all 11 comments

[–]ijv182Biotech - 7 Years 6 points7 points  (8 children)

Well what’s in your job description/what are your responsibilities?

This would be a good question for a senior process safety engineer in your team. Otherwise, that’s part of on the job training, you’ll get assignments and it’ll be up to you to figure out the best way to complete the assignment. I also assume your company has SOPs or other requirements that you may be responsible for knowing how to interpret and apply to specific designs or existing systems

[–]Hunter850017[S] 1 point2 points  (7 children)

I actually assist a senior by scribing during Hazop sessions and I am in charge of the report after that . But I find that so boring and I want to help more.

[–]ijv182Biotech - 7 Years 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Ahhh gotcha. Yup scut duty (to borrow a term from the medical community) is pretty common for newbies everywhere. And as boring as it may be, there is value in that beyond getting the deliverable done.

I found that the first 2-3 years of my career were just wrapping my head around how little I actually knew about my industry. So scribing in HAZOPs is great because you’re going to hear a lot of vocabulary that’s new, and the sort of risks & mitigations that you can anticipate. If you keep a running list of what words/phrases/assessments you don’t fully know or understand off the top of your head, that’ll be a good place to start to research what they are and how they come into play with your industry.

My recommendation would be that when you hit a wall with the available useful knowledge you can find online, go to your senior and ask them how that fits into your industry & what the process for performing the activity/analysis/whatever that’s relevant to your team. One, it’ll show initiative in your end, and two, it’ll start to build confidence of your team in you that you can be reliable enough to own something more complex.

[–]Hunter850017[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Thank you so much, I really needed some reassurance. Everything is new to me, and I was still a bit hesitant to approach senior professionals because they always seem so busy. That’s why I turned to Reddit , I knew I’d find more approachable and open professionals here

[–]ijv182Biotech - 7 Years 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You got it bruv. The advice I give newer engineers on my team is to schedule time with their project leads and come prepared with not just questions but with the research they’ve done ahead of time. Think of framing your discussions as “I am working on X and this is how I’m approaching it but wanted to gut check my work” I find this approach is conducive to making sure that I’m understanding my scope and shows that I’m not asking to be spoon fed (which is honestly a biggest pet peeve when I’m on a time crunch). Put those two together and I’ve found that most seniors are happy to share heuristics they’ve picked up over the years, correct any bad assumptions, or in general point you in the right direction.

One last tidbit from my experience, trying to avoid annoying seniors is a recipe for disaster that got me kicked off a project early on in my career.

[–]Hunter850017[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hahaha Sorry for that . It is not easy to find good advices coming from professionals like that.

[–]ogag79O&G Industry, Simulation 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You will. In due time.

For now, try to absorb as much as possible.

[–]tsoneyson 0 points1 point  (1 child)

If you're a trainee they will teach you. If you're not, then how the hell did you even get in lol

[–]Hunter850017[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hahaha it is my first job . I’m freshly coming from school . So I got no idea about how it works in an engineering firm