Managing a department in a company like Team is a hugely rewarding experience but it does come with some moments of reflection that you sometimes don’t see coming. It’s a tremendous privilege to be able to lead, mentor and learn from the talented engineers I have in my mechanical engineering group.
Team has grown quite rapidly in the past three years and my own team has expanded from four engineers to fifteen, but I believe that we’ve kept the collegiate atmosphere that makes us unique.
During my seven years here, I’ve welcomed a lot of engineers at various stages in their careers, from new graduates to seasoned professionals with a wealth of industry experience. A number of these engineers have left Team to start a family and then returned to us, part-time, as their kids start nursery but we have had extraordinary continuity in the mechanical engineering group.
Our first retiree
Recently, however, we had the first retirement from the mechanical engineering group in Team’s thirty year history: Joe Daintrey, one of our Senior Engineering Consultants.
Joe was already with the company when I joined, and this year was his fourteenth year with us. So, to try and make his departure a bit more special, one of our designers, Alex Driver, illustrated a fabulous cartoon showing scenes from Joe’s time with us.
Celebrating the occasion
As it was the Friday before the Bank Holiday, we took over the local pub to toast Joe’s health and share stories. We had a great turn out, spilling onto four or five large tables.
Just as Joe leaves us, a new graduate starts next week – Georgia Halstead has stepped over the line from contractor to employee, just as I did five years ago. Working in consultancy, so much of what we do depends on the goodwill and enthusiasm of our staff and sometimes how you say “goodbye” is just as important as how say “hello”.
Good luck Joe, don’t be a stranger.
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