Career Advice

[Irrelevant]

I would concur about smaller firms. We're a sort of stand alone office in a company of 150. The rest of the offices would suck to work at, but we have quite a bit of capacity to make our own office decisions. I know of one good arch I've worked with so far. They're in Leavenworth WA. Basically the recreation mecha of WA. If you end up in Seattle, I'd split the difference and commute from the east side, it's honestly not that much longer in your car than say... from everett or renton to seattle.

 

[teej89]

This portion right here speaks volumes to me personally. I work at a mid sized engineering firm (300 people) and find motivating to make someone else more money difficult... We're an esop now, which in theory should make it easier to motivate since I get a cut of the pie now, but out of the like ten million we had in profit I ended up with like $250 in my esop account, so it did little for motivation....

Your second statement about working long hours is my biggest fear with my current company. They have a plan to basically increase your hours yearly to make the company more money. I don't mind the 42 hour weeks, but I refuse to work 50 hours all the time. The other kicker is anyone senior at my Company can't take time off because they feel they are too important or vital to the operation to be away...

Talking with the older engineers at my Company said that when we were a small firm things were a lot different. I wonder if your situation wouldn't be improved by working for a small firm, like ten people. One of the tech's I work with said when he worked with a company that was like twenty people they cared more, it was more of a family event, one year the company made good profit and his bonus was 33% of his salary!

If I were you, I'd look into what work might be like at a smaller firm.

Sorry my post got a little lengthy and what not

Man I feel you on that front but I work for a company of 20 people total and the work goes unrecognized and overtime doesn’t appreciated just more thought of as assumed. I was in a company of over 60 and bonuses were huge and it was one giant family. Led the firm because I couldn’t stand the city I was in, still hands down the best firm I worked for. The owner would visit the satellite offices and individually take out an employee to lunch just to check in and see how things are going and he’d get everyone in the office each year. Too bad they don’t have offices anywhere other than Ohio.

This time though I’m really going to do my research of companies . Looking back at my old firm I really enjoyed my job, we had leadership and a plan compared to what I’m going thru now. However I still may venture towards construction but maybe not immediately.

 

[teej89]

I would concur about smaller firms. We're a sort of stand alone office in a company of 150. The rest of the offices would suck to work at, but we have quite a bit of capacity to make our own office decisions. I know of one good arch I've worked with so far. They're in Leavenworth WA. Basically the recreation mecha of WA. If you end up in Seattle, I'd split the difference and commute from the east side, it's honestly not that much longer in your car than say... from everett or renton to seattle.

I’ll let you know come tomorrow if we’re going To be in WA, if so I may have some questions (location wise) for you if you don’t mind.

 

[Irrelevant]

ask away.

 

[JLS]

Regardless of what you choose to do, there is not a single moment I look back and wish I'd worked more and spent less time with my girls.

 

[teej89]

- Army Combat Engineer - We went back and forth with this for a while last summer and eventually it was vetoed... If I was on my own I'd do it, it is physical and also has engineering/math/phsyics/thought involved. However, with kids in the future I couldn't imagine being deployed if she's pregnant or our kid was just born. Hats off to all the active duty and veterans that did do that, that had to be extremely tough.

This is not what you think it is. I signed up as a combat engineer in 2004 not really knowing what it all entailed. You will not be doing anything that involves your engineering degree in this job. When I got to AIT we learned how to tie knots, defuse mines, and clear routes with explosives and a lot of infantry training. When I got to my unit, we practiced clearing houses and ruck marching with some explosives in the mix. This job requires one of the lowest ASVAB scores in the military. Good call on the veto.

Wow good to hear(in my instance), thanks for giving me closure on that!

 

[rtraverdavis]

Whenever I start thinking about career changes or just get frustrated with work I remind myself that the grass is not always greener across the fence and that in reality I'd just be trading one set of problems for another.

I need to post this in my classroom and look at it January-May. Good stuff.

Also—good luck teej89!

 

[LaSportsman]

Maybe I'm out of touch but I don't think I've ever worked a 40 hour work week. 50 is pretty standard, occasionally 45 and same for 55-60. 50 is quite doable. I've worked sustained 60+ hour weeks and there is a big difference in 50 and 60 hour weeks regarding impact on family life. Commute matters too. I've generally had 15-20 minute commutes which isn't bad.

