What prompted you guys to hire him?

i didn't hire him, i am just sitting next to him answering his questions every five minutes (through my lunch as well)(for the past two weeks).

sent him home early? sounds like high school. if you aren't doing a good job, you work harder not give someone the afternoon off.

when the partners seem to be in love with a new guy (or girl) i know they are incompetent and won't last.

if you feel bad for him maybe you should tell him to step up his game.

Give the guy a period of adjustment. He is hacing to go thru alot of adjusting himself. New job, new city, new culture. Give him a break, he may turn out to be a kick ass worker bee.

i agree with tectonic. i just can't get beyond the fact that a project manager is being sent home early.

dammson - is it cool for a 25 year old to tell a 35-40 year old to step up his game? i just can't see it as anything more than insulting.

i'm trying to help him, i answer all his questions, but i'm in my internship period and this guys been around for some time in the field. he knows things, don't get me wrong, but he should have the self confidence to create a cartoon/bubble set at this point.

the sent home early thing is fucked any way you look at it.

i'll continue to help him, but i can only tell someone how to reference something so many times before i will go insane.

i've volunteered to teach our new people during lunches, but it is up to them to accept, and so far no acceptance on this one.

yes it is cool to tell him that he needs to improve. knowledge does not always come with age. knowledge can and should be transfered both ways. no one should be too proud to learn something new. the archi profession has not always been one to embrace new technologies and methods of working easily. i've worked with/for a number of older ppl who just don't get it. now if they aren't willing to accept your generous help, well then, there is nothing you can do for them, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

I agree with e. Also, if he got hired twas cuz he is needed. Obviulsy something got him thru the door. Who ever sent him home is doing him/herself a diservice. Maybe there is more politically than meets the eye momentum.

I don't think it would be in your best interest to tell the guy he needs to improve. It isn't age that's important here, but position in the hierarchy is. Problems with his overall performance in the job should be addressed by his supervisors - not by you.
Do supply him with any information that could help him - whether this has to do with office standards, information related to the projects he's working on, or general relevant architectural information.... Your offer to teach people is a good tactic. But as you say it is up to them to accept.
Do inform him if he's doing anything specific that is in violation of any important office protocol or regulations.
Don't criticize in a more general sense.

Out of curiosity: what was he sent home for? This seems very strange to me. The only times I've heard of people being sent home were in cases where they were very angry or upset and didn't seem to be able to control themselves emotionally/termperamentally. I've never heard of someone being asked to leave early due to general competence issues. Was he arguing with someone? Displaying some kind of attitude problem?

Usually people who display the problems you've described so far don't last long. But: sometimes it is just that their previous experience is so alien to the new firm's methods/project types/approach that they are just temporarily lost. For instance, it isn't necessarily a "confidence" issue that he doesn't know how to put together a cartoon/bubble set. Many firms don't do those at all. "Project Manager" can mean so many things in different firms - he may have little or no relevant experience with what this title entails in your firm.
He may start to catch on more quickly, or he may just not be a good fit for this job. Give it some more time and see what happens. Help him where possible but don't take him on as your pet project.

whats microstation?

momentum
do his problems seem to be exclusively CAD-related or is he just all over the place in general? I too use Microstation at work and have seen perfectly competant ppl completely derailed by it in their first couple of weeks. This seems to happen especially to those with experience who aren't accostomed to 'not knowing' anymore (where as I, with 2 years of experience, am accostomed to having to ask ppl questions - though they're not typically CAD related). Anyway, I've heard that there is some sort of plug-in for Microstation that helps Auto-CAD users make the transition - or it allows key-ins or something. Is it safe to assume you've already helped him set up his function keys with short-cuts? (thats what i always do first, when i introduce MS to someone - so if you don't know about this - let me know & I'll fill you in - its invaluable!!!)

btw, whats a cartoon/bubble set? I don't think our office makes them...though perhaps we refer to it as something esle.

Vado - - --

its a drafting program, made by Bentley
imo, it was better than Auto-CAD a couple years ago (well, maybe more like 5-6 years ago) in terms of the types of commands one could execute (I preferred Microstation to AutoCAD back around '99 when I was confortable with both). I've only used Microstation professionally however, but the rumors I've heard are that AutoCAD has caught up (and maybe surpassed) MS. I'm sure someone else can explain the differences much better than I.

If you're curious, some NYC offices that use microstation:

-NYC Transit Authority
-KPF (well, until recently - I believe they've just switched to autocad)
-Richard Meier
-Thomas Phifer

not sure who else...

if he's only been there two weeks and he has to have a set of CD's out and he doesn't even know the software? poor guy. i dislike incompetency as much as the next, but are you giving him a chance?

i was kidding...

incompetence creates jobs!!!

soleil,,

my function keys are definately set up, and it is one of the first things i try to show when we get someone with autocad but no microstation experience.

a bubble/cartoon set is pretty much a sketched up version of the final cd's on sheets. its an opportunity to see how the cd's should be setup (sheet size, layout, etc.) and we try to go through and determine as many of the details and drawings we will need beforehand. kind of gives people like me who haven't been in the industry too long a go by.


to all,

thanks for the advice.
i can officially kill this thread.

Vectorworks.

Vado,

"incompetence creates jobs!!!" , you are god damn right it does. LOL.