The burden of starting

Dear Junior, (read: Past Self)

The one credo that I hear over and over again is “I, as a junior am a burden”. They are just there, newly graduated, knowing nothing, thinking that they know everything. Asking dumb questions. Re-asking the same questions. Keeping seniors out of their work. Sometimes causing seniors serious consequences.

Let’s unpack and get to an answer, once and for all.

Over the past month I have tried to gather some information about the perception of junior engineers in the workforce: How are they actually seen? What is the industry norm, and is this crazy self-talk of being burdensome in the start of your career founded on any amount of truth?

The general consensus is quite nuanced, and actually quite optimistic. There are multiple aspects to it:

• Any engineering company is in its essence a business. Some value is provided to some ideal client, in some ideal format, at some agreed upon timeline, such that the client is satisfied to the point where money exchanges hands. Scale as needed.

• A junior has a little bit of a detrimental effect on at least some of these points:

  • The value that is provided by a junior is not comparable to that provided by a senior, often times. It may lack in impact and transformational ability, skill or insight.

  • The format that the junior drums up to present may be lacking in its quality, coherence, depth.

  • The junior may take much longer than anticipated to initiate, execute and finalise tasks delegated to them: the project lingers longer than agreed upon.

  • In a good firm, a direct connection between the client and the junior may not be advisable until some training has been done. One should be versed in marketing, persuasion, professional curtesy and the nuances included prior to client engagement on behalf of the company. It is a risk for a junior to be directly client facing without a senior present.

• A senior is often assigned as the guide or mentor to a junior. This is the person that will guide you, showing you the ropes of what happens in day to day operations. They will delegate your tasks to you, check your work, comment and critique, listen and guide where they have insight to.

• A junior therefor increases the workload of the senior in the following ways:

  • The senior has to present the task to the junior in a way that they would grasp the task presented.

  • The senior has to guide the junior through the task, sometimes step-by-step, sometimes sub-step by sub-step.

  • The senior has to check the work done.

  • The senior has to provide feedback.

  • The senior has to recheck the work done.

  • The senior has to be available to answer, constructively, any question that a junior might have.

• This is where the optimism lies. This is exactly where the truth lies, and this is where the focus should be.

• The consensus in the minds of most in the industry is this: “We were all juniors once. We all had to start somewhere. Starting at the bottom and working through the difficult days has a compounding effect over time, and the result of it is a resilient, value-intensive individual.”

• In business, people need to play the long game. Investing in juniors is the long game. It is a strategic move to welcome those with high passion, low experience into a company with a set way of doing things, a set mindset, workflow, outlook, and then mold them into the best possible fit for the value-proposition of the company. It’s like planting a tree.

• Many of the leaders that I consulted have said this about the burden that a junior is to a senior:

Juniors, this is what I want you to know:

• The company that hired you is playing the long game. Their return on investment in you is around 1.5 - 2 years out.

  This means that you do not have to know all the things, and have all the answers and be the ultimate on day 1. There is time for growth.

• The seniors that you are to report to have the position they have, only because you are there. If you were not there, they would be intermediates. They get to excel in their careers because they are guiding you.

• Your questions and contributions may be lacking in coherence sometimes, might indicate serious knowledge gaps, might make you feel foolish, but, they are valuable because it guides your guide as to your position.

Knowing this, dear Junior, what are you to do? How can you participate to the best of your ability in the process of molding little Junior Tree?

It all comes down to a lovely principle noted in “Buy Back Your Time” by Dan Martell.

The 1:3:1 principle:

For every problem that you have, every confusing position you find yourself in, do the following:

• Articulate the problem such that it is clear where your confusion lies:

  • Do I not know this principle?

  • Do I need to find some additional information and I don’t know where to begin?

  • Is there some best practice that might make the workload and think-load less?

  • Is there a risk associated that I can’t see the impact for?

• Ideate (think and write down) 3 possible solutions for the problem at hand. Consider multiple options and write them down, get them ready for presentation in such a way that the senior might engage with them swiftly and understand clearly.

  It follows from point 1 and point 2 that it is possible for you as junior to solve your own problem without needing to consult your senior, but should you require the consult:

• Consult your senior and ask for a single answer that might direct you to a point where you can take initiative again. If you know what solutions are possible, you are primed to know how to take initiative with the proposed solution. The exchange might look something like this:

  “Hey, senior. I have this problem, and I believe this is the key area that I am lacking in experience, insight or answers. I have thought that maybe option 1, option 2 or option 3 could be something that might solve the problem. Do you think they are viable, and can you please provide me with some additional insight into why the option that you chose was chosen?”

  If your senior answers with option 4 as the solution, really lean in to try and understand what you have missed in your initial solution ideation. Note this down and refer back to it when the following problem pops up.

You have successfully helped your guide to locate you, then made yourself malleable to be formed into the best engineer you can be.

Junior, be encouraged. You are starting, it’s a vulnerable place to be. But, you are so welcome to be there: we are all rooting for you!

Go and move mountains!

Hannalie Vergotine

Founder: Opus Valorem