When did you start to feel like you were good at your job?

[Magoo]

I've been a machinist for 10 years now. I've made stuff that's gone into space and to the bottom of the oceans. I've made parts for race cars, guns, motorcycles, satellites, and much more. I've worked with some of the hardest and softest materials. But I've never really thought about being a good machinist.

But for some reason, today, when I inspected an 18x20" part I cut from rolled aluminum plate and found it had a flatness of about .0005" across the whole thing, I thought, "well dadgum, I'm pretty good at this..."

[Tinybear]

Been a diesel tech for going on 20years now.

Never thought I was anything special and still don’t. I dont feel I excel In Any aspect of the job. Just been a well rounded tech that can take on and do most any job I have been handed.

I have been nominated and competed in a few top tech competitions and done ok. But I thought they were kinda dumb they don’t really test skill but more rather memory at the levels I got to.

I have run a couple larger shops now and was successful at both, but find I much prefer being on the floor. Now I back to fixing school busses and feel comfy though not very challenged. I am the go to engine and emissions diag guy here purely because I have most experience with the systems and computers coming from a dealership. Electrical is my favourite as it allows me to sometimes actually have to think.

[fullofpaint]

Never lol. Just finished a multi million dollar film/photo shoot for a worldwide haute couture fashion brand and still feel like a fraud sometimes haha.

[Rusty Brass]

Impostor syndrome is real.

[Memornix]

This, I have been doing automation for the entertainment industry for 20 years now, I have been senior mechanical blah blah, head electrical what's it called for numerous companies and at one point head of automation for Cirque du Soleil and I still worry about my work. I haven't had a major problem with anything in years but that worry is still in the back of head that I don't know what I am doing.

[Rusty Brass]

Depends on the day.

[Jordan]

Took about 10 years for me... I've been an auto mechanic for close to 20 years now, and I still wish I knew more.

I'm definitely not electrical diag-minded, I wish I had Tinybear's outlook on that aspect of the job. Give me a mechanical issue any day.

I'm in trouble when the inevitable switch to EVs happen. 😅 Hopefully I'm close to retirement at that point.

[Tinybear]

The company I work for has one EV bus. Gotten to take a look at it. But it belongs to another location so not touched it yet sadly.

Trucks and busses I find are a bit easier than cars and such. The emissions on the modern diesels can be troublesome and you get lots of faults due to that. But other wise 90% of my day is just running maintenance etc. Nothing exciting. So fkr me getting an electrical issue to sort out is a breath of fresh air.

[Shaftski]

I always considered software/hardware testing pretty much common sense level stuff.

I stopped a major telecom mfg where I worked QA from shipping a major hw/sw release to our #1 customer. I wrote a lot of bugs that blocked the release dead in it's tracks. Managers and VPs flipped out, it could cost us literally millions in penalties if we don't deliver on time. My manager backed me up, my reasoning/discoveries were dead sound, easily reproducible, and would have cost us MORE in penalties if we shipped another bad release. And these were simple provisioning problems that were obvious. Better to take an honest hit up front than look like idiots later.

I felt good about how my skills had developed because no one could attack anything I did, and my boss backed me up without question. That meant a lot to me. After that managers got a little scared when they saw incoming bugs with my name as the originator.

[bored383]

[punkncat]

To be fair, I got a bit professionally cocky a few years back. I know it's a big shock for those of you that are familiar with me....
Anywho, there is nothing more humbling than finding out that what you thought was the whole enchilada was merely a bit off the end. I still learn something new every day. Now, if I could just remember all of it. ld:

[Paintslinger16]

The saying is it takes five years to be proficient in anything, and that’s actually probably outdated. Since we are now in the internet age, changes happen more quickly and learning something the old way, only for it to change probably doesn’t help anyone think they “got” it.

[DocsMachine]

Got my first machine tool in '94, been doing this schtick full-time since '98. I figure in a couple more years, five at the outside, I should have a pretty good handle on it.

Doc.

[BenoitOWN]

I average good but I don’t excel at it.
Doing great would means I finish all my tasks but I can’t in the given times. I do great in building up sales.

[Arthur]

Little things and a few reminders along the way. Like last week when someone escalated me and the project I'm running. My leadership looks at it. The other teams leadership looks at it. And they determine everything's going great and as for our complainer, just a big talker.

[XEMON]

Depends on the day.

Same here ...

Ive been working with PCBA, troubleshoot and repair since i was old enough to hold a soldering iron (and stuck my finger on it :P)
Some realy complex jog get done in a few hours, saved a few grands of gear and feel great, then the next day i cont figure out a clone of a 20 years old tech ive worked with my whole life ...

Sooooo .....

Depends on the day.

[flyweightnate]

I released some pretty neat product last year, and felt like I had a handle on stuff after about 8 years... then changed not just jobs, but fields. I'm gonna be FNG for a bit.

I'd rather be learning than stagnating. Even when I was putting out good product, I knew I wasn't the best, or even close to an expert, just the best my company had. Middle of the pack with experts up front sounds more fun than driving a bus of... normal?

[ford]

Been doing software development for 8 years... I've probably thought I was good at my job every other year... You think you know it all, then a new business problem requires you to pick up a new technology or something you built you thought was rock-solid implodes due to a completely unforeseen event.

You get a lot of scars which allows you to flex in strategy meetings where newer programmers may suggest solutions you know will crash and burn. At least most places value that kind of experience =P

[punkncat]

"You think you know it all, then a new business problem requires you to pick up a new"

THIS. Most of my work revolves around various code books, some of which interfere with each other. You can have a superb grasp on (for instance) the main literature that codifies your work, but THEN find out there are three more that you may or may not be familiar with and suddenly the horizon is SO much farther away.
I have come to accept that I will never know all there is to know about the field I am involved in. I try my best to excel in a working environment and have learned to call the particular fire marshal involved concerning the rest. Most of them are good guys that are happy to talk with a professional about the real world challenges that face inspectors in light of compliance.