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Pander posted:Snip I am enjoying the PM role, and burying myself in the plan, costs and subsequent economics. I find it hard, as there’s seems to be a culture of “it’s not my job”, which is fine, as I just figure out what I think they should be doing (I.e creating a plan, or organising risk reviews), and do it myself. I don’t think I need an MBA to progress, I’d quite like my work to pay for me to get one; but that’s a very long shot. They do have a relationship with Harvard, and I’m signing up to as many courses as I can. We’re an international company, with different business units, and I’m in a core country but there’s not really any progression in my team, it’s a dead end. The team sets the strategy for the business, which is awesome to be involved in, but it’s not linear like an actual engineering function, it’s a mash-up of different skills brought together. I’d like to be able to move into a different business unit one day, but as what I don’t know - projects might be my best way in. I need to enjoy the now, and not worry about the future. But when the majority of my life is future risk mitigation, it sort of bleeds into your private life.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:59
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Communicate your ambitions to those who could fulfill those ambitions and see what you can do for them to make that happens. If you’re good, they’ll help boost you. And honestly, it sounds like you need a mentor; preferably a senior mgr / executive at your company but not someone you report to or through.
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Jan 30, 2024 01:06
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spwrozek posted:Excluding software, every engineering industry I interact with is dying for engineers. Literally just bodies, they don't even need to be good. Hopefully he can get his poo poo together and realize how much work is out there, stop pigeon holing himself, and get a job. Any job. He can keep looking if he doesn't like it, always easier to get another job when you have a job. A few days late, but seconding this. There seems to be a significant structural deficit across a number of sectors/disciplines. Some friends of mine and I were discussing this last week, and we're not sure why a deficit exists, but it seems to be there. We have a couple of open positions on the team I work on, and we've been struggling to get applicants. We did get someone who just got their PE last year, and on paper only has around 5 years of experience total, but we offered around $105K and they wanted $110K and turned us down. So there's absolutely demand, but also significant wage potential.
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Feb 4, 2024 21:42
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Canned Sunshine posted:A few days late, but seconding this. There seems to be a significant structural deficit across a number of sectors/disciplines. Some friends of mine and I were discussing this last week, and we're not sure why a deficit exists, but it seems to be there. Hopefully your big brained HR people compromised and gave them what they asked for.
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Feb 7, 2024 18:37
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Anti-Hero posted:Hopefully your big brained HR people compromised and gave them what they asked for. Of course they didn’t! They wanted to give them $100K to begin with, the $105K was the counter. So instead, the two positions remain unfilled and the workload adding up.
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Feb 7, 2024 19:25
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Canned Sunshine posted:Of course they didn’t! They wanted to give them $100K to begin with, the $105K was the counter. Ooof. Where was 105K located on the salary band for that position?
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Feb 7, 2024 19:40
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What’s the etiquette for looking for new roles within my work? I’m working on a project that may not happen due to external factors. We have a project milestone due in the summer, but this may get pushed further out. I don’t want to be surplus to requirements and potentially in a firing line, so trying to find a new home. I casually reached out to a Project Director of a project I like the sound of, and had half an hour intro about his project which we kept on talking for another unscheduled half an hour. He said if there was mutual interest I’d be welcome on his project. I’ve never had a different role at a company, I’ve always left for different positions. How do I talk to my boss about it, he’s already aware I’m a bit concerned that my project may fall apart, but I’ve only been at the company 8 months and don’t want to come across as flighty, and don’t deliver. However, I don’t want to hang around for our project milestone which could be another 6 months if delayed further and miss out on a really interesting project.
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Feb 29, 2024 23:08
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I feel like if you've already talked to someone else then you kinda went over your manager already, so you should talk to your manager before he hears it from someone else. That's just my opinion though. I don't do management.
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Feb 29, 2024 23:14
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I’d say it’s a giga slim chance he finds out, as it’s a totally different business unit, in a different country. The team I’m in doesn’t have a development pathway, it’s like a cul-de-sac there’s no logical way out, so it’s down to me to find a way out.
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Feb 29, 2024 23:20
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Oodles posted:What’s the etiquette for looking for new roles within my work? You might be fine but you’re way off the best practices. An internal move generally needs blessing from your boss. Also ICs, especially new ones, ime, don’t have a great grasp of internal politics and what projects are 2-3 years down the line. Also it’s hard to make a name for yourself in that timeframe, enough to have the clout to make an unblessed (by your boss) move.