Starting ones own business is the best route to 60-70+ hour weeks. The grass isn't not greener there regarding free time. Flexibility yes, but definitely not less stress or fewer hours.

 

[wyoelkfan15]

So you're the one that I talk to over the phone when Revit dimensions don't match AutoCAD dimensions!

I'm a construction engineer, been doing field supervision and surveying for >5 years, feel free to pm with any specific questions on it. The overtime does make for good checks but you sacrifice A LOT of time in the summers and hunting season. PM with any questions you might have on it.

 

[Europe]

Regardless of what you choose to do, there is not a single moment I look back and wish I'd worked more and spent less time with my girls.

Exactly! Spending time with our children was one of the reasons we started our own business. As Lasportsman stated I am sure we both worked 60 hours a week, especially the first two years, but the children traveled with us which not only gave them and us time together but they got to experience various locals and life styles. However, starting and owning a business is not for everyone .

Do whatever fits and is important to you, as you have to live with your decision, not just today but in the future. Best of luck.

 

[teej89]

So you're the one that I talk to over the phone when Revit dimensions don't match AutoCAD dimensions!

I'm a construction engineer, been doing field supervision and surveying for >5 years, feel free to pm with any specific questions on it. The overtime does make for good checks but you sacrifice A LOT of time in the summers and hunting season. PM with any questions you might have on it.

I have no idea what you’re talking about I love working with the contractors tho and I think I’m pretty likable to them as well because I’m pretty much no nonsense. Also most of the time we both figure out we hunt so in the fall our inboxes are full of hunting pictures haha

Definitely, I’ll be reaching out to you, I wanna know more about the construction side for sure, thanks for the offer!

A contractor I did work with always states he’s jealous of my time, I was sending him photos of turkeys I killed before work haha

 

[Irrelevant]

I'm a construction engineer

ah you're the a-hole that's always calling and asking for more money.... j/k I'd never want to be on that side of the equation.

 

[bcar]

ah you're the a-hole that's always calling and asking for more money.... j/k I'd never want to be on that side of the equation.

lol this about got sideways. Looks like we're even right now with construction engineers and design engineers contributing to the thread

 

[teej89]

lol this about got sideways. Looks like we're even right now with construction engineers and design engineers contributing to the thread

All the while everyone is posting on here and not working hahahahaha

 

[Deleted member 28227]

So you're the one that I talk to over the phone when Revit dimensions don't match AutoCAD dimensions!

Given that there's a captive audience of engineers on the thread... can you all learn how to set the projection in AutoCAD and stop sending me crap.

Please and thank you.

 

[Nameless Range]

I work with quite a few engineers. I don’t know about the pre reqs, but a state or govt job that deals with bridge, dam, or some other sort of infrastructure inspections might be cool. They probably spend a third of their time in the field, which would break things up.

The nice thing about a state or govt job is they typically offer a flexibility not found in the private sector, which is great for kids. And since you don’t care too much about money, there’s that too.

 

[Bambistew]

If you want to teach... look for a job in the bush here in AK. Pay is decent, and you'll get an experience out of it. Most seem to require a couple year commitment.

What about working for a development company vs doing the design? Be the "client" vs. the consultant? Still the same type work, but you get far more interaction with people.

If you can do the structural design on a building you can design a bridge... haha. What about "green" technologies like windmill design, solar, etc. Look for a company that is working on the latest state of the art designs. Be on the R&D side vs the install side.

I feel your pain, I went from civil land development to mining engineering (degree) about 6 years ago now, and am way more happy. The civil stuff got really boring and redundant. Now every project has its own unique and difficult challenges.

The company I work for also has a super lenient professional/personal development program. They let people run with their passions... it usually turns into them literally becoming a world expert on the subject matter. We have a number of people who are internationally recognized as the best at what they do. That was something totally different from any of the other consulting firms I worked for that were more about making money vs employing the best in the industry.

 

[davinski]

I'm a civil engineer in the private sector consulting world, but was in the Army and Army Reserve, in the engineer branch the entire 12 years as an officer. I liked most of it, the reason I didn't do 20 is that I got banged up in Afghanistan and medically discharged. Anyway, "Combat Engineer" could mean about a bazillion things from dealing with mines, building fortifications for tanks and artillery, I'm sure you've looked into it. I blasted weapons caches in Astan, taught Romanians how to extract themselves from minefields, built bridges, and also fixed the general's toilet in the reserve HQ stateside. So there is also a fair amount of "hey you" and non-combat engineering when you put on that Army castle. I did as much of that as I did combat engineering, like bridging, horizontal and vertical construction. You may also want to look into those fed jobs for USACE positions. They snatch up lots of people with your background, both as a DOD civilian and/or as a green-suiter, or actual Army officer through direct commission, to work on all types of projects, usually big ones.

I just do airport projects now and generally like it. I also concur with the advise about getting into the contractor's side, whether it's big or little construction. Big, I mean with big facility contractors. Little, I mean residential or commercial developers who need engineer-types to both design their structures where required and also navigate the myriad of local, state, federal code requirements on every project.

Somewhat of a sidebar, if you want to go crazy and do both, like a few years active duty followed by rounding out your 20 in a military reserve, it is infinitely easier to do with some sort of government day job. I say military instead of army reserve because all branches use engineer officers. I worked with Navy, USMC, and USAF engineer officers both stateside and downrange all doing largely the same thing. And switching branches isn't that big of a deal in the first part of your career. Taking off the time needed for reserves in the private sector is much more difficult than if you have a fed, state, or local gov day job. It shouldn't be that way, but it just is. I supposed giant corporate conglomerates of thousands of people could be different, but I bet not much different.

RE: wlm1313 and the CAD projection, I feel your pain. There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there with respect to land surveying vs. instrument operators. Having a healthy knowledge of good info vs. BS in the land survey/coordinate system world is crucial to our projects and I'm frequently frustrated by people with enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Go with your gut. Life is short. From what I see, the job market hasn't been better and doesn't look like it's slowing any time soon. So try something out, if you don't like it, move. Hopping around when you're young doesn't look nearly as bad on a resume as it does when you're long-in-the-tooth like me. All this reminds me I need to get back to an old college buddy who pinged me with a similar question a couple days ago...

Best of luck.

 

[dcopas78]

I went to school for environmental engineering. I spent the first 4 years of my career working for a large environmental firm and living out of a suitcase 300 nights a year in every city east of the Mississippi. The company I was with wanted to send me to Alaska for and 'undetermined' amount of time. Granted, if I'd been single, I would have probably have went and once I'd gotten a taste of the hunting I'd probably still be there. But I had a fiance and she was still in college for 2 more years. I decided that I didn't really like all of the traveling and "re-careered." I wanted something related to environmental work since that is what I specialized in. I applied for a job near my hometown as "water and wastewater technician." I took a major pay cut, but within a few years and after getting all of my certificates to operate, I moved on to a different town and started making money again. I know you didn't mention it, but water and wastewater operations is a great thing to get in to. They are typically government jobs, so national holidays, sick pay, vacation pay, comp time are all generous. If you are willing to work in a large city, the money is there. I recently passed on a job as a "shift" manager for a day shift at a water treatment plant that offered me $92K with paid insurance and all of the accoutrements associated with a public job. I'm comfortable where I'm at and I can make my own hours. If I want to come in at 4 am and go home at 1230, I can do it. Not saying every place is like that but many are. And you will use your engineering background plenty enough to assuage the need to be on the design and build of projects as well as work outside and with contractors, etc. There are major shortages of operators across all states. I get job offers from other cities usually once per month, and I could get all of the smaller plant contract work I wanted. In fact, a side contract is what pays for all my hunting and fishing for the year, with plenty left over to save back. Once you are licensed, most states will reciprocate your license to their state at an equal classification. The accreditation boards are also developing a "professional operator" certification that will be reciprocal to all 50 states and US territories. It's something to consider.

 

[Irrelevant]

RE: wlm1313 and the CAD projection, I feel your pain. There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there with respect to land surveying vs. instrument operators. Having a healthy knowledge of good info vs. BS in the land survey/coordinate system world is crucial to our projects and I'm frequently frustrated by people with enough knowledge to be dangerous.

The only thing worst than bad survey data/datums are architects, with everything drawn at 0,0,0 or some other totally irrelevant starting point... which can only be out done by drawing multiple buildings in a row then mview-ed into the "correct" orientation and location.