Haichuan Gratitude Season--My First Mentor【Workplace Section 003】

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I majored in Metal Materials Engineering at the undergraduate level, with a focus on fields such as steel production or automobile manufacturing. Entering the chemical industry was purely by chance. After studying the iron-carbon phase diagram for four years, I felt a bit lost when I suddenly entered the chemical industry. I’ve never heard of things like heat exchangers or towers before. . When I first started working at the company, my task was dealing with piping, and the management’s plan was to train me in line with the requirements of piping materials. . So I became the only new employee who didn’t have any background in chemistry. Then there are various trainings. I’ve read the book and done a lot of research, but I’m still completely confused. It makes me anxious to see others growing so fast. At that time, every new employee had a mentor. My mentor has worked at a state-owned design institute for over a decade. I have quite a lot of experience. At first, I was worried that by asking questions all the time, especially some quite basic ones, my mentor might get impatient. It turned out I was overthinking it. He told me that since I had just graduated, there was no need to be shy about asking questions; it was fine to ask as long as I understood the answers. There’s no reason to feel embarrassed about asking questions. Only when I’ve been working for a longer time and still don’t understand things will I start to feel embarrassed about asking. Later on, perhaps seeing how anxious I was, they bought me a book. I was quite touched when I received the book; although we had a master-apprentice relationship, the time we spent together was short after all. My first mentor was a very important person in my career. Although I only worked at that company for four months, once you are a teacher, you remain one for life. Actually, I think the mentor doesn’t have to be the person assigned by the company. As long as one is willing to impart knowledge and share, they can become one’s own mentor. Just today, I had a question regarding materials. Someone who works for another company dealing with pipe materials said something very touching: By sharing my knowledge with you, I lose nothing, while you gain something in return. The title of this article is Thank You to My First Master. In fact, there are many more people I am grateful to. Thank you to those who patiently guided me in building the model, to those who patiently explained to me everything about supports and hangers, to those who arranged lessons for me every day on pipe materials, to those who answered all my questions in detail, and to those who gave me a gift as a farewell after the project was completed. . .