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Help! I Have no F#%king Clue How to do My Job

Strategies to avoid the embarrassment of not knowing how to do your job.

By The TechnologeniusPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Help! I Have no F#%king Clue How to do My Job
Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash

You’re probably familiar with that moment of anxiety when asked to produce work that you had no idea how to do. If you haven’t experienced that feeling yet, then imagine your employer asking you,

“Hey (insert your name), I need you to (insert the job requirement you are most afraid of someone asking you to do because you don’t know how to do it, or you have never done it before). I need that done for me ASAP”;

Your body heats-up rapidly all of a sudden.

Your sweating excessively, and keep having to wipe the sweat off your forehead.

Your heart is beating millions-of miles-per-hour.

Your hands and legs are trembling.

You’re looking for a way out of there.

Your stuttering with your words when you speak, and under the pressure of not wanting to lose your job, you reply “yeah, sure”. Now you have sealed the deal.

Maybe you’ve just finished your studies and have landed a high-position job with no experience in your industry, or you started freelance work for various clients. Or maybe you were contracted for the first time to work in-house for another company. Have you faced these moments, or has this thought stopped you from applying for that job role you wanted?

I have experienced all the above and have learned a few tricks to overcome the situation, time and time again, without needing to quit. These strategies have helped me to overcome many ongoing tough challenges resulting in me earning valuable technical experience that I would have missed out on if I had quit instead.

To prevent you from restricting yourself from your true potential, I present to you these strategies that have always worked for me.

I will use my experience in the engineering industry as an example of how I implemented these strategies, but I have also used these strategies in many other completely different industries such as digital marketing, videography, graphics design, Information Technology, project management and many more.

In 2010, I earned a fresh Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and had landed my first job interview in the industry for a Mechanical Designer role. The role required me to be proficient in Solidworks (a 3D modeling computer-aided drawing software for engineering products modeling). I did a bit in my Diploma course but have had no real-world experience designing actual products that got made. I was far from “proficient” but convinced that I would need this job to become proficient at my job.

“Fake it till you make it.”

Long story short, I convinced the interviewer that I was suitable for the role and he gave me the job. He asked me If I could start the next day, but they required me to work independently and in-house at a commercial air-con manufacturing warehouse for another company.

I was caught off guard! I didn’t expect them to kick me straight into the deep end, doing jobs unsupervised and unguided. On top of that, I have no idea how to design air-con units!

I pretended to scratch my head with my thumb while I wiped the nervous sweat dripping down my forehead.

By Hans Reniers on Unsplash

Regardless of that little internal episode, I went ahead with accepting the job as I didn’t want to lose an opportunity to get experience and level up my skills. I would have to run into this same issue eventually moving forward in my career anyhow. I had many doubts about myself on whether I could pull it off.

When I got home, I did extensive research on what a commercial air-con unit was and tried to break down the components that the company used to make their air-cons just by the images they had on their website. I was in a frantic panic, and the information scrambled in my head as I digested it as fast as I could read.

By Luis Villasmil on Unsplash

Doubts also crept into my mind regarding my competency with the software, but although my Solidworks skills fell short of proficient, it was enough for me to get started with the work at the very least. My priority for that night was to learn about commercial air-cons, as I had zero knowledge of it.

“imposter syndrome.” at that moment, I worried too much about the inadequacy of my skills without apparent proof.

The next morning, having no sleep, I took public transport to my first day to work so that I could watch Solidworks tutorials on my phone for last-minute cramming. It was an hour commute; I only had time to review the skills I thought I would need to get through the day.

When I got there, they gave me an induction to the workshop. It allowed me to see firsthand how the products get made, which gave me a better understanding of what they hired me to do. The rushed research I did the night before pieced together as I saw their processes, and I knew what I needed to study more on to get a better understanding.

During the tour, I would take specific mental notes on all the things I wasn’t sure about, cross-referencing the research I did the night before. I also asked specific questions on how they would prefer me to design a particular component.

When I sat down in their office, I began modeling the components starting from the easiest-to-do parts. A strategy to get me warmed up and buy me more time, so I could go home and do more research on the new things I found out that day.

My daily routine became research, go to work and try what I learned, then come home and study again. Doing this routine for a few months allowed me to grow into my role rapidly, and I learned how to do my job with no one ever noticing my lack of experience.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” — Vincent Van Gogh

I used these same techniques later on following that job, doing freelancing engineering designing for commercial windows, gazebos, oil and gas equipment, industrial blowers, bull bars, civil engineering construction, and many other manufacturing and fabrication companies.

I have also used these techniques and worked in different engineering lines apart from my standard Mechanical major and designed large projects I have never done before.

Summary for your take away:

  • Find out exactly what kind of work they expect from you, information on what the company does and its processes. Knowing what they expect you to do, allows you to research the entry-level skills efficiently.
  • Initially, research on the essential aspect to “start” the work. Don’t get caught up in trying to refine your skills to be perfect; you can build it up after getting started and learn what other skills you will need for the job.
  • Ask specific questions on how “they” would like a particular job done; this will buy you more time to do more research and also allow you to keep consulting them when you get stuck. It also allows you to meet their initial expectations of you as you complete requirements.
  • On the first day you start at any job, no-one will expect you to know everything about the company — the perfect opportunity for you to do some “reconnaissance” (environment survey research). Ask many questions specific to what will help you learn more about your job and observe their processes.

Conclusion

You may think that you don’t know how to do your job, but often, that’s not the case. It’s called imposter syndrome, where you feel you cannot do something with no apparent proof. Just give it a go; once you get started, you may find that it wasn’t that hard.

*Original article on another website

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About the Creator

The Technologenius

Engineer | Tech Tinker | Gamer | Guides | Tutorials. I may also slip in some Pokemon card and gaming content for some fun time! ;) More content: https://flipboard.com/@TTechnologenius?from=share&utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=curator_share

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