Questions for a practitioner: Build and Engineer

How to use this list

On Day 2 you have short conversations with people who do this work for a living: about 12 minutes each, in a small group. That is time for three good questions, not twenty. Before the day, pick the three you most want answered and star one backup in case someone else asks yours first. One of them can be the question you wrote in your Day 1 reflection. Then write down what you expect a normal week in one of these jobs is like, so you can compare it with what you hear.

After First Move, between your 30-day check-in and day 90, you can use this list again for one longer conversation (15 to 20 minutes) with someone you find through your family, your school or the First Move team. Pick four or five questions for that one, plus a backup.

Why these conversations matter

Talking with people in work is one of the better-researched parts of preparing for a career. Good practice says it works best when you have prepared, when it is a real two-way conversation, and when you take time afterwards to think about what you heard.^[1] An OECD analysis found that teenagers who talk to someone about a job they expect to do are less likely to be unsure or mismatched in their plans.^[2] In a 2019 trial in England, students who heard three extra career talks planned to revise more than students who did not, though the researchers called the effects modest.^[3] Hearing several people helps too: in a 2011 survey of young people in Britain, 84% of those who had three or more career talks found them useful for deciding on a career, against 55% of those who had one or two.^[4] Most of this research is from the UK and other OECD countries, and it shows links rather than proof. The lesson still holds: prepare, ask, listen, and hear more than one voice.

After every conversation, write down the job (not the person's name), one answer that surprised you and one follow-up question you did not have time to ask.

The work

1. Walk us through yesterday. What did you actually do from the start of your shift to the end?
2. How much of your week is hands-on, and how much is paperwork, meetings or working on a screen?
3. Which tools, machines or software do you use most, and which took you longest to learn?
4. Which safety rules matter most where you work, and what happens when someone skips one?
5. Tell us about a job that went wrong. How did you find the problem and fix it?
6. Do you work in one place or move between sites? Indoors, outdoors, at height, in the heat?

The path in

7. How did you get your first job in this field: a TVET certificate, a diploma, a degree, an apprenticeship or something else?
8. Which certificates or registrations did you need before you could work? For example, anyone working on a construction site in Malaysia must register with CIDB (the "green card"), which needs you to be 16 or over and to hold a construction safety certificate such as the SICW induction course.^[5] Technicians and technologists can also register with MBOT, the Malaysia Board of Technologists, from a recognised technical certificate, diploma or degree.^[6] Ask which ones mattered in their job.
9. If you were 18 again, what would you do differently?
10. If someone starts as a technician, what does it take to move up to supervisor or engineer?
11. When you hire someone new, what matters more: their certificate, their hands-on skill or their attitude?

Money and hours

Pay is personal, so ask about the job, not about the person. Ask for a rough range for someone starting out, never what a named colleague earns. If they would rather not say, that is a fair answer: thank them and move on.

12. Would you be comfortable telling us roughly what someone starting in this job earns, as a range?
13. Is overtime, shift work or being on call normal here? Is it paid, and are there site or travel allowances?
14. How did your pay change over your first five years, and what made it go up: a new certificate, experience, changing employer?
15. Are most people in your field employees, contract workers or running their own business?

AI and change

16. Which parts of your job do software, sensors, robots or AI already help with?
17. What new kinds of work have appeared in your field in the last five years, for example solar, electric vehicles or smart buildings?
18. Which parts of the job still need a person on site, with their hands and their judgement, and why?
19. If you were starting today, which skill would you learn first to stay useful as the tools change?

Advice

20. What is one small thing I could try in the next 90 days to find out if this work suits me?
21. What kind of person should I talk to next, for example someone who started in the last two or three years?

How to ask a good follow-up

The best answers often come from the second question, not the first. Try one of these:

• "Can you give me an example?"
• "What happened next?"
• "What would have made that easier?"
• "What do you wish someone had told you at my age?"

Listen for a specific story (a real day, a real mistake, a real decision) rather than a general answer. If you disagree with something, don't argue: ask "What makes you say that?" and note their reason. A practitioner can pass on any question; just say "No problem, thank you." Straight after the conversation, write the answer down in your own words while you still remember it.

Keeping in touch, and staying safe

On Day 2, nobody swaps phone numbers, emails or social media accounts. Don't ask a practitioner for theirs, and don't give yours. Any follow-up with a Day 2 practitioner goes through the First Move team: if you have a question you did not get to ask, give it to the team, and they will tell you what is possible.

If you arrange a conversation after First Move:

• Find the person through your family, your school or the First Move team, never a stranger found online.
• Meet in a public place or online, and make sure a parent or guardian knows who, when and where.
• Never share your address, IC number or other personal details.
• You can end any conversation that feels wrong. Tell a parent, your school or the First Move team if anything worried you.
• Say thank you at the end. If you want to send a short thank-you afterwards, send it through whoever introduced you.

For facilitators: keeping questions respectful

Check learners' chosen questions before Day 2. Questions should be about the work, not the person's private life: no named colleague's salary, religion, personal health or family matters, and pay only as a rough range for someone starting out. Tell each practitioner at the start that they can pass on any question, and show learners how to respond ("No problem, thank you"). No personal contact details or social accounts are exchanged; follow-up goes through the programme team. Leave a minute or two after each round for learners to write their surprise and their follow-up, because reflection is part of what makes an encounter worthwhile.^[1] Learners can ask in Bahasa Malaysia, have a pod mate read their question, or take notes by voice or on paper.

What to do next

1. Before Day 2: choose your three questions from this list, plus one backup, and write them on your question card.
2. Straight after each conversation: note the job, one surprising answer and one follow-up question. At the end of the day, add the answer that changed your thinking most to "The people" in your Future Map, with what it changed.
3. Between day 30 and day 90: if you want to talk to someone doing this work, ask your family, your school or the First Move team to help you arrange it, and use this list again.