Where time and workload allow, I have often seen leavers taking their successors to meetings to introduce them as the person taking over. In the absence of opportunity for such introductions, the e-mail suggested would be an appropriate way to effect the handover.
The "grass is greener" argument can also be seen as a pro - all companies are faced with the same trouble and having seen that for himself and figured he likes the way you deal with it best he may be more inclined to stay put when other opportunites come along.
I would talk about a hobby if it includes some sort of transferable skills that will be useful when it comes to your day job e.g. your last holiday would be a fine subject if you have just organised a ski-trip for 50 people: getting that number of people to cough up the cash and show up on time...
There have also been reports by psychologists about how man is a social creature and telecommuting doesn't work as well because workers crave the "water-cooler" culture and the opportunity to interact with colleagues.
Obviously a generalisation about society as a whole rather than individuals...
Even now, at 30 years old, my parents aren't encouraging me to be an engineer. Every time I have any complaint about my job my parents try to get me to "find another vocation". Given that they complained about their jobs (teaching) for as long as I can remember, you'd think they'd have more...
I don't know about you guys but in the engineering I do, there isn't a right answer, there's no black-and-white yes-or-no. There's a lot of different solutions to the clients problem and the art in what we do is to find the most appropriate answer according to the client's priorites at the time...
The best office I ever worked in was one where "teams" shared their own offices. So when there was half a dozen of us working on project X, we were shut in a room together and almost all the work related conversations were for project X so you didn't mind having to overhear them. And then moving...
Bringing it to an interview as an example of work done is different to bringing it to the new job as something to be made use of again. In an interview, I would expect the interviewer to study the example for just long enough to decide I must know what I'm doing but not long enough to memorise...
A really goofy suggestion that may be completely off the wall - have you checked all your valves were put in properly? We once had a case where the actuators were put on wrong and they were reporting the valve as open when it was closed, and then trying to drive the valve even further closed...
I think it would be more fair to say:
"There are times when your company really needs you to put in extra time. Professionalism is working the extra time even if it doesn't negatively impact your personal plans"
Saying "I'm not working late coz I don't wanna and I'd rather watch TV" is fairly...
As a worker, I favour the low-wall, 4-desks-to-a-space, open-plan idea sharing style office. Its easier to get input from a co-worker and I have a better ideae of what kind of input they can offer (hey Joe, didn't you work on one of these a couple of months ago? how did you fix xyz?)
But then...
I've been in a similar situation from the vendors point of view. We were asked to ensure our designs comply with a report produced by one of those industry reasearch groups. You can't get a copy of the report unless you are in the group and joining the group costs thousands. As the requirement...
Engineering is a way of thinking and a way of looking at the world. If the child's brain seems wired up the right way to be an engineer, I would positively encourage them to find out if it interests them. The final decision is of course up to them.
Last week I was chatting to a new graduate from a different department and he complained he had no work. Then I happened to be talking to other engineers from his department when their boss came along:
Boss: "Have any of you got some work you can give to (graduate)"
Engineers (both of them): "If...
When I find I've got lots of things to do and no desire to do any of them, I actually find it better to keep flitting between tasks and pecking away getting them finished a bit at a time. I might mark up the changes I need to make to a set of P&IDs and then get all the reference drawings...