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Mar 1, 2024 03:39
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Oodles posted:I’d say it’s a giga slim chance he finds out, as it’s a totally different business unit, in a different country. Project Director: Hey Oodle's manager, me and Oodles had a nice chat about him coming over to this department. So what timeframe did you have in mind? Can he wrap up his work with you within the next 2 months? Oodle's Manager: ???????? It's not a good look.
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Mar 1, 2024 05:23
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Oodles posted:I’d say it’s a giga slim chance he finds out, as it’s a totally different business unit, in a different country. The poster above me said it correctly be big caveat that country business cultures can vary wildly and that this advice is for corporate America business culture.
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Mar 1, 2024 05:30
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Oodles posted:What’s the etiquette for looking for new roles within my work? Etiquette where I am (in Europe) is that an initial casual chat is fine between 'technical' people. But talking to the hiring manager without informing your own first is a no no. This only works if people hold to confidentiality properly. It will depend on the management structure though. We have a very clear people management line with technical leadership across that, so people running projects are never hiring directly. Couldn't you phrase it to your boss like you did at the bottom there? Wanting that switch (or any other switch) because you're interested in the other project for good reasons (learning, being more effective, etc.) should be a positive enough story, and at least you aren't trying to leave the place entirely.
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Mar 1, 2024 07:42
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I’m a Euro engineer, so I had the casual chat with the technical guy. I didn’t ask if he had space in his team, but I know he does as I stalked his project on our internal organogram site. We are also a matrix organisation, where I have a task leader but also a discipline leader. I get loaned out from my discipline leader to work on stuff for my task manager. It gets messy at appraisal time. I appreciate all the comments, I’ve got a catch-up with my boss next week. So I might figure out a casual way to tell him I’m shopping around. But not to worry, as I’m going to do all the stuff I still need to do. And try and not imply that I’m quiet enough to have casual coffee chats with other projects.
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Mar 1, 2024 08:08
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I had to send my first official “shape up” email to a subordinate today :/
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Mar 6, 2024 04:45
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We’ve got a graduate in our team, and the lad just sits with iPods in speaking to his friends all throughout the day. We went out for a team dinner, and he had them in and didn’t socialise. I get COVID hurt a lot of people’s university experiences, but my guy try and make some effort. /Edit - also had a discussion with my boss about moving departments. He brought it up,  “xyz department are looking to our department for experience and knowledge.  “well, it’s funny that you should mention that”
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Mar 6, 2024 08:22
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I think I might need to find a way to gracefully exit Engineering. I'm chronically ill now and while my current employer is reasonably content with having me Work From Home Part Time and update all the documents no one wants to update I don't know how much longer this situation will work out. They've been putting off COLA raises for a while with a "yes, we promised COLA raises, no they're not here yet, yes you'll get back pay". Which doesn't fill me with confidence (but at least I might get back pay). Company had laid of a couple of expensive employees late last year and there's been a couple of retirements but it seem like cash flow is a big problem that they're trying to get technical staff on tight deadlines to give a poo poo about. Regardless I know Engineering isn't going to be a long term thing when I've been part time for the last two years. Previously I had thought software would be the backup plan if I ended up getting laid off but welp. That's not really a good idea considering the layoffs everywhere else. Is there really anything out there for an Electrical Engineer who can't work full time? I'm Canadian which seems to remove a lot of options. My current plan for if I get laid off is go back to school, but I haven't decided for what yet. I can't say for certain if I'll ever be able to work full time again but I don't want to have any of my plans contingent on it.
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Mar 6, 2024 19:23
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Jyrraeth posted:I think I might need to find a way to gracefully exit Engineering. I'm chronically ill now and while my current employer is reasonably content with having me Work From Home Part Time and update all the documents no one wants to update I don't know how much longer this situation will work out. They've been putting off COLA raises for a while with a "yes, we promised COLA raises, no they're not here yet, yes you'll get back pay". Which doesn't fill me with confidence (but at least I might get back pay). Company had laid of a couple of expensive employees late last year and there's been a couple of retirements but it seem like cash flow is a big problem that they're trying to get technical staff on tight deadlines to give a poo poo about. Not sure how it works in Canada, or what discipline of EE you are, but here in the States I don't think layoffs are on anyone's horizon for the foreseeable future. I'm in Utility Power and getting qualified, motivated candidates is very hard. Your part time status is going to be a barrier if you need to make a move, but that's going to be an issue in any field you choose. Do you like being an Engineer?
