Virgil

Part II

Another one I hired was a fellow named Steve. He was referred by Dave. They had gone to school together. Steve too was mature. He was working as an engineer for about a year and was unhappy at the company he was with. Engineering can be really interesting or really boring, so I understood. I hired Steve but he has not worked for me, so I don’t know much of his style and skills. He’s a friendly guy and we talk baseball all the time. He was a high school pitcher. He too dresses way too casual for my liking and isn’t the most articulate person, but I think he’s done well for himself.

Next was Amy. There aren’t that many women in engineering (though there are more and more every year) so it’s always tough for them. Actually I screwed Amy up a little for the interview. I gave erroneous directions to our place and she got lost and circled around for an hour and was calling from her cell phone. She was all flustered for the interview. But she handled it fine. Actually there was almost no doubt she was going to get hired; she has relatives where I work and in fact I worked with her uncle. But she didn’t need any of that. She had outstanding grades and despite being flustered she gave a great interview. She seems to have worked out well. She has never worked on anything for me. Actually a few years ago I took on her fiancé for a summer job and he was great. I wanted to hire him but he ultimately took something else in another part of the company. They’ve gotten married and now had a child, and I thought by now she should be back from maternity leave, but I haven’t seen her in a while. I’m not sure if she’s still with us.

Finally there was Mike. Like Phil, Mike was an outstanding student and he’s the only one who already had a master’s degree at the interview. Mike had a certain boyishness, like he was still in school. But he was able to come up with a way to re-look at a certain problem we were having at the time, and I thought that was good. So I hired him. Well, while Mike is very smart and has figured a number of things out, I can’t say he’s a really good engineer. The problem is he’s afraid to take responsibility. He kind of shies away from tasks, not out of laziness but out of anxiety. My boss asked me what’s the problem with Mike? I said he’s afraid to fail. He’s afraid to not get an A grade. It’s like he’s still in school. If he doesn’t think he can do something perfectly he draws back. In reseach and development engineering you're going to fail more often than you like. You've got to get used to it and just learn from the problem and get back to the drawing board. I kept telling my boss he’ll grow, but while he’s a little better, but he hasn’t really grown. Dave has him under his wing and Dave gets him inspired. But then occasionally I catch Dave doing work Mike should be doing. So I don’t know. Personally I like Mike. I stop by his desk with my morning coffee and we talk sports or something hot in the news. He’s very knowledgeable but he seems more interested in those things than in his job. By all rights when Dave leaves my program, Mike should have been in line to replace him as sub system lead. But I decided that Rob deserves it more and will do a better job. So Mike will be reporting to Rob, even though he’s more senior. It comes down to maturity. Mike is still boyish and immature. I don’t have confidence in him. Actually he’s not done anything to show me confidence. I’m not sure what’s running through his mind, but it’s unfortunate.

So those were my six hires five years ago. I think they’ve worked out very well. Phil, Dave, and Rob are solid engineers; I can’t speak for Steve and Amy but I think they’re doing well, and Mike needs more time to mature. I guess he’s getting there. Hope you thought that was interesting.