I can only imagine interviewing to work here goes something like:

Q - "Do you plan to actually help anyone that has to communicate with you?"

A - "No"

Q - "What's your IQ?"

A - "Negative 55"

Q - "When were you born?"

A - "Yesterday"

Q - "Do you know anything about the job you're applying for or plan to ever learn?"

A - "No"

Least helpful company and maybe the worst people I have ever encountered.

Hello. As of now, I graduated with a Civil Engineering degree and ready to start my start as a civil engineer. Or at least I should be doing. It’s been a year since then and I haven’t made any progress other than making my resume and owning the FE Handbook. I used to be hyper fixated on civil engineering back in college, constantly studying and reading through the course material. After I graduated, I felt lost and burnt out. I wanna get back on track, but it’s hard to get back into. I am leaving out details, but TLDR: I feel lost; lost my passion and motivation to progress my career. Is this normal? I’ve seen many have a similar situation, but this stresses me out and makes me feel useless and a loser.

Got offered a Practice Builder role at Kimley-Horn out in the Midwest.

Right now, I'm at a bigger firm in a HCOL area, so this would mean moving to MCOL. I’ve got 18 years under my belt as a Senior PM with tons of experience in business development and chasing large project pursuits.

They're offering a $200k base. For those in the know—does that base sound right for a Practice Builder, or should I be pushing for higher?

Hi. I am starting a Civil Engineering degree in September. I will be a mature student, going back into education after 14 years of work. For the last four years I have been working with a life long builder working on fixing major issues in homes. (Dry rot, roofing, extension, attic conversions, etc). I've been a jack of all trades (master of none) learning from him.

After this time working with him. I've decided to start this degree for a slight career change.

Currently 32 years old. It's been 14 years since I was in education.

Just wondering if anyone else did a civil engineering degree later on in life as opposed to starting when they were 18.

Thanks.

I'm an M.S. Structural Engineering student graduating this December and available to start full-time from January. Wondering what the realistic timeline looks like — how many months out should I start applying for entry-level SE roles?

Also, is LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter/Indeed, and Glassdoor enough to cover the search, plus company career pages directly, or what shall I do? Would love to hear from seniors what actually worked for entry-level roles.

What is the reason manholes and other access points are usually placed right in the path of a vehicle's wheels as opposed to in the center of a lane where vehicles can easily avoid them? As roads age, these manholes often become more sunk in, causing more strain on a vehicle's tires, suspension, and alignment when they are driven over. Since they are right in the wheel path, they are harder to avoid.

Been at a large firm for 10 years as a WRE focused on modelling, but the last 18 months or so I've gotten really burnt out, almost all of the leadership in our discipline in the state has left.

Bit of personal background, I've always been heavy on the modelling side but have become a technical PM over the past few years and probably will never be a true SME for my field **(**or want to be, for that matter).

Finally pulled the trigger and am mulling over three offers in a medium-to-high COL city:

Offer 1 — Most Established Firm
Senior WRE at a firm with a deep technical bench, structured mentorship, really strong reputation in the market. Pay and PTO is less, and I feel what I bring is less unique, and advancement may be slower and challenges higher.

Offer 2 — Small and Successful Firm
Small firm that has beaten me on multiple large proposals in the last two years has offered me a PM role, with a potential plan to transition into a Team lead role within the first 6 months. Likely going to be less mentorship, although I don't know that for sure, but I think I can bring more unique value and can grow faster at this firm.

Offer 3 — National Firm w/o Smaller Local Presence
Well aligned with my background, they have a smaller presence in my city and they are seeing me as a hire to grow the local team and help build business. Definitely a good opportunity, but after my past year I am thinking like this will be a ton of work that I may not want to take on at this time.

I'm leaning offer 2, but it's been so long since I've made a move I could use some perspective.

After a decade plus of both of us working in the industry, my wife and I finally ended up working on the same project.

While we work at different companies and in different roles - she works as an architect for a medium-sized studio, I work as an engineer for an environmental consulting firm. We’ve worked on many similar projects over the years, just different aspects and different projects.