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Mar 6, 2024 20:24
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I got poached to work as a technical PM for my local utility company and I'm not even an EE. Very low-stress slow-moving stuff compared to engineering deadlines and there seems to be forever amounts of work on account of the dual needs of infrastructure updates and growth of renewables. Certainly couldn't hurt to look up who's providing you power and make a pitch. E; lol was not expecting to be beaten on this
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Mar 6, 2024 20:25
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Car Hater posted:I got poached to work as a technical PM for my local utility company and I'm not even an EE. Very low-stress slow-moving stuff compared to engineering deadlines and there seems to be forever amounts of work on account of the dual needs of infrastructure updates and growth of renewables. Certainly couldn't hurt to look up who's providing you power and make a pitch. We are considering people for typical EE positions that have adjacent degrees like ME or CE. It's a very very good time to get in to utilities. And the pay is catching up to the "private" sector.
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Mar 6, 2024 20:30
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Im in US electric utility (as an EE power) and theres so much goddamned work both in projects and regulatory sub-fields. The govt (through nerc) is pushing multiple new hard hitting regulatory changes through right now with a triple focus on cybersecurity, IBR-based generation, and extreme weather resiliency. I could be woefully wrong, but the 5-10 year outlook for job growth in this sector is good to great. There’s enough work that lead times for essential components is reaching upwards of 4 years for some equipment. We quote feeder substation costs to potential customers and they balk (and sometimes throw a huge piss-fit) at our cost and time-frames only to come crawling back 6 months later when they realize the state of things. wemgo fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Mar 7, 2024 |
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Mar 6, 2024 21:01
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Anti-Hero posted:Not sure how it works in Canada, or what discipline of EE you are, but here in the States I don't think layoffs are on anyone's horizon for the foreseeable future. Current employer is in subsea robotics and isn't a particularly stable field even when things are good. Higher ups keep over-promising and deadlines have been so compressed that I think we're being set up for failure. Less so a problem with the field and more that my employer might implode.  I do like being an Engineer. Just seems like it would be more of a barrier to be part time than a lot of other fields. quote:Bunch of Utilities comments. I had it in my mind that getting into Electrical Utilities was suuuuper-competitive but maybe that's just at the junior level? Either that or its competitive because its one of the better employers in the province for being union*. I'm not too fussed about pay but I don't think private vs goverment salaries are as dramatic in Canada? Anyone who wants to make $$$$ moves to the states anyways. * I don't know if all the engineers are unionized BUT that would drive engineering compensation up regardless. As far as I know Utilities in Canada is in a similar state as the US but just less bad. Everything is deteriorating and since Canada Big there's a lot of maintenance to keep remote equipment up and running. Regardless I went to go look at the job postings at the provincial utility (BC Hydro) and it does look like there's a lot of demand there. I didn't dig very far but it does have the classic case of having manymany postings for senior engineers. It does mean that I need to get my P. Eng done which I've been severely dragging my feet on for E/N reasons.  (P. Eng is generally required for all disciplines in Canada, and would be super required for governmenty stuff like this. You can get away with being an EIT for some fields but they're starting to get strict about the rules here.) I haven't done any high voltage, or hell, even AC work in ages though. I've been all low voltage electronics for the most part and I've very much stagnated for the last two years for a variety of reasons. I know the general advice is doing learning/projects on one's own time but that's going to be a struggle unless I do get laid off. It is at least a plan for that bridge. It does give me some hope knowing that non-EE folks are getting poached. Even if I never can work full time ever again I'm not necessarily going to be sent to the audio transcription mines.
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Mar 6, 2024 23:32
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Piggybacking on this, as I assume you’re in an oil related company. I used to work for a Canadian major, who was doubling down on oil sands. I think offshore Canada is very challenged, and a huge focus and push will be on getting the oil sands to be less CO2 intensive. And I’d also support what the fellow posters have said about going into utilities, with the fever around renewables, the aging grids based around centralised powerplants near population dense locations just won’t cut it anymore. It depends on how you’re wired, if you’re a very detailed person then you might need to learn more about high voltage, but if you’re a crap engineer like me, then go for a PM role and just have a passing knowledge of the high voltage stuff.
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Mar 7, 2024 07:37
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Being an EE right now is like being Smithers in the Scorpio episode, "can't a man walk down the street without being offered a job?"
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Mar 7, 2024 08:07
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Oodles posted:It depends on how you’re wired, if you’re a very detailed person then you might need to learn more about high voltage, but if you’re a crap engineer like me, then go for a PM role and just have a passing knowledge of the high voltage stuff.
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Mar 7, 2024 08:10
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Pander posted:Being an EE right now is like being Smithers in the Scorpio episode, "can't a man walk down the street without being offered a job?" Your boy here graduated as an Electrical engineer, but trained as an Instrument engineer. Anything more than 24v DC scares me.
