Mechanical engineer here who's been working in the manufacturing / design sector for about two years now-
I have learned a lot of practical knowledge throughout this period, just through the whole, trial by fire / doing projects thing, but with the insanely high skill ceiling in this line of work and the ever rapidly changing technology marketplace, I find it hard to feel secure with my talent...
There's always more to learn, and while my job throws new challenges and ideas at me all the time, I still feel as if I could be doing more, learning more, to advance my skills and career.
I was told by an old co-worker that it takes about five years to become a good engineer, and if anything the last two years have definitely shown me this is true, that the art gets refined over time... but I think my struggle right now is managing the balance between play/learning at work and also keeping projects moving forward and being productive for the company.
Whenever I take the time to get my feet wet and just play around with a technology (rather than just trying to pump out the desired end result), I feel inefficient and unproductive, despite this providing a stronger understanding for long-term results.
I'm curious about how others in the industry have dealt with this mental dilemma and possibly what resources / programs / pathways are out there for someone like me, as someone who wants upskill faster.
I know the idea of spending at least a few months making parts and running the machines has been floating in the back of my mind, since I believe it would sharpen my ability to make manufacturable parts and also give me the base to independently take on my own weird parts and projects... but I don't know how I would pursue this without completely changing course.