Engineer In Training

Q: I have a new engineer-in-training who joined the company back in October. Last week we did a site vist to a fertilizer plant. We spent four days tramping around in the ammonia, nitric oxide, ammonium nitrate, nitric acid and other similar fun gases - the peak experience was riding the elevator up 15 stories to the top of the ammonium nitrate prilling tower wearing hard hats, hearing protection, goggles, and respirators. Later we were told "Oh, we never use that elevator...it breaks down all the time". At one other place in the plant there was enough ammonia leaking into the air to make my eyes water, though thankfully the respirators worked well. I told my new EIT that this was the worst site-visit she'd ever likely have to make working for our company. We have a perennial problem getting enough electrical theory work for our EITs - sometimes in the consulting business you spend months and months doing things like contract administration or site visits. Perhaps at a consultant with a larger electrical department this gets easier, our firm does mostly heavy civil so we electricals and mechanicals are pretty much in the "necessary evil" category. Any good tips on how to train an EIT?

A: Perhaps I'm out on a limb here, but it sounds like you are doing a good job training her. Your business performs certain tasks, and you want your employees to be competent performing them. It would be nice if you could spend time educating your workers in other areas, but those areas are not the ones that happen to make money for your firm. Your task as a mentor/supervisor is to provide the experiences and support to help her get up to speed in the tasks that she will be expected to perform as an employee. If that means site visits to nasty places, then so be it. It is up to both of you to ensure that she and the job make a good fit for each other. If your engineer wants training in a different field that she would probably experience working for you, then she probably will have to find another employer.

Engineer In Training

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