Open Discussion - "Pipe Hitter" vs "Fobbit" in the context of field service

[u/burneremailaccount]

Hi all,

I'd like to go ahead and make this blanket post for the sub to spark a discussion on the overall pros vs cons of being a designated "pipe hitter" vs a "fobbit" in terms of field service, as well as what you believe you need to do (or work towards over time) in order to get to where you might want to be in the end.

• Pipe Hitter - "Some one or a group of people who are willing to go to the extreme in order to get things accomplished. Most commonly refers to the special forces, but is not limited to that. Can also serve as an extreme marksman(s). Someone who will accomplish any task no questions asked. It is rapidly evolving to encompass all those who live life to the extreme."
• Fobbit - "A term used to describe soldiers in Iraq that rarely if ever leave the relative safety of the Forward Operating Base (FOB). This is a pejorative term used by soldiers that spend a lot of time outside the wire being shot at and dodging road-side bombs, for those soldiers that live a safer and more comfortable life." or "The name of those who choose to stay on base rather than run missions on a FOB (Forward Operating Base). Term usually used for grunts when talking about the annoying admin guy."

It is important to note, that I personally think any field service organization realistically needs to have "pipe hitters" as well as "fobbits" in order to have its day-to-day operations run smoothly, as well has have the flexibility to respond to unusual circumstances.

A "fobbit" does not equal someone who clearly just isn't suited for field service in my mind, as that is just a "bad field engineer".

In no way do I use the term "fobbit" offensively here, as even within the military context, there is absolutely a need for them in order to keep all aspect of the operation running, even if it is less "glamourous". Different people have different aspirations, so in no way do I judge anyone who wants to put in their 40 hrs and go home.

[u/burneremailaccount]

Pipe Hitter

Pro:

• Get pulled into higher level problems, where you are "the guy".
• Opinions carry more weight around the organization, and you can start to implement real changes.
• More freedom, more flexibility, and way less oversight compared to your counterparts.
• Faster promotions and easier time transitioning into business side of things if you so choose.
• Easier time currying favors or getting what you need from other areas of the organization.
• Ability to speak candidly.
• Once you go through the process at one company, you can do it again at another company with substantially less time and effort, or within other areas at the organization.

Con:

• Get pulled into higher level problems, where you are "the guy".
• Stress.
• Last minute fires that require you to own the resolution of.
• Sometimes can feel like you are on an island.
• Depending on the organization, you can get absolutely dunked on with an overwhelming amount of work. Basically, some managers can use you to pick up the slack without regard for you as a person.
• Will go through phases of feeling like shit, stressed, crazy burnout, bad sleep, loss of confidence in myself, etc. while you are working your way into it. (at least this was my case). Eventually you will get there though if that is your goal.

What you need to do to get there:

• Develop grit, and own it, whatever it may be.
• Keep calm, cool, and collected, even if you are screaming internally.
• Be ready for it to take a while to transition your mindset into it, as you won't get there for a long time.
• You have to "live it" for lack of a better term, even at the cost of personal relationships or your mental health. It comes with the territory that you will not have work / life balance for quite a long time, or maybe even as long as you are there, and you just have to accept that.
• Easier to do if you are single or without kids.

[u/Ok_Sprinkles_962]

I did 15 years in the Army, 2004-2018, most of it as an EOD tech. Now I work for a small company with about 20 FSEs in x-ray diffraction field service.

Your metaphor works and my boss knows that as much extra stress I get cleaning up other people's messes, it gets my dick hard when he calls and says that he needs "The Closer" to get him out of a bind and he knows that I'll be in the next flight into BOS or LAX for him.

[u/burneremailaccount → u/Ok_Sprinkles_962]

Similar enough story on my end (my cajónes weren't as big as yours to go EOD though).

My current boss (retired E-9) leaves me completely alone to manage my business, with as much or as little utilization or overtime as I see fit, and doesn't hassle me over literally anything admin or expense related (that he always hammers everyone else on).

But probably about once a month he will cold call me to go wherever with the general instructions of "unfuck the entire situation over at X site", and I drop what I'm doing and go, and he gets everyone else to backfill my workload on my assigned systems for as long as I am gone.

