Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

I thought that a blog from the CI to offer some thoughts on attachments and blogging may help to ameliorate some of your concerns that I have been picking up during my discussions with you.

My first top tip is to focus on the endstate – successful CPR. For those of you on Phase 2, you have over a year to complete all of your UK-SPEC competences (or attributes for you Cs as I have now been informed that development objectives are no longer in vogue…) Do not feel concerned that you might not be being exposed to huge technical detail during your site attachment. Be concerned if you are not being exposed to good commercial, financial and project management detail. The technical stuff will follow on Phase 3. If you are on Phase 3 and are experiencing a bit of ground rush, now is the time to really check your development action plan and ensure that in the last couple of months you close the gaps you have identified in your experience. I am sure that all of you are in a good place in this respect though; that is what AERs are for, to track progress and aid your planning of your attachment. Remember that this is an MSc and that you are all captains or majors working towards being chartered engineers – you own your journey.

My second tip is don’t just feel the need to write about your positive experiences. An important part of being an engineer is to be able to reflect and understand one’s limitations. Therefore, please do not hesitate in writing about your challenges, your incomprehensions and your failures. You will be a better engineer for it, as will your peers and as will we be as staff. Your blogs are some of the best CPD we have experienced.

Hence, the value of your attachments is in the journey taken to the endstate and what you extract from it. Some of the most valuable experience gained by students has been from small tasks, where a complete view of the totality of an issue can be seen. There is no need not to blog because what you have been doing is not as sexy or as complex or as large scale as the previous blog. The important element is what lesson or experience or development point can you extract from the experience? So blog away without inhibition (on professional engineering matters of course).

Most importantly: Enjoy the experience and size the opportunity!

SRL