Some time ago I dedicated a post to some practical tips which, in my opinion, would have been useful to a designer at the start of his or her career.
But
what characteristics should have a designer have?,
some of you asked in the comments.
To start with, he or she must be accurate. It seems almost too banal to mention, but accuracy is a condicio sine qua non for those who decide to do this job.
It is also essential to have good knowledge in mechanics in general, and it is certainly useful to know how to use a basic design software.
So,
first and foremost accuracy and knowledge in mechanics in general. But this is not sufficient.
You have to bear in mind that a person with these characteristics can start working in a technical office, but will require a period of coaching and tutoring at the beginning.
And this is where – in my opinion – many enterprises adopt the wrong approach, believing that it is sufficient to hire an individual with certain characteristics, in order for them to be able to work and carry out their tasks autonomously.
But this is not the case.
The moment an enterprise hires a new designer, it must also organize a period of coaching to be carried out by someone with the right experience along with a specific training plan.
In my opinion, this aspect is essential and I say this from my own personal experience.
In fact, I wouldn’t really hire a fully-trained designer with a wealth of experience to join the MICROingranaggi team. I would rather opt for a novice designer, who we can train in-house “in our image and likeness”.
Why do I mention this? Because, even if we were able to find an expert with ten years experience, it would be very unlikely that the person has expertise in the exact field of mechanics we operate in, (precision micromechanics). A period of training would, therefore, be necessary in any case, but this entails the risk of encountering someone who – having worked in this sector for some time – already has a certain mindset that would make the individual less inclined to embrace new teachings.
But, and this is an important point to clarify, this is not due to a matter of age, but rather because it is difficult for a person with a certain level of experience to accept having to restart from zero (or almost), changing their modus operandi and also their mindset. The latter being two fundamental aspects for any employer.
Yes, I realize that,
hiring a young and inexperienced individual will mean dedicating time and resources to training activities, but – as I see it – this is one of the investments with the highest return.
I have also been asked on what basis I choose a young resource over another given that, in this specific case, I am not really looking for past experience. Well, I usually assess the type of person before me and I try to understand what he or she is looking to achieve with this work experience, what they want to learn and what they strive to accomplish.