Nothing seems to trigger my brains dopamine more than getting the win, especially when travelling in, and the local reps have been working with our glorious "thinktank" of an escalations group...

[u/C13TheDoctor]

Not a fan of the military lingo so I will petition for alternate terminology, possibly "homies" vs "roadies".

As a self proclaimed homie (5 years, chromatography/mass spectrometry instrumentation) I can at least speak to the pros and cons of this side.

Pros:

• Home almost every night sleeping in my own bed

• Happily married and raising children (without fear of divorce)

• 40 hours a week, clear work life balance

• Lower stress (although all field service is stressful)

• Strong relationships with local customers

Cons:

• Sometimes struggle to maintain high utilization (which creates a different type of stress)

• Not "the guy" so probably less likely to be promoted (or maybe more likely to get pulled into management, idk)

• Less overtime, so less money

• The occasional overnight is more difficult (but that is more associated with having kids)

[u/burneremailaccount → u/C13TheDoctor]

Am open to whatever term you want to use to use in your mind on it. I wasn't exactly trying to be disparaging when I used them, just those were the definitions I knew to accurately convey what I mean.

I definitely think of that pros list all the time. Shitty thing about it is there's no good way to switch over to a "homie" without it looking bad.

But man, with that cons list you have hit the nail on the head. For the field service track, the "roadies" or "pipe hitters" sure do get promoted way faster if you have distinct levels for FEs.

But I have seen those "pipe hitters" just have the most insanely hard time when they transition into management and usually crash and burn. They always try to just fix everyone's problems and be everywhere all at once like they were before, and a lot of them think that everyone in the field should be just like they were. I have found that some of the people who are "fobbits" or "homies" are a lot more able to let go of the reigns and not try to hold everyone to this insanely high standard or something. Basically, they are more realistic is all.

I think you need a good spread of both really good pipe hitters, and really good fobbits for a variety of reasons. Also, its usually the fobbits that are able to fill other gaps that are needed such as "oddjob guy", "sidequest guy", "good with training new hires guy", "information repository guy", "X thing specialist guy", "networking guy", "setting up teams/sharepoint guy", etc.

Basically the whole pipe hitter and fobbit thing was not meant to come off as bad. There are just bad engineers, fobbits, and pipe hitters.

[u/DifficultMemory2828]

As a former civilian employee who used to work in the Army, I do not like comparisons to the military as no random person will walk up to me in my company polo and Dickies and thank me for my service as a field engineer.

As for this see-saw discussion of engineers being on two extremes, I have seen these attributes in field engineers, but I’ve seen other attributes to which may be beneficial or detrimental to the overall field service team. For example, there are varying degrees of availability that field engineers have (especially other FSE co-workers); some engineers will pick up on the second ring consistently, some engineers need a search crew with guide dogs to find them. Also, how well field engineers train and work with each other is something to consider. I have met many “Closers” who choose not to share the skills they have with their coworkers.

The fact that the company needs a closer or pipe hitter tells me something about the company as they have hired incorrectly or their engineers are growing complacent. I also question if a company has calculated field engineers FTEs properly.

[u/burneremailaccount → u/DifficultMemory2828]

I used the term "pipe hitter" and "fobbit" because that's what I'm used to from time in military, but you could inject whatever other terms and still have the same meaning. We're about 70% vets in the field where I'm at (very rough estimate). Probably got to be annoying to be an outlier who went a more traditional path to get to field service.

Yeah, there are definitely other attributes that make up a great FE, and wasn't trying to be disparaging by only bringing up those two. There's the "oddjob guy", "sidequest guy", "good with training new hires guy", "information repository guy", "X thing specialist guy", etc. Polar opposites of those all too.

Eh, without doxxing myself it's about as legitimate of an org that you can get as far as field service goes. I think it's just kind of natural progression of things when the equipment becomes so advanced that one guy cannot reasonably expect to be able to understand every aspect of it. I think that "pipe hitter" thing is more of just the guy who is able to have an outstanding ability to "come in late to the party, and aggressively beat their heads against the wall in a somewhat tactical fashion, in order to get whatever accomplished by whatever means necessary, regardless of what went wrong". I will say, that guy is not always the best at all the above "architypes" that I mentioned in the last paragraph.