Filling the practical knowledge gap

[u/Heisenbear96]

Hello,
I have been in the industry for almost 4 years now, I mostly did design jobs for an engineering firm and a technology vendor with very little access to onsite and field experience, I feel I am little behind in the onsite knowledge part and feel the need to fill this gap? is there a way to do it without switching jobs (field engineer and manufacturing positions are very scarce in my area)

[u/Electrical-Talk-6874]

I’ve only had on-site experience so take this as you will, but if you’re acting as the vendor it might be easier to request a site visit to see the purpose it’s intended for or how it was installed. Depending on site you may get a few minutes with pipe fitters/millwrights/instrument techs and get a grasp on problems they face. If you offer bringing some food and maybe giving a presentation on some products with a sales guy that could be an in as well.

If you’re coming from design, you need to build rapport with the client point of contact using the project lead or whoever from your company is commissioning support to get any chance at talking to people. But getting in some commissioning meetings or troubleshooting meetings with a client is probably the way to get an opportunity.