding. A good mentor will evaluate this and respond accordingly.
2. Mentoring is partly pure teaching and partly "showing the way and getting out of the way".
3. The mentor has to WANT to mentor and the mentoree has to WANT to be mentored.
4. Sometimes (manytimes?) the workload gets in the way of good mentoring - the work has to be finished and there sometimes is not enough time to mentor properly.
5. As time goes on the young engineer goes through phases:
a) Pure learning - not having a clue.
b) Grasping some tasks but still needing direction.
c) More independent but needs questions answered often.
d) Almost fully independent, thinks they have questions to be answered but really just need assurance from the senior engineer that they are on the right track.
e) Finally realizes, upon asking their mentor a question, that they know the answer better than the mentor.
For me, as a mentor, item 5(e) above is the most satisfying.
RE: Engineering Mentoring
Richard L. Flower, P. E., LEED Green Associate
Senior Structural Engineer
Complere Engineering Group, Inc.