I realized how much skills atrophy here only after I started looking for a new job. I am to blame the most for what happened, of course, however, it was impossible to grow skills and work with dedication in this company where there is not much room for skills development. Or at least, for me there wasn't.
6 replies (most recent on top)
If you plan on staying at Emerson, it doesn’t matter.
My advice for people still at Emerson would be to do what I did, study new skills on the job. Once I realized that I wasn't ever going to get invited into the good-ole boys club...I took all kinds of online classes and even finished my MBA, while sitting in a cube at Emerson. One of things I miss most about the company is that I don't have the time to take those classes anymore. You need to keep up your skills in the area of your interest and talent, it's your best job security. It really great how many classes you can take online these days, and they are very affordable. Even major universities have online options. Get two monitors, have one open with your work and another open with your classwork.
Emerson skills don’t transfer.
We’re siloed. Other engineering companies require that you perform a broad range of tasks.
Emerson asks us the be the US face of foreign labor.
Exactly the same here! Everything I did was private efforts, evening school over years, courses, whatever. And then the knowledge was not even called off. Apparently, there was fright to get confronted with new or other ways. Or management was afraid of people with more knowledge, who knows.
To the original poster of the message:
Did you do anything to proactively develop yourself, learn new skills or knowledge?
Did you set and accomplish any personal development goals?
Did you ever challenge yourself?
Did the work environment hold you back or did you?
Why do you think it is reasonable for the company to pay to develop your skills in X, Y and Z if your job description uses skills A, B and C? They should help you become better at A, B and C (if needed). If the job description changes and you now need X, Y and Z then that is a different story and the employer should help with training.
I had to spend a very significant amount of time outside of work trying to keep up with my profession. And you know what was the worst of it?
I couldn’t use any of that knowledge at my actual job. I actually tried and was told that was not things were done. To make things worse, all that knowledge would eventually get forgotten because I couldn’t apply it anywhere. So it was a lot of energy just to keep up with the bare minimum, especially when you have a family.
This company is terrible when it comes to developing people. They expect you to do all the learning outside of work, and then they don’t care once you have it. If you have an MBA, you might be better off. Emerson loves layers upon layers of useless management.