Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Junior engineer seeking wisdom
(OP)
I'm a graduate engineer in Melbourne, Australia.
I've had something on my mind for a while now, and this seems like a good place to find some answers.
I have been working for about a year for a one man business. My boss is very hands on, spends about 10 hours a day at work, and is a qualified draftsman and commercial builder. We focus mainly on domestic/industrial work.
He is very detailed (in the sense of how things fit together) and has imparted that onto me. The thing is, he's not technically gifted in the design sense. He still uses working stress, which I assume is not allowed, and rarely can explain WHY he does things the way he does. A lot of his work is repetitive and he just goes with what works.
My question to the wise and experienced engineers reading this, I feel like I am gaining valuable situational experience with every job I do, but will it be possible for me to further develop my knowledge of the technical side I spoke of without guidance/someone to correct my misinterpretations? If so, any recommended textbooks/learning aids? Has anyone done so?
Another thing is that I have to draft all of my own work. Its frustrating but I have become fairly quick at it, and it does help at times with engineering. However, am I wasting my time?
Apart from what I asked above, if any other structural engineers in Australia could give me a glimpse of the things they work on day to day, I would be greatly appreciative.
Sorry for the long winded post, and thanks in advance.
I've had something on my mind for a while now, and this seems like a good place to find some answers.
I have been working for about a year for a one man business. My boss is very hands on, spends about 10 hours a day at work, and is a qualified draftsman and commercial builder. We focus mainly on domestic/industrial work.
He is very detailed (in the sense of how things fit together) and has imparted that onto me. The thing is, he's not technically gifted in the design sense. He still uses working stress, which I assume is not allowed, and rarely can explain WHY he does things the way he does. A lot of his work is repetitive and he just goes with what works.
My question to the wise and experienced engineers reading this, I feel like I am gaining valuable situational experience with every job I do, but will it be possible for me to further develop my knowledge of the technical side I spoke of without guidance/someone to correct my misinterpretations? If so, any recommended textbooks/learning aids? Has anyone done so?
Another thing is that I have to draft all of my own work. Its frustrating but I have become fairly quick at it, and it does help at times with engineering. However, am I wasting my time?
Apart from what I asked above, if any other structural engineers in Australia could give me a glimpse of the things they work on day to day, I would be greatly appreciative.
Sorry for the long winded post, and thanks in advance.





RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
You will be constrained in your professional development, having only one person with whom to interact on a technical level. While you are presumably getting some good experience, it is anecdotal in nature and doesn't necessarily port well beyond your present job.
I would look for better opportunities with a firm that has more engineers, particularly those a bit more senior than you. As for the working stress issue....it is just a method that requires that you pay attention to the procedures much in the same manner as any other method....moving to a limit state criterion is not that big of a deal....as for personal preference....I prefer working stress to limit state any day of the week....but I have to be able to do both.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Like Ron, not in Australia, but I'd like to visit sometime. BUT, some worldwide advice - I wish I could draft better. I have my own company, just me, and I have to hand-draw my stuff because a) I can't afford AutoCAD and b) it's way faster than hiring a drafter. Sounds like you might have learned all you can from your boss - not being able to defend the why would never bode well should things end up in court (heaven forbid). When you're young, go try a bigger firm to get the multiple ideas and whys.
Good luck!
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Although it's not my area of expertise, I agree with all that is said above.
It sounds like you are quite young.
With the two step economy going on in Aus, if you are young and foot loose and fancy free, you might find an opportunity for some great experience in the mining regions of WA or Qld or even NT.
Regards
Pat
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RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I'm in Queensland. Working stress, yeah, it's frowned upon. It is actually allowed, AS 3990 is a rehash of the old AS 1250 and deals with steel design using working stress. But is is mainly used by mechanical engineers checking sections of mechanical equipment; shiploaders, stackers etc. Structural engineers really should be designing with limit state design and AS 4100 (mech too in my opinion).
The structural engineers here work on a variety of industrial structures. Things ranging from shiploaders, pipe/vessel supports, conveyor towers, to temporary structures for mining camps, coal processing plant structures, wharf structures, cranes etc. The list goes on.
There is plenty of work up here, if you were willing to relocate to a smaller town like Gladstone, MacKay, Bowen, Blackwater or Townsville, you'd pick up a job pretty easily. I imagine it would be the same in WA.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
The right questions phrased the right way may reveal more depth to his knowledge.
