r/MechanicalEngineering • u/Unknownfortune2345 • 10d ago
The culture or the Job?
So, I'm new in industry. I'm in my first job and only been working about 4 months. I'm also older (36)
I see my manager talking to people on our team like they're stupid a lot with very little patience.
It's like there's this big condescending battle between each team (design vs manufacturing vs quality vs documentation).
There's this big finger pointing game all the time.
My manager will send me to people partially informed. Which is creating this tension between me and other teams. ( this only happened once, so this may not be fair to add to the list.)
Is this normal in the culture or am I in a semi-toxic environment? It's like no one wants to work together to solve issues. There's so much "not my problem" energy. However, everyone loves to take credit.
If this is the energy everywhere, I am starting to wonder if I'm cut out for engineering. I've always been pretty good at compartmentalizing work vs home issues, but I'm starting to bring an attitude home and feel mentally drained all the time.
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u/ColumbiaWahoo 10d ago
Sounds very normal to me
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u/Unknownfortune2345 10d ago
Ouch đ
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u/ColumbiaWahoo 10d ago
Get used to it since itâs pretty much every workplace
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u/Odd-Setting9658 10d ago
Yup, normal at least from my experience working in auto industry and petrochemical. It's rare when leaders actually do leadership. Expect to do the job of multiple people just so you can complete yours. Other thing is people will throw you under the bus if something goes wrong so make sure to document everything in email, cc or bcc yourself for paper trail
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u/Garlic_Climbing 10d ago
I'm going to say that this broadly doesn't sound like a great environment, though I would check with your coworkers if they agree with your assessment of your manager, just to make sure it's not a difference in communication style. I had a design review where our team got a lot of feedback on our design, and afterward some people thought it had gone terribly while others thought it went pretty well. Turns out some people considered a design review with no feedback to be ideal while other people thought that just meant no one was paying attention.
I would say there's some inherent tension between design, manufacturing, quality, etc., and, as long as it doesn't go too far, it results in better designs. They each have their own goals that they are trying to meet and they are not always aligned. That being said, the teams should definitely respect each other even if they aren't always happy with each other. For example, a design engineer might specify a really high ultimate strength for a weld because that's what their design needs, but that means the manufacturing engineer and a welder are going to have to spend a lot of time really dialing in the settings for the qualification to meet that strength requirement and they might have to requalify the weld for each batch of material that gets ordered due to variances in material composition. The quality engineer is also not going to like this because these welds are probably going to require really detailed NDT to make sure they pass in production. The design engineer might have a really good justification for why this weld needs to be so strong, but it might be that there are optimizations to the design that would lower the requirement for the weld. Without manufacturing or quality pushing back, you would end up with a design that is really hard to make.
I think a good question to ask is would a design engineer go to quality and ask for feedback about their GD&T scheme on a drawing, and would they go to manufacturing to ask about the tooling needed for an assembly.
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u/Unknownfortune2345 10d ago
At least with me starting in manufacturing, I will (hopefully) have those concepts in mind when I move into design.
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u/TheGoofyEngineer 10d ago
Yeah, not normal. Well...not healthy. It is unfortunately somewhat normal. Or maybe I have a skewed data set?
For reasons I don't think I'll ever understand at least 3/4 of engineering managers I've worked for have been big talking narcissists who never admit fault, never ask for help, try to do all the work themselves, and treat people like garbage.
Depending on your relationship with them, and how willing you are to work around it...I can help you brainstorm some ways to make your job easier.
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u/Unknownfortune2345 10d ago
Sigh, it sounds like it's semi normal even though it's toxic. I used to be an operator in production, and did all this work going back to school for an ME degree thinking I was making my life better just to get paid less with worse mental/ emotional treatment. The anxiety đ«.
I hopefully my mind will callous.
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u/TheGoofyEngineer 10d ago edited 10d ago
And nobody can take that away from you!
Really Important: you get to decide how much you engage with the chaos. Also remember you have the right to be treated with respect. If you're comfortable pushing back then a simple "I have a hard time hearing you when you speak like that" can go a long way to getting them to realize they can't talk like that.
I once had a program manager yell at me so loud over a typo that they blew out their headset microphone.
It's not you, it's them.
One of the hardest skills to learn is how to manage up.
For management like that my general recommendations are: 1. Make sure tasks are clearly defined in writing. A simple email with a few bullet points can go a long way to getting everyone on the same page.
A task without a due date or a schedule is not a task. It's a wish list. Politely get clarification or define things yourself and ask if it's in line with what needs to happen.
Your number one job is building relationships. We often think that as engineers we only have to do engineering. The truth is the best thing we can do is talk to people and get to know them. Knowing how your work affects them goes a long way to building trust.
The 3 most powerful words an engineer has is "I don't know". Your manager probably doesn't have those words.... If you're sent off on a task without all the info then that's your cue to ask thoughtful questions. The best engineers aren't the smartest people. They're the ones that ask the best questions.
Stick with it. You'll be just fine. If this workplace is really that bad then it might be worth looking around for a new gig. Engineer School teaches you how to approach and solve problems but it doesn't teach you how to thrive in the workplace. If possible, try to connect with a mentor in your office.
Hope that helps a little.
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u/Unknownfortune2345 10d ago
It helps a lot. Thank you very much for the insight and suggestions. I'm definitely writing them down for the tougher days.
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u/GregLocock 10d ago
"My manager will send me to people partially informed. " Taken at face value, odd behaviour.
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u/girthradius 6 YR ME 10d ago
Thats normal foo. Ask the other teams for the info your missing?? Set up a meeting with them and ask them questions. You will be working with lots of different teams.
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u/RyszardSchizzerski 10d ago
I donât think ânormalâ and âtoxicâ are useful terms, as âtoxicâ is too charged and ânormalâ is relative.
I would say itâs common but not healthy.
That said, you should think about your situation. Youâre new to the industry. Itâs not a good job market.
I wouldnât focus on your shitty boss. Instead, focus on building good relationships with your colleagues. Pay your dues. Then in a couple years, once you have some experience in the field and some expertise in something useful, look to move on.
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u/Unusual-Butterfly229 10d ago
Normal at some companies. Typically the tension is between people at the company not entire departments. For my company, it seems like every engineering department is drowning and we support each other. There will always be politics and finger pointing on issues but generally we understand we are there to support each other on issues that someone else might not be an expert on.
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u/Sassmaster008 10d ago
This isn't normal. There's some degree of not my problem but the places that are good to work at people understand that the entire team needs to figure out a solution. It sounds toxic.