Should 'basic' questions be allowed on SPREAD?

10 July 2020 In a recent post, DT mentioned that he'd had some feedback that some of the questions on SPREAD were a bit 'basic'.

To be honest, I was disappointed and a bit annoyed by that.

Come on people, we all have to learn.

We didn't start out with 15 years experience on our first day on the job (although we all know people who claim they did...).

Some of us were lucky to have 'grey hairs' around when we were 'wet behind the ears' engineers and the grey hairs were happy to answer 'basic' questions as part of our learning curve.

These days people may not be so lucky, as there are fewer grey hairs around.

Also bear in mind that in some cultures, the attitude is that 'knowledge is power' and people are unwilling to share. This can also happen when you have a new or weak Manager who may be unsure of their position in the organisation.

So the poor engineer may ask the question and get a fob off answer - or no answer at all.

It's easy enough to say 'look it up on the Internet'.

Odd statement to make, since posting a question on SPREAD is doing just that...

Besides, not everyone has easy access to the Internet and by no means everyone has broadband speeds when they do access it.

And what if the Internet gives several answers and you don't know which is correct?

You ask....

And where better to ask than SPREAD?

If the question is poorly worded, don't ignore it. Ask for more information and try and find out what the person is really asking about.

After all, when we started out, we didn't know what we didn't know, and sometimes we'd ask a question about one thing, when in reality we were asking about something else altogether.

Also, just because you have 20+ years, it sure as shyte doesn't mean you know everything either.

On my last project we were using a DP Semi. I've never used a DP Semi before and my last Semi work was back in 1997.

So did I ask some 'basic' questions?

Absolutely.

If you have never used MPD before, should you ask some 'basic' questions?

Absolutely.

If you have never drilled in an H2S area before, should you ask some 'basic' questions?

Absolutely.

I strongly believe that we have a responsibility to pass on our knowledge to the upcoming generation(s) of people entering into an industry which - let's be honest - isn't getting a lot of good press these days..

So try and put yourself in their shoes, remember when you were a young, wide eyed, wet behind the ears engineer and just answer their question as best you can.

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