Dhp78
What do you really want to do? Do you really understand what an engineer does on the job? A lot of engineering is detail work. It doesn’t matter what field or what level of your job, the science and art of engineering is in the detail. If a lot of detail work is not for you then look for a totally different field or an engineering related area like technical sales.
Do you really want to be an engineer? If no then make the necessary changes.
If yes then realize that we all have to pay our dues. This does not happen in school but in the first few years on the job. As a civil engineer in my first job I spent (back in the dark ages before PC’s) almost 3 months calculating earth quantities on a handheld programmable calculator. Dull and mind-numbing? Yes, necessary for the project that I was assigned to? Yes. (And lot better than the graphical methods that had been in use before I introduced the programmable calculator to that office. They went out and got some higher featured calculators than my school model and produced better and more accurate quantities and other work.) The result was I was allowed to move up in the food chain into a field position.
My next assignment on the job site was to make concrete test cylinders and gather the field data necessary for the next new graduate to calculate the earth quantities. Not much more interesting but outside and on a job site. Now I can discuss surveying and concrete testing with any tech. and they respect me because they know that I’ve been there and got the scars to prove it.
Twenty years later on a large job site, I’m the construction manager. My staff had asked for a head start on the weekend and just as I was leaving the contractor told me that he had got the forms ready early and wanted to pour concrete to advance the job. Guess what I did? Made cylinders.
Did the contractor look down at me for doing grunt work? Nope, in fact we got along a lot better after that because I proved that I knew something practical rather than being just a paperwork pusher and was ready to get down and dirty to help him advance the project.
Dave Thomas of Wendy’s always said that the secret to his success was his MBA. He was not referring to the degree but his bucket and mop attitude. He even as a multi-millionaire on would if necessary grab a bucket and mop and do whatever was necessary to help out.
Had I rebelled against the grunt work, I never would have been able to advance.
To advance from the grunt work you have to do it well and with a pleasant manner. The danger is especially in a small company that you become the only one capable and willing to be a grunt and are too valuable in the short term to be allowed to advance. Since the long term is a lot of short terms you can become pigeon holed and have trouble advancing.
What you have to do is show that you can do this and are ready to move on to something more interesting and advanced.
Most engineering schools (mine included) do a poor job of teaching this. They teach you how to do the top of the profession and never tell you about all the grunt work necessary to get there.
Now for some specifics to your case.
Take a long and hard look at yourself. Are you part of the problem? (I’m not saying that you are just look and see.) You have had the same problem in two settings. Either you are contributing or just unlucky. (What about relationships outside the job with teachers and others. Does the same problem occur? If so then it’s not bad luck, its you.)
Is your attitude to the boss contributing to the conflict? Can you make the changes in the job will you have to change jobs? Job changing is not a big problem in engineering. Its an accepted way to advance, however if you had the same job in several firms with short stays at each, I’d soon pass on your resume. Longer stays and advancing work assignments would get my interest.
What was your understanding going in? Were you told that the job was CAD or were you offered something bigger?
Was the offer of something bigger dependant of performance as a CAD operator? Have you performed well enough, in your manager’s view, to be allowed to advance? Remember your manager does not see everything that you do. He rates your performance based on external clues like attitude, relationships with others and the quantity and quality of the finished product.
I see nothing really wrong with your resume, however there is nothing that really jumps out at me.
Some suggestions, avoid jargon and abbreviations. While I am not in the mechanical field I have been around long enough to know most of the jargon. Some of it on your resume was new to me. (I’m Canadian so maybe its different usage in different countries.) Look at the job boards and bookstores for help in writing a resume. There are commercial firms that specialize in resume writing. You might want to try one.
Try using a result based rather than a task based resume. I.e. not was responsible for writing Bills of Materials but I wrote the bills of materials for a $xxx project with no additional purchasing or over purchase of material thus helping the work be delivered on time and on budget.
This shows not only do you have experience on a set range of project sizes but understand the relationship between what you do and the delivery of the project and the financial implications of your work. This understanding of how your work is important and how it integrates into the company is a necessary condition for advancement. (Necessary not sufficient)
I could go on but its time to get off my soap box and back to work.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
