In a capitalist landscape we are trained to only ever be good at one thing. If you do more than one thing, you are worth less because then clearly youre not as good at your primary profession. Even if those other skills benefit that primary profession.
There are, of course, exceptions where managers understand that well-rounded employees provide a bulwark against mistakes and thus inefficiency. But for the most part, if youre not spending time on things that are not your primary responsibility, like learning tangential skills, youre losing them money.
-At least two professional-grade drawing softwares
-Word processing skills
-Presentation skills in documentation, such as InDesign
-Excel
-Quick comprehension in a mountain of contractual documents
-Digital Document Management
-Two languages minimum
I have already skipped a bunch of soft skills, we are not paid enough, while watching my Boomer PM taking 3 days to write three questions to client consultants.
Working with engineers as my profession, these are not professional requirements, they are personal requirements. They make you a better prospect when hiring, but spending time to learn those skills while actually on the job makes you a liability.
One of the jobs I had when working with engineers was basically doing all the digital document management and word processing/excel tasks.
Again, im not saying those skills, or their equivalent in other professions, shouldn’t be part of the general lexicon. Im saying taking the time to learn them, while also being paid, is discouraged. KPI is a thing, and learning new skills makes that go down.
I am not sure about your projects. Other than InDesign, all I mentioned are essentially project /client requirements; daily operation in the site office is going to be crippled in one way or another if you don’t know how to use those software. Sure, you don’t have to know two drawing software programs; they are being framed as “extra” on job ads, but it is really handy when there is an opportunity to make an impression on the client with 3D.
Of course! It can and should be something that is encouraged in most, if not all, workplaces.
Im saying that’s not the case, even going outside engineering. The emphasis is on learning and polishing your primary skill, not tertiary, or even adjacent skillsets. If it happens and improves workload, great! But if we catch you doing it when you could be making money instead, for shame…
I would say in professions like engineering, where you are doing more problem solving, there is a higher tolerance. Especially since a lot of PMs and supervisors are or were engineers themselves. But tolerance is not acceptance.
In a capitalist landscape we are trained to only ever be good at one thing. If you do more than one thing, you are worth less because then clearly youre not as good at your primary profession. Even if those other skills benefit that primary profession.
There are, of course, exceptions where managers understand that well-rounded employees provide a bulwark against mistakes and thus inefficiency. But for the most part, if youre not spending time on things that are not your primary responsibility, like learning tangential skills, youre losing them money.
As an Engineer, I need to know:
-At least two professional-grade drawing softwares
-Word processing skills
-Presentation skills in documentation, such as InDesign
-Excel
-Quick comprehension in a mountain of contractual documents
-Digital Document Management
-Two languages minimum
I have already skipped a bunch of soft skills, we are not paid enough, while watching my Boomer PM taking 3 days to write three questions to client consultants.
Working with engineers as my profession, these are not professional requirements, they are personal requirements. They make you a better prospect when hiring, but spending time to learn those skills while actually on the job makes you a liability.
One of the jobs I had when working with engineers was basically doing all the digital document management and word processing/excel tasks.
Again, im not saying those skills, or their equivalent in other professions, shouldn’t be part of the general lexicon. Im saying taking the time to learn them, while also being paid, is discouraged. KPI is a thing, and learning new skills makes that go down.
I am not sure about your projects. Other than InDesign, all I mentioned are essentially project /client requirements; daily operation in the site office is going to be crippled in one way or another if you don’t know how to use those software. Sure, you don’t have to know two drawing software programs; they are being framed as “extra” on job ads, but it is really handy when there is an opportunity to make an impression on the client with 3D.
Of course! It can and should be something that is encouraged in most, if not all, workplaces.
Im saying that’s not the case, even going outside engineering. The emphasis is on learning and polishing your primary skill, not tertiary, or even adjacent skillsets. If it happens and improves workload, great! But if we catch you doing it when you could be making money instead, for shame…
I would say in professions like engineering, where you are doing more problem solving, there is a higher tolerance. Especially since a lot of PMs and supervisors are or were engineers themselves. But tolerance is not acceptance.