Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2008 - (Page 36)

Mentoring control engineers and technicians In the high-tech, fast-paced, jargonfilled buildings industry, mentors who connect and communicate with compassion will have a lasting impact. BY DAVID SELLERS, PE, Facility Dynamics Engineering, Portland, Ore. I 36 always open my classes with this question: How many of you are doing today what you went to school to learn to do? It’s not unusual for less than half the class to raise their hands in response. I ask this question for a number of reasons. For one thing, it’s an icebreaker. I’m not doing what I went to school to learn; by degree and training, I’m a licensed airframe and power plant mechanic and an aircraft maintenance engineer. Yet, here I sit writing an article on mentoring control engineers and technicians. But, the fact that many people in this industry learned a lot of what we know on the job is a strong statement about the power of mentoring. There is no way that I could do what I do without the many peo- ple who generously shared their knowledge and time. In discussing mentoring, my aim is to convey not only the technical lessons I learned but also the mentoring technique by which I learned them. Early experiences: the mentoring sessions My first mentoring experiences related to control systems occurred in my first week on the job. Chuck McClure, founder of McClure Engineering, assigned me the task of making a system diagram for a chilled-hot water system renovation project that was currently under construction. After looking over the drawings for a while, I found a little schematic the designer put on the drawings showing the pumps and other equipment in the system (see Figure 1). Thinking I had already accomplished my task, I went to Chuck’s office and reported that we were in luck. Someone had already done a system diagram, and I showed him the schematic. It turned out that the diagram was only the starting point and not what Chuck was looking for. Chuck stopped what he was doing and gave me a bit more direction. He wanted me to untangle the piping schematic until it “looked like a ladder on its side,” showing all of the critical loads in the order they were connected and anything that could change the direction or magnitude of flow in the system. Then, he wanted me to go into the field to verify it. The result was more along the lines of what is shown in Figure 2. Consulting-Specifying Engineer • SEPTEMBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2008

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2008 Contents Viewpoint Letters News M/E�Roundtable Selecting Appropriate Egress Strategies Commissioning On-Site Electrical Systems Mentoring Control Engineers and Technicians Casting Call for Cx Case Study New Products Equipment Lifecycles Advertiser Index Green Space

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2008

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