www.thefabricator.com: What makes a good shop employee? That’s a question that sounds simple on the surface, but if you’ve spent any amount of time in a fabrication shop, you know there’s a lot more to it than just showing up and punching a clock.
Every shop may have its own flavor, with different equipment, products, and expectations, but for the most part, we’re all looking for the same core qualities in an employee. You can teach someone how to run a machine, but it’s a lot harder to teach them how to care.
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Another thing that I think definitely separates a good shop employee from a bad one is a willingness to keep going with tasks. A lot of people will do the task they’re assigned and either assume they are done and do nothing, or assume they are done and try their hardest to stop working. But a job list is never over, and if you’re not trying to get ahead you’re wasting your time a bit. I would always rather be doing something on a job than doing nothing, because it both makes time go by quicker and helps the collective out. A shop being so well run that even the smallest mistakes of an individual are noticed by the collective is a cool and also high standard that definitely yields good results. You can also teach anyone anything, but breaking existing habits is hard, so sometimes coming in knowing nothing can even be better.
This article really felt and read like it was written by AI. Once I noticed that I couldn't actually appreciate anything I was reading, but the article did hit some good points. In any job, punctuality is important. The difference of a few minutes in your arrival time can have a huge impact on the impression you leave and alters what people expect of you. Taking the time to do a job right is also really important. Rushing might shave off 10-20% of your time per piece but if the tradeoff is ruining a piece, you're probably actually losing more time and throwing away money. Building up your confidence in a skill and being able to consistently produce quality pieces comes first. Then, you will start working faster naturally. You will produce consistent work and people will respect you more as a worker. Nobody wants to deal with someone who is always rushing to do bad work.
The contents of this article did not really surprise me, and I did not really except it to. I have work in a shop for a lot of my life, and I have a pretty good idea as to what causes a shop worker to be a good shop worker that said shop wants to keep around. I am happy to say that this article did not list any quarts in a worker that I myself did not already know is an important quality to have. It is interesting though that if you read this article the things that make a good shop worker stand above others boils down into three things. I for one think this list is two short, but if the article was trying to give a base line three qualities then this is an acceptable list. The three qualities that this article views as important for a shop worker to have are to one get along with others, two to be on time, and three to be slow in steady. These are definitely good qualities to have and if would lead to you standing out above other workers who don’t have these qualities.
This article was written by AI I’m pretty sure, or at least with AI assistance; and maybe more than just assistance. Either way, the article has no voice, the content is very generic and could easily be transferred to any profession. Perhaps the article is not the kind of thing that the author is interested in writing about, but there are so many angles they could have gone to make it resonate with people who have worked in shops.
Rather than being a shop employee-specific list of qualities, it was mostly written about being an employee in general…I feel like I was also told to be on time and diligent when I worked at the grocery store in high school. If I were to rewrite this article using what I have, I think I would go the angle of talking about the qualities of a universally good employee, and then talk about how to apply those to working in a shop. To their credit, they used examples of employees they have worked with, but I’m not sure that was enough to make the article effective.
I sure hope the guys from the author’s shop never read this article. I think commitment to your job and coworkers, especially in our hyper collaborative industry is of utmost importance. Because everything we do is tied to the people you work with and around and the connections you make with them, our industry necessitates a shift from looking at a job as work you do but as a team you work with. I think that is why the article’s author has so much to say about his old coworker phoning in his job in order to make ends meet with other side-gigs. I hadn’t really put much thought into it before reading the article, but I can understand how it would be frustrating for the author and his other coworkers to have to work around someone who isn’t committed to their joint work, even if it sounds like he had some justifiable reasons. “Slow and Steady” is also a good reminder that not everything has to happen blisteringly fast, and that shortcuts will reveal themselves as you improve with a tool or craft, you can’t just brute force your way into being better at something.
Oh well… I was expecting more than that, but I totally agree with this article. Being an employee who goes to work on time is super crucial to a shop worker and any position in any industry. People are expecting workers to be ready to get the job done in their position at the right time, and that’s the reason they get paid. Especially in the theater industry, when people are working together in a shop, each part of a project is dependent on other parts, so people should be ready in places to work together. I feel like the slow and steady part also includes safety, which is one of the most important things while working. People should be aware of their surroundings, what they are doing, and what other people around are doing, as all important to maintain the shop's safety and make sure no one gets into any accidents. The part about slow and steady is more about the precision, the effort, and the attention put into the work. I feel like actively being slow and not getting the job done is not a healthy way of interpreting slowly, but locking in and focusing on the work is what makes something successful in their first try.
I get what this article is trying to say, but it felt a little too obvious at times. A lot of the points, like being on time, paying attention to detail, and getting along with people, aren’t really specific to shop work. They’re just qualities of being a good employee in general. That said, I do think the examples helped make it more interesting, especially the contrast between the two workers. It made the consequences of bad habits feel more real instead of just theoretical. The “slow and steady” idea makes sense. It’s easy to feel like you need to work fast, especially in a hands-on environment, but rushing clearly creates bigger problems in the long run. I also liked the point about attitude being more valuable than experience, because that feels especially true in creative or technical spaces. Overall, even if it felt a bit generic, the message is still important and realistic.
It’s hard to pass by this article as someone who’s often working in the scene shop at CMU. It’s always good to know the extra mile you can go to make yourself stand out as a valuable member of a crew. Unfortunately, this article seems to only give two suggestions as for good traits. Punctuality and taking your time when forming new skills are great pieces of advice, but I’d hoped to maybe have an opportunity to practice something new during a call. I think over the past year, I’ve learned that if your priority is to get as much done as possible in your four hour crew call, your effort stands out for you. Motivation can slip sometimes, but it’s especially important to persevere, especially when you only have four hours to work. These first hand experiences can be so much more valuable than being told what good work looks like. It unlocks a whole area of knowledge that classrooms can’t always reach.
First criticism is the use of AI imagery, and given the topic at hand quite hilarious- you mean to say that you couldn’t even get a picture of “the ideal employee”? He had to be generated? Immediate red flag. I think most of this was AI slop.. or AI assisted slop... I agree with Sophie. There is additionally a section here criticizing an employee for having a stressful home life, and taking side jobs that were impacting their work. This is so #capitalism #borntowork #myjobismylife and really we should not be promoting that… I know commonly theater people are bad about the work/life balance, but I find it problematic to stigmatize having your top priority not be your job. Additionally, this article caps the argument with explaining that being a likable person is often more important than actually being good at your job, which is truthfully the most applicable part of this article in my opinion. While I agree with some of the points made, I think idolising a hypothetical perfect employee (AI generated…) while criticizing coworkers and pitting them against this unrealistic idea of what they should be is problematic.
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