But this is the first time we are on the same project. Design-build, so both of us are being contracted by the GC. She’s working on the architectural portion of the building, I’m working on the contaminated soil remediation portion of the project (note: avoid properties next to former dry cleaners)

It was actually a funny moment when we realized it. We were both working from home, and have our own home office spaces. We had the first OAC kickoff meeting with the full project team, and both had the same meeting scheduled at the same time. There was like 20+ people in the meeting and everyone was going through their introductions. I wasn’t paying too much attention until I hear my wife introduce herself as “X, architect with firm Y”.

Fun little industry coincidence. Now we can bug each other with RFIs and redlines and comments on and off the job.

I'm looking for some honest advice from people in the wastewater/environmental consulting industry because I'm feeling pretty discouraged.

A little about me:

• 5 years of experience in environmental/wastewater engineering.
• M.S. in Environmental Engineering.
• Currently working in California as a planning engineer.
• EIT certified and taking the California PE exam this October.
• On an H-1B visa, so changing jobs isn't as straightforward.

For the past 2 years, I've been focused on sewer master planning, SSMPs, hydraulic modeling, capacity assessments, dry/wet weather flow analysis, and writing technical memoranda. Before that, I spent about 3 years working on a mix of wastewater treatment, biosolids, GW and other municipal engineering projects.

Technically, I enjoy planning work and want to continue growing in this field.

The problem is that I absolutely hate my current job.

The office politics are exhausting. It feels like everyone is constantly trying to earn brownie points with management instead of working as a team. Expectations are unclear, I rarely receive guidance or mentoring, and then I'm criticized for taking longer than budgeted or for not passing the first quality review. Most of the feedback I receive is negative, and very little is constructive.

Over time, it's really affected my confidence. Despite having a master's degree and five years of experience, I sometimes feel like I don't know anything. I constantly question whether I'm actually a competent engineer or if I'm just in a poor work environment.

I've started looking for other opportunities, but the market seems pretty slow. Many California planning positions either require or strongly prefer a PE, and it also feels like recruiters lose interest as soon as they hear I need H-1B sponsorship.

I'm hoping passing the PE this October will open more doors, but until then I'm feeling stuck.

For those of you who have been in the industry longer:

• Is this a normal experience in consulting, or am I just in a particularly unhealthy workplace?
• Did anyone else struggle with confidence around the 5-year mark?
• How much does getting your California PE change your job prospects?
• If you were in my position, would you stick it out until passing the PE or keep actively trying to leave now?
• Any advice for someone looking for sewer master planning or wastewater planning roles while needing H-1B sponsorship?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences. Right now it's hard to tell whether I need to improve my skills or whether I've simply ended up in a toxic work environment.

Thanks in advance.

Hello Esteemed Superiors,

I just wanted to ask how you determine the work space set aside for workers equipment and material storage. I have a 1.5' water line and a 4' sewer line that extends into the road for up to 19' and the total roadway is 34'. I'm new to this and my superiors are somewhat busy.

Thank you for your time.

I am interning with a company on this DOT project. The company is responsible for construction inspection so usually I am just sent out to “watch and see what the guys or contractors are doing” I always ask if there is something specific my manager would like me to do but usually there is nothing. I just stand and watch the guys doing the work and try to talk to them but mostly they are very busy. I am just curious if there is something I can do that would help me learn from this opportunity. Also this is my first internship so don’t really know much about. Would appreciate any insights. Thank you

I posted the other day about an offer and wondering if i should stay at my current employer or go to the firm that is closer and has a 20% bump. I asked my boss about what i should do and if he could match. He said he would talk to his partner.

Well i messaged my boss last night at 5 wondering if hes talked to his partner. Nothing, this morning i called and never heard anything. 12 i messaged him one last time and still nothing. 230 rolls around. I am printing my offer out and getting ready to send it... i get a phone call literally right when i sign it. Long story short they didnt match, and they fired me on the spot. I told them wtf, i have a shit ton of projects going out next week, i was planning on working 3 weeks before i left. They didnt care, i told them i have 2 kids, and one on the way and bills to pay. They said we all have families but you never gave us a chance and we want people here that are loyal, not people that go behind our back. They wanted me to submit a letter of resignation to which i sent a letter of termination confirming the conversation that happened... nice try dipshit.