As for drafting your own work, as companies have become "leaner" (their word, not mine) it is more and more common to get rid of the designers, drafters, admins and forth and let the engineers do all that. Fact of modern life.
Stay, go, that's your decision, but while you're there get all you can get, and realize "knowledge" and "wisdom" are not the same things:)
Regards,
Mike
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I would be more looking a developing your core skills, buy the Steel Designers Handbook by Gorenc Syam and Tinyou. Get to know AS4100 like the back of your hand. Learn a structural analysis program such as Space Gass or Staad.
Likewise, learn the wind code, hone your concrete skills, polish up on some geotech. Wind Loading of Structures by Holmes is another invaluable book.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Of course I was the "teenager" verson of a young Engineer, I knew it all and to me he was a bumbling old buffon. Well, now I am about the age he was at the time he took me on, and I now work with a lot of younger engineers that are quite smart but just inexperienced. If he were still alive I'd go ask him to forgive me. I suppose that makes me the bumbling old buffon.
Thrice, SnTMan and Hurricanes have given you good advice I think. Learn what he has to teach you while digging in to all the structural you can on your own so you can enhance your knowledge on your own. When the time is right you will know what to do - either buy him out or move on. I bought the old man out and, well the rest is history. I really appreciate what he did for me and where I work now, it puts me in excellent stead. Much of what gives me value now to my current organization was taught to me by him or by the opportunities working with him gave to me.
Now I'm hiding in the corner waiting for slta's commentary about the length of my post. :<)
rmw
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Bottom line of this long-winded post is that I think many engineers use draftsmen, admins, and technologists to hide the fact that they have no clue how to do the mechanical, repetitive parts of their job. I think we should all be proficient in the donkey work before we are ever allowed to pass it off. Too many of us pass it off because we don't know how to do it, so how do we know the support staff is doing it right. I'll keep doing my own drafting thank you.
David
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Nowadays, nobody will hire a staff of ten to do the work that I can demonstrably do all by myself.
... not at the same speed, however.
CAD greatly speeds revisions and derivative drawings, e.g. new parts that are just like older parts, but different in some way. ... but CAD is still slower than spreading lead where there are no old designs to repurpose.
Neater, yes, but not faster. I used to do working layouts holding three different pencils in my right hand, so I didn't have to waste time picking them up and putting them down. That was before the arthritis set in.
The worst part of the new way, though, is that when you're peering through that tiny electronic window at your glorious creation, it's very, very difficult to 'step back' and keep track of the overall picture. You get so engrossed in doing a proper drawing that you forget to ask if you're drawing the proper thing.
... Oh. Where was I going with this?
Uh, thrice, whether you stay or go, ... while you're there, suck up whatever knowledge and develop and enhance whatever skill you can. Some time in the future, you will need some part of it. Unfortunately, right now, no one, especially not you, knows which part you will need.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
My first boss was a working stress engineer, I became proficient in both. strangely this helped when it comes to FEA and higher order analysis.
I owe most of my success in putting together a good design to my first boss, never underestimate the old guy.
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
That's a very useful, cultivatable, skill, all by itself. Can you do that?
I recall that we once were on the verge of committing to a fixture design, but it needed to be approved by the customer's SME. His name was spoken of in awe, and when he finally arrived, he looked at our design for about 30 seconds, and said, "Oh, there's going to be a resonance around 30 Hz, and you'll need to beef that up." Sure enough, our engineers finally go around to doing the FEA, and the resonance was at about 33 Hz. I don't know if he was doing FEA in his head, or whether he had just simply seen so many designs that it became a second nature. That's the skill and ability that comes from years of experience.
TTFN

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RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Can you look at an antenna length and have a good idea of it's quarter wavelength? I imagine similar properties are at work here (to a stronger degree, of course). Looking at a weighted cross-beam and knowing the weight and distance, some quick head calcs can give you an idea of what it would resonate at, I would imagine. But I've never tried it myself, so take it with a large grain of salt...
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I have witnessed many examples of where old guys don't like change even where change was necessary. They think that the way they did all their lives, and their dad before them, is the only way to do it.
In one company management waited for a guy to retire before putting in hand changes because they knew they would have problems with the "man and boy" employee.
Some designers seem to morph into "Guardians of the sacred form" and this closes minds to new ideas.
Learn but be open to other ideas.
Age and experience will let you pick and choose.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
That post was brief.
So to speak.
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Regards
Pat
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RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
My standard response to seniors that try to bully me around is replying in the softest, calmest and deepest tone I can manage. That always works on their nerves: keeping calm when they throw everything at you...
