Ask a question that is often asked in interviews

When it comes to engineering, if you’ve never done it, then you simply haven’t done it; it’s normal that you can’t answer related questions. Their requirements for hiring candidates can also be seen from those questions. If your work in piping is limited merely to piping itself, and it involves only tasks such as improvements and follow-up work after the main pipelines are completed, as you said, then you’ve wasted quite a bit of time over these four years. In the field of piping, moving upstream relates to pipeline materials, while moving downstream relates to pipeline stress. My understanding is that as the piping work progresses, it is necessary to learn about piping materials so as to carry out the initial task of selecting and cataloging materials; learning about pipe stresses enables stress analysis of the pipelines, allowing one to verify whether their design is feasible. This is necessary to complete a project fully in the future. Am I just lucky? I changed jobs quite frequently, so I was fortunate enough to take charge of a pipeline project, a pilot plant – by going through the entire process, I came to understand everything related to pipelines. Of course, the price to pay is high; luck won’t always be on your side, and there will always be times when you end up in trouble. The current market conditions are poor, and by acting recklessly, I’ve found myself in a very difficult situation – it’s truly unbearable. But it’s worth it for this lifetime; I’ll spend just one year mastering all aspects of the pipeline engineering field. That’s life – what more could one ask for?~

It can’t be said that it’s just about updating and improving things; generally, when starting a project, the main pipelines and the basic models of the equipment are already available. Since large companies handle many similar projects, the models are usually copied over at the beginning. My role is to update the equipment models based on the equipment diagrams, to arrange the piping according to PID specifications, and to determine various basic conditions such as the location of pipe connections, ladder platforms, and frame load conditions. I also need to coordinate with the teams responsible for process equipment, instrumentation, and electrical systems, and to finalize all these details through mutual approval. Additionally, I’m responsible for selecting the appropriate pipe supports, as well as compiling all the plans and drawings related to the project. I think I’ve done everything required; perhaps I don’t know much about materials and stress analysis. This is probably because the work is divided into too many specialized areas – there are specialists in materials and stress analysis – and I lack the motivation to learn on my own. I tend to just get by, focusing only on completing the tasks at hand without delving deeper into learning new things. There are very few summaries of the system, so when asked questions during interviews, I’m at a loss and my answers are incomplete; I’m often reminded that I shouldn’t have prepared this information in advance, or that I should have known those details... That’s why I’ve come here to ask for advice on how to answer such questions better. Thank you for your guidance

Since you say you work with such detail and have such a thorough division of tasks, I guess you work at a large engineering company or a design institute? If you’re a full-time employee, don’t change jobs. The job market is poor right now, and it’s hard to find a suitable position. Working in small companies means rough working conditions and a lack of standardization, which is actually not good at all. If it’s the Imperial Allied Army, as long as the company doesn’t force you to quit, just hold on hoping that market conditions will improve. It seems that small companies are really not well-organized; it’s safer and more hassle-free to work at larger companies~

It’s a large design institute; the first company laid off employees – there was no other choice. The others were sent on assignments, and now that the projects are completed they have returned to their original company

Well, I think it’s also the Imperial Allied Army; after all, it’s extremely difficult to get a position as a full-time employee in the large compound. . . . Being sent on assignment is indeed the worst at this time; due to the nature of engineering projects, the Huangxie Army is doomed to suffer the fate of being discarded once its task is completed. Unfortunately, the projects you undertake are too detailed; they are more suitable for larger organizations. It’s not easy to get into large companies, while small companies handle tasks in a rough manner. One needs to have a broad range of skills rather than focusing on details, because even if you can do things well, you’ll find that in small companies there isn’t much time available to refine the projects thoroughly. . . . The owner is very anxious.

You’re absolutely right. Those sent to large companies don’t get to work on small projects within their own company, so they can’t grow as quickly. People from my own company say they have to take care of many things, whereas in large companies, one just needs to follow the plans for the main projects. Right now, I’m even nervous about going to interviews

In large companies, much of the work involves drawing up diagrams and statistical data; the actual decisions regarding the design are already determined by the company itself, such as the choice of materials and the layout of pipes – that is, an overall arrangement that takes into account stress analysis. What’s outsourced is merely the task of improving this plan; it involves spending some time on drawing diagrams and compiling data – pure manual labor that’s boring, offers low pay, but still requires a huge amount of work.