Good Resources for Interns & New Hires?

6/28/2019

What books, trainings, or other materials would you recommend for an intern just learning the industry or a new hire to help get him/her up to speed with the basics of fire alarm, suppression & life safety?

Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe

5 Comments

6/28/2019 10:09:46 am

NFSA online or classroom courses.

SMH

6/28/2019 10:14:03 am

Check out:

http://www.vikinggroupinc.com/

Lots of helpful guides/ data sheets of frequently used fire protection products.

6/28/2019 10:53:43 am

Paid-for classes are invaluable, but if you're an intern I don't know many companies that will send you to them given your temporary status. Read the material data sheets direct from the manufacturers' websites. Not just the sprinkler ones either-look at fittings, hangers, everything. If you can get an idea of the requirements and testing parameters of some of this stuff, the NFPA Standards might make some more sense rather than just mulling through them right off the bat. MeyerFire is the website I went to every day for the first few months just to soak in what I could and play with the tools. It's still an awesome resource for me. Your coworkers are also sources of knowledge. Hopefully you work with people who are passionate about the industry and simply asking them something you're not sure about will get them to talk so much they won't "shut up" about it. One of our senior designers taught me in the first day of my employment the same amount that a TYCO class taught in two days of classroom.

Jake Zlomie link

6/28/2019 03:00:54 pm

I graduated about 5 years ago, but I resonate deeply with you and your desire to get up to speed and dive into things. What I found, was that unless you are in a fire protection specific firm or field, its going to be up to you to try and chart your path and develop professionally. Depending on your background and education, I would say that the best advice I can think of is to diversify your experiences and look into all aspects of fire and life safety. When you start to understand all of it and how it fits together I think you start to see the code a little more clearly and how the code provides options. NFPA has been pushing the life safety ecosystem very hard, and it truly is. The biggest lesson that I have come to understand is the communication of the technical and code language that we work with every day. It may make sense to you and to those in your office, but your stakeholders may have limited to no experience with the content of your discussion. Just some initial thoughts, but your motivation to dive in is great. And the fact that you are already reading this blog is absolutely great as well. This site has substantially helped me to understand the field more over the last couple years that i have discovered MeyerFire.

Rusty Scott

6/28/2019 03:38:03 pm

The best most valuable experience I had was working in the field as a sprinkler contractor installer for a year. I started right out of college as a foreman's helper and learned a huge amount of knowledge from that guy. I then designed for two years for the same sprinkler contractor and continued to learn the basics. Now I'm on the engineering side and now I realize that textbook knowledge is one thing, physically learning is another.

Free Signup

Subscribe and learn something new each day:

Community

Thank You to Our Top
October '20 Contributors!

1. SK
2. Franck
3. Dan W.
4. Jonathan 5. Casey M.

6. Sean
7. Colin L.
8. Mike
9. Jonathan J
10. Daniel G.

Your Post

SUBMIT A QUESTION

The Toolkit

Sprinkler Designer or Engineer?

Get all of our tools, including the Sprinkler Database, Friction Loss Calculator, Fire Pump Analyzer and more:

FREE 30-DAY TRIAL

GET THE TOOLKIT

Filters

Exam Prep

2020 PE Prep Guide
(Available Now!)

PE Prep Series
(Available Now!)

2020 PE Prep Series
Current Leaderboard
(Click to enlarge)

PE Problems

Visit July-October for daily Fire Protection PE Exam sample questions.

Solutions are posted the day after posting.

Comment with your solutions, questions or clarifications.

Please note that questions posted are unofficial and in accordance with NCEES rules are intended to be similar to actual exam questions, not actual exam questions themselves.

RSS Feed

Home - About - Blog - Contact - Exam Prep - Store

Copyright © 2020 MeyerFire, LLC
The views, opinions, and information found on this site represent solely the author shown and do not represent the opinions of any other party, nor does the presented material assume responsibility for its use. Fire protection and life safety systems constitute a critical component for public health and safety and you should consult with a licensed professional for proper design and code adherence. Some (not all) outbound links on this website, such as Amazon links, are affiliate-based where we receive a commission for orders placed elsewhere.