A tale of two worlds

If you’re an engineer or designer and work in a place that has metalworking facilities under the same roof, you are a lucky person. It is rewarding and fun to see a design come to life before your eyes, especially if it works.

Of course, there are some challenges inherent with working with shop personnel that they don’t teach in any school.

In my years as a metalworker, I have worked with dozens of engineers and scientists. From the metalworker’s perspective, this experience can be rewarding or pure, bamboo-under-the-fingernails torture. I can count on the fingers of two hands the engineers who earned my admiration and respect. That’s not to say the rest were bad, just that the great ones stand out in comparison.

The hallmarks of these successful professionals were ability, empathy and respect. They understood that respect is something that flows in both directions. If you can earn the respect of shop people, they will truly bleed for you when the chips are down and you need their help.

Engineers and metalworkers seem to come from different sets of molds. Understanding the basic differences goes a long way toward helping the two groups understand one another. For the most part, engineers and designers are created in schools, with their final luster coming from their first character-building jobs. Metalworkers, on the other hand, have learned a smaller part of their knowledge in schools. They learn the bulk on the job.

An engineer’s world is a more open and collegial environment compared with typical shop surroundings. Engineers ask questions in meetings and review each others’ work, looking for errors without placing blame. It’s OK to say, “I don’t understand” or “I’m not following you.”

The metalworker’s world is much different. Many metalworkers have a modest to medium amount of formal schooling. When a metalworker makes a mistake, he takes the brunt of the blame squarely on the nose or, worse, his workmates relentlessly remind him of the specifics of his ignorance. The typical reaction is to hide or minimize all errors. It’s a matter of survival.