fresh graduate

[civil_guy123]

i'm reading all these threads on the technical board and i have no clue what any of you guys are talking about. i have never learned most of the stuff you guys are talking about at school... seems like you guys are by yourself designing stuff, will i end up like this too? will i be lost when i start workin this fall?

 

[Dark Knight]

i'm reading all these threads on the technical board and i have no clue what any of you guys are talking about. i have never learned most of the stuff you guys are talking about at school... seems like you guys are by yourself designing stuff, will i end up like this too? will i be lost when i start workin this fall?

Well...you are already lost if you don't have any idea what these guys are talking about. So, stay around. More than one have passed the test and learned things thanks to the advices here.

Welcome.

 

[civil_guy123]

i am talking about working... i passed the eit already. school is way different than the industry. i can tell

 

[TXengrChickPE]

Sure, it's different... but you will probably (hopefully) find that you know more than you think... it just takes a while to switch from a school mindset to a work mindset. For the most part, in school, you work "problems". You always have all of the information that you need handed to you, and rarely have information that you don't need. Also, there is almost always a "best" answer.

In the real world, sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what the finished product is supposed to be! Sometimes, you'll be asked to design something that simply will not work given the existing conditions. You will be asked to use "engineering judgment" to compare possible solutions. But, in the end, I think that engineering is one of the few fields that you actually WILL use what you learned in school... I'm not saying that work will be like school, but the equations don't change just because you've graduated! You just won't be told which equation to use!

 

[DVINNY]

Don't sweat it at all. I'm working for my 3rd company since graduating, and in all 3 situations, I've been guided at the beginning as to what is expected and how the company does things.

As a new graduate going into the workforce, you will not be expected to know what is going on, you will be expected to be able to learn how to know what is going on

 

[brick_27]

Don't sweat it at all. I'm working for my 3rd company since graduating, and in all 3 situations, I've been guided at the beginning as to what is expected and how the company does things.
As a new graduate going into the workforce, you will not be expected to know what is going on, you will be expected to be able to learn how to know what is going on

I agree. In my experience I was instructed as to what was expected, shown the company processes, and then given projects in a manner that as I gained more and more experience, the level of responsability increased. I think you will do just fine. If you have not already realized it, your schooling taught you how to think things through and arrive at a solution. You will soon begin to figure out whether or not your solution is a viable one or not as you gain more and more experience.

 

[mind4biz]

Civil Guy,

There will be ppl eager to help you along the way also training classes and on the job experience. I've worked for 2 gov't agencies and a private company, in all 3 it was a new line of work and I've survived and learned a lot so far. True school is way different, the good part is as long as you have the desire to work hard and learn you will make it and don't be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes.

 

[Guest]

don't be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes.

There is some quality advice!! :thumbs:

I know a few very smart people who can't get ahead because they are so afraid of being 'wrong'. All of us hit that spot every now and then - you learn from your mistakes and move on!

JR

 

[Capt Worley PE]

One boss I had told me if I wasn't making mistakes, I wasn't trying hard enough.

 

[maryannette]

I know a few very smart people who can't get ahead because they are so afraid of being 'wrong'. ... you learn from your mistakes and move on!JR

We have a young, recently-graduated engineer who doesn't complete anything because he's afraid of letting go. One of the older engineers working with him told him, "If you are filling in the cross-hatch, figure out what needs to be done that you are not working on." Of course, we're in the computer-generated cross-hatch age, but if you find yourself paying attention to the final aesthetic touches on a design, make sure that all of the REAL design is complete and ready.

I heard on the radio this morning, a story of a young man who made a $10,000 mistake and felt so bad that he gave his resignation. His boss told him that the resignation would not be accepted after the company had just spent $10,000 on the young man's education.

 

[EM_PS]

Its been my experience (@ a workplace) that no-one knows less than the new hire, just graduated, graduate. This is not a cut-down or diss, it quite simply is the natural order of things. This 'cutting your teeth' time should be embraced by you. . . be humble - ask alot of questions - study / read many references, regulations, texts, etc, as applicable - oh yeah, be humble. Trust me, you will learn as much in 1 yr of work as in 4 yrs of college :true:

Finally, my last 'dad-ism': to get respect, give it - nothing is more vexing than the arrogant, never wrong, can't be corrected or mentored, young pistol - the rate of attrition in engineering & surveying is too great for seasoned vets to all be replaced by those types of newbies- might as well off-shore everything to those phd's getting paid technician wages (different rant, another time maybe) :BS: