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I am fresh out of college. I work for a very big OEM and make drawings for plastic parts. i have no clue of the tolerances which suppliers are capable of holding. how does one learn that? I usually tolerance based on our objectives and source a supplier who says yes.

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You call the supplier, tell them you know nothing, and ask them to help you understand what they're capable of. You should find a mentor, this is the kind of retroactively obvious advice I got from mine.

Where does one find a mentor?

Find the guy whose work you like the most at your company and bother him all the time. Most good technical people love to help, to be asked questions, and ultimately to be valued for the experience they've worked hard to get. In the end mentorship is something that you seek out and get for yourself. It's rare that someone will actually attach the title mentor to a such a relationship.

No more than two doors away.

any time you make something, you find that out from the people that will make it. usually they can also improve your designs to make then cheaper to produce as well.

... I thought that was standard teachings in mechanical engineering?

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