07 Feb Early Work Lessons from Engineers

This episode of The Engineering Commons podcast is about the lessons engineering professionals learned during the first two or three years.

People development related highlights and ‘professional signposting’ observations include:

Organisational change comes slowly, and requires a consistent and concerted effort to alter behaviours and attitudes.

Technical issues of great concern to individuals are often of little concern to the broader organisation.

Survivorship bias can cause us to overlook conditions and situations that may lead to organisational failure.

One of the best ways to learn quickly is to chat with others who have substantial experience dealing with the technical issues you are trying to understand.

Answers are rarely found at one’s desk; if you want to learn about a problem, go to the manufacturing floor, or the machine shop, or a customer’s site.