Regards,
Avscorreia
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
However, he's unbelievably good at his job. He can do more with pen, paper, and his fingers and toes than I can do with a modeling computer, Risa, MathCAD, AutoCAD, etc...
I made the mistake early on in my career to assume that I was hired to train and replace him, my perceptions of his work weren't what they are now. After a particularly bad exchange between him and a client that cost us a sizable job i brought it up to the guy that runs our office. He told me "The only way a guy like that gets to stay here is he's either sleeping with the boss, or he's worth it... and I'm the boss and I love my wife. He's definitely worth it, you're a valuable asset here, but it'll take you a lifetime to be where he is. We hired you to do what he tells you and to send to job-sites instead of him. Consider it a privilege to work with him".
Needless to say, I was pissed at first. But then again, I was young and thought I was going to change the world of engineering right out of the gate.
Looking back on it, I've learned more from him than I have from any class at school. Your boss may seem like an old cook, but keep in mind he's running a business, being and engineer, and being a teacher. He pulls long hours because it takes time and focus to do these things, he might not have time to teach you something that's easily found in a book or online.
Value the time you have with someone that can look at something you've spent hours working on and tell you if its going to work or not in minutes. You'll miss it.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I don't see where you say your boss is a formally qualified or licensed engineer, just a draughtsman and builder. Did you mean these as additional qualifications, or is he not actually licensed.
Regards
Pat
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RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
patprimmer: He is a qualified/chartered Civil Engineer.
hurricanes: Thanks for your input. I went and bought the Steel Designers Handbook last night. Just started reading it.
Since I have the opportunity for some advice, I thought I might elaborate further.
I think those who mentioned that he shouldn't be dismissed so easily have a point. It's true, he does fly through work I struggle on, and seemingly never gets stuck on anything.
He also has an interesting approach with his architectural/building background. He rarely lets a job leave our office that will come back with unforeseen problems. I have a great deal of respect for him in that sense.
However hurricanes brings up my biggest worry, my time breakdown on a typical job is as follows:
10% Conceptualisation
15% Load estimation on structural members
15% Design of structural members
60% Drafting and detailing (I draft my details as I work them out)
That seems like a lot of time drafting.
The design process is very automated as well, he has refined a system which doesn't need me to do hand comps (rarely I do something by hand), but allows me to finish jobs fairly quickly.
Any more opinions would be appreciated, and thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
You must work in a kind and gentle industry. If I said something like that the immediate comeback would be "currently on?" or "smells like it".
David
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Oh, the "I wear underwear older than you" witticism.
Yeah, you're lucky she was in a good mood or HR would have had a Latexman Roast, valued oldie or not.
No telling where these interspecies underwear discussions can lead but HR certainly doesn't want them to end up in court.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Good luck,
Latexman
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
And do bear in mind that many people talk the talk, but often can't walk the walk. I've gotten several childcare experiences where the provider will wax about the academic programs they're going to add that will help my child do even better in school, but they more often than not don't come to fruition.
TTFN

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RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
After a while you design a certain way, and it would make a little sense that you forget why you do it a certain way. You just know this is right and it has always worked. I am too young for that idea, but I could see that easily happening just after 5 years.
B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer
http://bwengr.com
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Regards,
Mike
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I've yet to meet an inexperienced engineer that was better or more valuable than some old gray hair - myself included.
Sure, folks can get a bit stuck in their ways - but not all do.
As en employer, while there is a place for training up talent, from a short term point of view why hire someone of limited use to train up if you can get a geezer with tons of experience already? Obviously there can be economic factors... but the obsession with youth.
Sure there are situations where more open minded albeit inexperienced folks come up with great ideas and make billions etc. However, there are probably 100's of times when the kid makes a dumb call and the seniors have to explain why it's a stupid idea or clear up the mess.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
I also know actual experienced engineers whose "experience level" is significantly higher than their years of practice would indicate. They've spent time learning, teaching, mentoring, expanding their horizons. Many of them are really jerks, but they are decidedly worth listening to.
I also have known a few 3 year engineers that were worth listening to. I don't think that the bottom line is the grey (or lack of it) in a person's hair, I think the key issue is the openness of their mind.
David
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Technically, the glass is always full.
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Regards,
Mike
RE: Junior engineer seeking wisdom
Some stop learning the day they finish uni, some stop some time later and some never stop learning.
Those that never stop learning have a driving irresistable hunger for knowledge.
Guess which ones I like to work with.
Regards
Pat
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