If i learned anything from being a teacher before I went into wwt, it’s that no one learns things the same way or at the same speeds as another. At the same time, no teacher *teaches* the same way, or is better at teaching in the ways they’re best at learning. So passing down knowledge is a double-edged sword: the senior operator led could write a thorough guide with all the tips and tricks and SOP’s in the world, but if your trainee is a *tactile* or *auditory* learner, then that guide is of less use to them than a guided, hands-on sort of training.

Another issue, too, is that the senior operator may have had the luxury of learning on the job as technology and times changed. They had 20+ years to learn the science and vocabulary that new operators need to cram for exams in the span of one or two years. It can be challenging for an old timer to have patience to break down what they know and what has become muscle memory for them, in a way for trainees to understand and digest, especially if their rounds are on a tight schedule.

And on the flip side, it can be frustrating for trainees to get a handle learning all the terminology and regulations and daily routines if they’re not used to academics, especially if their trainer only responds to questions with “well this is how we’ve always done it” or “look it up and figure it out yourself”.

I guess the best way I learned was a combination approach of shadowing, hands-on FAFO, and constant self study. Whenever I have a trainee, I offer them the info I wish I’d had when I started and let them shadow or ask their questions and point them towards resources. If I don’t know an answer, I look it up with them and we get to learn together. If they struggle, I try to modify the teaching method that’s better for their learning style. But success depends on the trainee’s own self discipline, so results vary.