Stay in the department or the workshop?
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I majored in chemical engineering. I joined a newly established chemical project 12 years ago; due to some reasons, the project was delayed for over 3 years. During that time, I did internships and was assigned to other departments. Now I’m assigned to the technical department. As the project construction is at its peak phase, this question has arisen: where is it better to stay for future development?
Personally, I recommend staying in the technical department. If you are capable and know how to get along with others, there are many opportunities for promotion within the company; you could spend a few years gaining experience in the workshop, but otherwise it’s better not to go there. Advantages of working in the technical department: Generally, functional departments have a broader scope of responsibility than production departments, offer a wider perspective, provide frequent opportunities to interact with higher-level managers, and present more chances for performance recognition and promotion. Once the newly built production workshops are running stably after testing, most of the work involved is repetitive, and senior management pays less attention to them. In the first three to four years, one might learn more and faster there than by staying in the technical department, but if no opportunities arise to move up, one will have to endure many difficult years.
I have a different view; you need to go back to the workshop, because that’s where you can truly learn something – and that will be an asset for you in the future!
Personally, I think a department is better; there’s more work to deal with, lots of design changes. At the site, one only knows to make the changes, but not necessarily why they need to be made. Of course, exceptions exist where the design does not match the actual site.
Those who end up working in the workshop are management personnel – they have both technical skills and management abilities, so they can progress rapidly. In the tech field, it’s also possible to succeed by gaining experience, or by having real expertise, which can also lead to good prospects.
There is still a chance; we are part of the first batch of employees hired, and the team is not yet at full capacity
Well, that’s the case; it seems like the foundation isn’t solid, so it won’t be easy to make progress in the future. It’s just that the department platform might be a bit higher
That’s not very realistic; everyone just wants to be able to work in peace
It’s just that if the foundation isn’t solid, it will be hard to handle problems in the future; things will get pretty tough then
If you really want to, you can take some time to go to the site and check out the design in person, right? Do all those in leadership positions understand it? Know which person to use for which task.