INNOVATION July-August 2017

Sharing Knowledge and Expertise Member-Created Online Resource Fosters Info-sharing Dr. Martin Fandrich, P.Eng. Today’s engineers, especially the younger generation, are more mobile than in previous eras when it was more likely that a professional would stay with the same company for many years. While this increase in the range of working experiences has benefits, it has the disadvantage that on-the-job learning is more piecemeal and disordered. Knowledge is not being cohesively transferred from old to young. While senior engineers may mentor juniors when they are both in the same company, the engineering and geoscience community as a whole is not being served as well as it might be. How can we prevent knowledge gained from years of experience from being lost? How can we disseminate this know- how more effectively? When faced with an engineering question, new and old engineers alike search resources available to them, including online. For most resources, it is difficult to find precise context or ask for clarification of an approach. In many cases, relevant or applicable data cannot be found at all. Some sources such as social networks or forums purport to provide the means for giving answers to specific questions. However, despite being universally available, these sources have their drawbacks, including, significantly, the difficulty of ascertaining the credibility of unknown respondents or data. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. To counter this drawback, AnswersbyEngineers.com was founded by APEGBC member Arash Khezerlou, P.Eng., as a pre- vetted online community. Whilst engineers- and geoscientists- in-training and senior undergraduate students may sign up as members, members identified as “contributors” must identify their credentials and are required to have several years of working experience. Because this community was founded in BC, a Canadian P.Eng. or P.Geo. designation has been taken as the standard of competence that contributors must meet. The website does not investigate competencies itself, but ensures that those claiming to be engineers or geoscientists are professionally registered. When members face technical difficulties, unusual projects, or professional or career development issues, they can post their questions and have a basic level of confidence in the approaches posted as responses by contributors. In some cases, the question is primarily a matter of seeking confirmation that a particular technical approach is a reasonable way for an experienced engineer to approach the problem. As a wave of engineers and geoscientists retire, this will be a valuable resource for the profession for maintaining the knowledge of their experienced members. The goal is that non-proprietary knowledge will not be trapped with an individual or within a company, but will be available to the engineering and geoscience community as a whole. Website founder Khezerlou conceived the idea from his own work experience in small companies. He had limited access to engineers to whom he could talk about industry norms and his personal career path.

“I was able to find theory in textbooks, for example,” he says, “but didn’t feel comfortable implementing it without guidance. Also, textbooks often don’t cover how engineers work in practice. Engineering tools are developing quickly and a credible, easily accessible, growing, and up-to-date resource was very much needed.” Although AnswersbyEngineers.com was initially established for engineers moving from company to company, it has also been found to be useful for engineers remaining within large companies. Furthermore, the most active contributors are not near retirement age as originally predicted, but have been found to be those with 10 to 15 years of experience. Even though Khezerlou thinks that some questions are still more appropriate for personal interaction, he feels that this resource will make a greater depth of knowledge available. “Any personal network will be smaller than this community. We want the whole engineering and geoscience community to benefit.” v Dr. Martin Fandrich, P.Eng., is principal consultant with Bannerman Consultants Inc. With more than 17 years of experience as a professional, he is active in several technical engineering societies and as an occasional university guest lecturer. He is a member of the AnswersbyEngineers.com board of advisors. geoscience field who have questions about their professional practice to consult an APEGBC practice advisor, at practiceadvisor@apeg. bc.ca, and to be familiar with the association’s professional practice and quality management guidelines, at apeg.bc.ca/guidelines. AnswersByEngineers.com is an independent member-created resource. Neither the information provided on AnswersByEngineers. com nor publication of this article constitute endorsement by APEGBC. APEGBC encourages all those who work in engineering and

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