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Mar 7, 2024 15:06
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In an owner's side facilities design group - we've been looking for an EE/PE for 7 months and have gotten so little traction that we're considering training up drafters. Not at a utility personally but I've worked with 'em and as far as I can tell for big-wire stuff they just need warm bodies before the greybeards retire and die with their decades of institutional knowledge
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Mar 7, 2024 15:12
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That high voltage stuff is all controlled by microelectronics. Your skills may be more valuable to utilities and their vendors than you assume. Check out selinc.com for an example of a private US company making said devices. Also, I came from private industry control (mostly allen bradley plc) and utility control logic is AT LEAST an order of magnitude simpler. Utility stuff is large, expensive, but also much much simpler for various reasons. For me, the hardest change to grasp was the idea that im designing something that should last 30+ years instead of 5-10 years. A/C power theory is the “hard” part, but even then, a lot of the techniques were developed in the 1920s and 1930s. It’s a long-solved problem and probably not as bad as you assume. Communications engineers are what we struggle to find. People with actual nuts and bolts knowledge of various protocols and practical implementation of proprietary fiber, cell, and microwave networks. Also IEEE 61850, which i wont expound upon. (Here there be dragons) wemgo fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Mar 7, 2024 |
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Mar 7, 2024 15:13
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Working as an EE in a role that consults with a lot of other EE positions at different companies, every company right now is laying people off. Every company is also hiring and desperately understaffed. Raises and bonuses aren't coming in but it's also really easy to job hop. It's the weirdest market I've ever been in. My specific experience with Power and Utilities though is mostly limited to helping with timing, communication, and control protocol for the last decade. Not a Children posted:In an owner's side facilities design group - we've been looking for an EE/PE for 7 months and have gotten so little traction that we're considering training up drafters. Not at a utility personally but I've worked with 'em and as far as I can tell for big-wire stuff they just need warm bodies before the greybeards retire and die with their decades of institutional knowledge Retirements seem to be the existential threat to my industry. Seemingly drat near anyone who can do the work goes into software eventually since it pays better for mostly less effort and no companies are doing worth a drat at training new people up. I can only see the market getting much tighter in the future but that will probably be used as an excuse to open up more visas instead of raising wages. I personally know 2 CEOs who think that "AI" will somehow get them out of the mess if they can just keep their R&D departments from collapsing in the next 5-8 years.
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Mar 7, 2024 16:11
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wemgo posted:That high voltage stuff is all controlled by microelectronics. Your skills may be more valuable to utilities and their vendors than you assume. A solid foundation in digital logic is absolutely useful to utilities, and if you have a willingness to learn AC theory you can go far. Don't be like my subordinate who has a desire to become proficient at substation protection, but doesn't have the education background and refuses to open a book without being directly told what chapter and paragraph to read.
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Mar 7, 2024 19:28
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Oodles posted:Piggybacking on this, as I assume you’re in an oil related company. I used to work for a Canadian major, who was doubling down on oil sands. I think offshore Canada is very challenged, and a huge focus and push will be on getting the oil sands to be less CO2 intensive. Kind of oil-adjacent but there is 0 interest from Canadian clients about oil anythings and we only get interest from startups in Texas. Before I started here they were trying to get some Canadian offshore stuff but 2014 killed it. I have so little interest in being a PM but I don't know how much of that is because the PMs here seem to spend most of there time trying to fight fires even before the contracts are signed. Sounds excruciating making GANTT charts to just constantly be stuck in the middle between sales people giving unrealistic deadlines and technical staff that can only work so many hours in a day. I imagine its much more chill in larger institutions. What its like? Pander posted:Being an EE right now is like being Smithers in the Scorpio episode, "can't a man walk down the street without being offered a job?" Someone will take a chance on a weak and feeble EE like me, one day. I'm sure there's a simpsons reference someone could dig up for that one, too. Oodles posted:Your boy here graduated as an Electrical engineer, but trained as an Instrument engineer. Anything more than 24v DC scares me. Managed to get sick just in time to avoid having to handle 264VDC batteries while having absolutely no safety infrastructure to handle them. I still kind of hate dealing with 48VDC, 24VDC is such a good friend. wemgo posted:That high voltage stuff is all controlled by microelectronics. Your skills may be more valuable to utilities and their vendors than you assume. SEL has some Canadian offices, I am semi-aware of them but I think they only do field service here. Thanks for the point of reference at least. I do love me some communications, though I don't really know my wireless very well. Does give me some hope that I can find someone to let me dig into protocol specifics because I love digging into stuff like that. Been meaning to get more familiar with PLCs, too. The junk collector posted:Working as an EE in a role that consults with a lot of other EE positions at different companies, every company right now is laying people off. Every company is also hiring and desperately understaffed. Raises and bonuses aren't coming in but it's also really easy to job hop. It's the weirdest market I've ever been in. This is the basis of my worry, at least after posting here. Things are weird and I am also weird. I know as a chronically ill intermediate part timer I'm competing against folks who are willing to work 50+ hours including ones from other countries. I'm hoping the AI thing falls apart quickly, but all I can do is wish. Thanks all, I feel a lot better about things. Even tho the world is on fire, I'm feeble as all heck, and AI dipshits are taking over but I don't necessarily have to worry about having to completely switch careers or even have to remember my power engineering courses from 10+ years ago.