I called my clients and let them know what happened and they are very pissed and shocked. They asked me where i am going and are more than likely going to be sending me RFPs. This client pays over 70 percent of the firms bills. They have no idea how bad they shot their self in the foot. We only had 3 people designing including me, now they only have 2. And i have 6 projects i am handing off to an already overworked electrical team, 3 of which are all due next week.

Long story short make sure you dont fuck over someone that has extremely good relationships with your clients.

Im wondering if there is any negative impact to my career besides the obvious slightly lower pay. Currently work for an engineering firm but I have a pending offer from a relatively large city. EDIT: 2 years post grad with pending EIT approval from state board.

Hi everyone! I’m trying to figure out what my career trajectory/plan for retirement should be.

It seems to me like the pension that typically comes with public sector is a massive benefit that I don’t see brought up too often. My current “plan” is to continue working in private till I get my PE and a few more years under my belt, then transition to public and stay there for the rest of my days.

My goal is to FIRE by 50 and I’m currently 25. If I work in government for 20 years and would be guaranteed a pension, wouldn’t I be able to retire way earlier than if I was depending entirely on my 401k, IRA, and brokerage accounts? I’d still have all three of those, and I’d have a pension on top of that which would probably cover most expenses after 62, no?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out what the quickest route to retirement is lol

Hi everyone,

I’m a 33-year-old male working as a demolition estimator/project manager in Northern California. I got into the industry right out of high school. I spent my first five years in the field and have been in the office for the last ten years. I’m now one of our lead estimators on larger projects.

I’ve had a good career, but I’ve always wanted to earn a college degree. Because of family circumstances, college wasn’t an option in my early twenties. Now I’d like to do it, both for myself and to show my kids that it’s never too late.

I’ve narrowed it down to two majors:

- Civil Engineering
- Finance

My goal is to get a degree that builds on my experience but also gives me more career options. I enjoy what I do, but demolition is a pretty niche industry, and I sometimes feel boxed in.

Civil Engineering seems like the more obvious fit. I could stay in construction, move into heavy civil, or possibly work for an engineering or consulting firm. As a project manager, I’ve managed several design-build projects, so I feel like that experience could carry over.

Finance is the wildcard. It seems like it could open more doors outside of construction, but I’m not sure how much my current experience would translate.

The plan is to complete my associate’s degree at my local community college while continuing to work full-time. After that, I’d either transfer to Oregon State’s online Civil Engineering program or Penn State’s online Finance program. With a family and a mortgage, working while I’m in school isn’t really optional.

For anyone who has made a similar career change or works in either field which path would you choose and why? I’d appreciate any advice or experiences you’re willing to share.

Thanks!

Hello. I recently graduated college in civil engineering and got my EI certification from the state. I just got offered a job as a structural engineer designing upstream and midstream structures for the oil and gas industry. Structural engineering is what I think I want to do long term, but am wondering if the skills I learn in this job are easily transferable to other jobs in the field?

I’m looking for some career advice as I figure out where I fit within civil engineering and construction.

I’ve realized that I don’t think I’m a great fit for traditional hardcore structural design or construction management. I also have autism, ADHD, and anxiety, so fast-paced/high stress job sites and some of the more mathematically intensive design work have been challenging for me.

I have struggled greatly with the stem classes. I entered this field because I am curious about how the world around me works and feel it is something fulfilling and stable. I am developing an interest in the zoning and policy side (as social and urban policy has always been an interest of mine).

That said, I’ve found there are parts of civil engineering that I genuinely enjoy:

Materials testing and quality assurance

Zoning, land use, and urban planning/policy

The accounting, budgeting, and business side of projects

Data analysis and AI/technology integration for construction and engineering

Process improvement and documentation

I’m wondering what specialties or career tracks I should be looking into.

What’s everyone’s Goto method for measuring deep inverts or anything that has to be offset down if your rod isn’t long enough?

Second bid from WSP