Hi Friend,
Greeting from Newark.
This week I had an interesting phone conversation with someone whose work-related journey I am really curious about. I had reached out to him on LinkedIn wanting to know how he got to where he is today.
He is a mechanical engineer like me and started his first job as a design engineer. Over the last 30 years he has worked at different companies and has become an expert in a field called Industry 4.0.
When I asked him about a challenge early in his career, he quickly said, “mental block to do computer coding as a mechanical engineer.”
My eyes lit up. “I have the same challenge”.
Building physical things is what I love to do. I have worked as a hands-on mechanical engineer, designed and built things and have created impact with my work. Give me tools, fixtures, drawings, and machines, I’ll take them with my eyes closed. But when it comes to coding. I’m not a big fan.
Industry 4.0 solutions are at the intersection of computer and mechanical engineering. Learning to code will help me understand how those solutions work and make a bigger impact. He guided me to a few resources and a starting point on how I can learn coding.
He reminded me, that as a engineer I already possess the logic to solve problems. And if I can write down a problem and its solution in English, I can definitely write computer code.
Now I am a noob when it comes to coding, and I’m sure coding is definitely not as easy as he made it sound. But it put a dent in the mental block that I have against coding.
I was a complete noob when I put my snowboard on for the first time, now I know more. I was a complete noob when I first started writing, now I know more. I was a complete noob when I started my job as an Industrial Engineer, now I know more. Turns out I love being a noob.
Industry 4.0 is really fascinating and I’m working on a related project at work as the mechanical engineering resource. I can always stay as a mechanical engineer who doesn’t code or become a mechanical engineer who codes. The least I can do is give it a try. And I will.
What are some resources you found helpful to learn coding?
🦾 On Becoming a Bomb Engineer.
This Week: Handle ambiguity by being a noob
Ambiguity can be a big part of work when you start out as a new engineer. You don’t know all the process details and a lot of problems will be ambiguous when you set out to solve them.
To handle ambiguity, it's essential to seek clarity. This means asking questions and seeking clarification from colleagues and superiors when faced with an unclear situation. Keep asking questions till you have a solid answer.
I struggled with ambiguity at work when I first started. I would hate when I was tasked to solve a problem that I wouldn’t know what the scope was, what the expectations were, where to begin etc. I wasted days trying to “find” a solution as I hesitated to ask questions on what exactly needed done. Because I started on an ambiguous problem, I wasn’t sure if the solution I was working towards was even the correct solution. I didn’t have clarity on the problem itself. It was embarrassing.
But being a newcomer gives you an advantage in handling such situations. You have a free pass to ask questions as you are learning. It doesn’t matter if the question you ask may seem basic or simple. There is no one to impress.
Make sure to listen carefully to the answers you receive and consider getting input from multiple sources for a better understanding. Keeping a record of what you learn from seeking clarity can also help.
Remember, seeking clarity is an ongoing process and may require repeated clarification as the situation evolves. By seeking clarity, you can reduce ambiguity and improve your confidence in making decisions. Whenever faced with ambiguity at work, embrace being a noob and ask questions till you get clarity.
⛺️ Content I’m Digging
📑 Being a noob
by Paul Graham
We hate being a noob because of how we are wired. Our hunter gatherer ancestors only cared about two problems. Feeding themselves and staying alive. It put them in familiar situations and didn’t care about any other problems. So today, when we are in an unfamiliar situation, our brains go, me no likey.
If you move to a new place away from home, you will feel like a complete noob. But you are learning more about the new place and you know more now than you knew at home. So technically you are less of a noob than before.
the feeling of being a noob is inversely correlated with actual ignorance.
So be a noob. It is good for you.
Quote of the week
Derek Sivers encouraging you to be a noob
Whatever scares you. Go do it. Then it won’t scare you anymore.
Thank you for reading.
I really appreciate your attention.
Your Friend,
Shubham