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Mar 7, 2024 21:10
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Jyrraeth posted:What it’s like? Carnage. I’m technically just a document monkey, but my PM is inept and doesn’t own the plan, or any of the documents. So I’m owning the plan, engaging with stakeholders and my peers on inputting into the document. I also get to tinker about with economics, which is lots of fun. If you can understand how your company / project makes money, you’re going to have a much better time. There’s genuinely 3 people who I have to go through to get economics run, whereas I can just do it myself for screening. One guy is just a postbox between the economist and the estimator. Our projects got a deadline, he may be burying himself in the weeds on some technical option, but we have a base case and we just need to crack on, part of being a good PM is not getting into the weeds. Thankfully, I don’t care about knowing all the technicalities, I just want to get people to deliver their bit. Like I said, crap engineer, great with people. And I’m very aware of my limitations.
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Mar 7, 2024 21:49
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I'm a PM. The amount of time I spend making sure electrical has talked with mechanical has talked with I&C has talked to architecture has talked to structural is absurd. It's mostly coordination, but I also lead the process design aspects. Which is mostly just reviewing others work these days. I prefer it to straight design work, but I'm weird. I like seeing all aspects of the project, and working through all the stupid crap that comes up. Basically I spend a lot of time making sure the team has what they need to complete the work, and making sure they're working together / talking to each other during design. Then there's all the fun client management, scheduling, scope changes, side of things. I don't really enjoy doing my invoicing every month, but it's a necessary evil.
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Mar 7, 2024 23:26
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TrueChaos posted:I'm a PM. The amount of time I spend making sure electrical has talked with mechanical has talked with I&C has talked to architecture has talked to structural is absurd. I will never remember to tell structural about the wall mounted panel I'm installing until the day before issuance and you can't make me.
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Mar 7, 2024 23:29
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Pander posted:I will never remember to tell structural about the wall mounted panel I'm installing until the day before issuance and you can't make me. It's okay, I changed the process design making that panel redundant and forgot to let you know anyway 
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Mar 8, 2024 18:22
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Man...I missed the utility chat. All our consultants are out of bodies, we can't hire, budgets are huge ($2B+ per year for the next 5+ years), everything is old. You can look at all the big consultants as well (Sargent, Burns, B&V, etc). Having your P.Eng would really help though, at least a plan you can talk to on your interview.
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Mar 8, 2024 22:19
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How did you guys settle into your respective specialties? Did you walk into uni with a goal, or find niche interests during your educational course?
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Mar 8, 2024 22:30
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My profs took a shine to me and (unbeknownst to me) the dept chair sent my name to the local utility. I had nearly a decade of experience as an electrician and am tied to my locale due to family stuff. The utility offered me three roles to choose from. I chose the “technically challenging” role that had been open for over a year because it seemed interesting. Luckily, I was right. In hindsight, the other two roles would have been miserable. Basically, I got my role by being nice to my profs and a series of happy accidents. E:I went EE because my uni didnt offer an ABET accredited comp sci or comp hardware degree. And i was working as an electrician so EE made sense from that perspective as well To add further, i went to school to find an answer to the question “how does a computer work” and i did get that answer while earning my degree wemgo fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Mar 8, 2024 |
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Mar 8, 2024 22:40
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I befriended a TA of mine in college for an Embedded Software class (Computer Engineering major) and he hooked me up with an internship at a place he was working at part time well finishing his masters. Despite not wanting to do software initially I really enjoyed embedded software work and have been doing it ever since.
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Mar 8, 2024 22:44
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LeeMajors posted:How did you guys settle into your respective specialties? Did you walk into uni with a goal, or find niche interests during your educational course? I took an elective sometime around my 3rd year and ended up really liking it so I stuck with it. e: The actual major itself, I guess I just chose it because it sounded cool to a 17 year old me applying for college? I knew I wanted to do something with engineering so I just picked the engineering major that sounded the most interesting. I didn't really find my specific specialization until that 3rd year. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Mar 8, 2024 |
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Mar 8, 2024 22:48
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