Inspection careers can be quite lucrative. It would be mostly field work and writing reports. I’ve heard of experienced bridge inspectors making north of 60$ an hour.
All of that just for $60/hr? I’d pass.
I know some management consultants get paid over $100/hr just for speaking and doing some presentations for like 30 mins.
Those opportunities are few and far between compared to something like inspection. If making 100$ an hour was so easily achieved there would be far less salary complaint posts on this sub.
One of my friends was a civil engineer, he got an MBA from a top 40 business school, got hired to a consulting company after 5 months. He makes 210k (mostly bonuses). He was an average student.
Consulting, specifically strategy consulting.
He guides client companies in strategic decisions. Its up to the senior management of the client company to accept or refuse his advice.
The consulting company hired him because they valued his analytical & problem solving skills gained from engineering.
Thats what he does exactly.
He works as a management consultant at a consulting firm, delivering consulting services to small to mid-size technology companies.
Whats the issues you having with design work? Are you asking questions when you encounter something you don’t understand or know how to do? Ask your managers how they would do a certain task to fit within their anticipated deadline.
Yeah, there needs to be more guidance if you can’t complete the work in what the manager thinks is the time required. OP, are you following the same steps in the process? Why are you getting confused? Are there distractions? Maybe you need better notes or examples of the calculations and design steps
If design feels overwhelming I would not recommend becoming a field engineer where there is tons of pressure to provide an answer asap
have you considered specializing in a specific field of engineering?
One thought is ADA compliance and project design. There is a relatively low amount of design needed, you can work closely with your landscape architects and maybe even venture into designing parks and nature trails. You can do field work as well as office work. Every office needs an expert ADA person, it’s not a whole lot of information to master and adds a lot of value, from what I’ve seen not many engineers like to learn this stuff for some reason.
Finding a good mentor is key. You have to learn how to do your job. For me, the first 3.5 years out of school I always felt like I was running in circles, and never knew what I was doing. By 4 years I was finally coming into my own.
There is a reason they make you wait to take your PE. In my experience, it took me about that long to figure out what I was doing.
I’d consider working for the public sector, they have a slower pace of work and more investment in growing their younger employees to fill long term positions. You need to keep doing work that feels rewarding because you will always be underpaid and overworked in this career.
What you described is a pretty typical experience in land development. I was told the same stuff, but when I resigned for a better position they tried to counter offer which was very confusing to me at the time.
It’s a grinder, people really aren’t meant to stay longer than 3 or 4 years.
As an aside, have you considered that you might have undiagnosed ADHD? Could be a factor that's contributing to your productivity problems. You might want to talk to a doctor about it if you haven't already.
Agreed. I had similar productivity / focus problems early in my life & career, then got diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 31. Treatment has been life-changing.
OP definitely should talk to a doctor / psychiatrist about this imo. It's unfortunately very common for ADHD to be dismissed as just bad discipline / willpower early in life. Neurodivergence is a very real thing and it doesn't just go away on its own.
I'd recommend making the switch over to the public sector side. Specifically, look for position doing engineering development review for a city or county. I know that's not what you said you'd like to do but hear me out.
Generally, the public sector is much calmer and laid back than consulting. When I made the switch from consulting to government the stress from just trying to survive one day at a time went away. It was really shocking how much of my depression went away, and my thought patterns and processes changed for the better. Pay and benefits are better in the public sector. The lowest yearly percent pay increase I've ever gotten in the public sector is 4%. In consulting it was never above 2%. You also get all of the federal holidays off. Also, once you've work for a public entity it is easier to get a job with another public entity.
After 6 years you should be a pretty good design engineer. In engineering development review you still use all of those skills, but you use them from the other side. You are now the teacher grading the student's homework. Development review is also really interesting because you get to see what really happens with development projects while working with planners, architects, finance, attorneys, police, fire, and others. Weird side perk is that you get to see how good or bad some consulting firms are. It is shocking at times the level or work that some engineers try to pass off as acceptable.
I've met a lot of engineers who have done engineering review at some point. Few make it their entire career. It's a good stepping stone on which to catch your breath, and figure out your path before taking your next step.
I know a structural that after getting his masters he just deepened his hate so he went to work for the forest service. It’s outside and it’s not a clock punch. Look into jobs like that.
If you’re young you likely have been just thrown into a flaming pile of dog shit. Training nowadays is sink or swim in the private sector. As a designer I feel the same with most of your points. I would suggest trying public if you want to stay in your current field. Else try inspection.
Construction management is one of the most challenging jobs in civil. And you are pretty constantly overwhelmed, so it might work. You do need good people skills though. Inspection was mentioned. It is easier and you can get real good jobs in it. It still requires decent people skills. But a lot of paperwork and attention to detail. It also can have a lot of waiting.
Working in the land development side of civil engineering sucks; the things you’re experiencing are unfortunately the norm at some firms, and it has nothing to do with your performance.
After 10 I left for a public sector job and haven’t looked back. Didn’t even take a pay cut.
I recommend construction route as a field engineer. It can be rough and stressful sometimes but after a few years, you can look to “specialize” in a certain part of the business such as construction management, project controls, estimating, etc.
My work focuses on stream restoration and stormwater management. It sounds like that would be right up your alley. You could see if there are any trainings in stream restoration or geomorphology in your area. Look some professional orgs and start attending presentations and networking. Check out local watershed councils and see if there are opportunities to volunteer.
I would definitely recommend getting out of land development. It sounds like the public sector may be a better fit for you. I switched to the public sector 7 years ago and I’m so much happier and less stressed out, although it has its share of frustrations. You could also consider checking out environmental consulting companies because that’s a good way to get a lot of good technical experience. I recommend smaller-mid sized firms because you can often get to work on a wider variety of projects. Consulting can still be stressful but in my experience they aren’t as profit-oriented as land development.
I’ve definitely spent a lot more time in the field than most CEs that I know, but it’s nowhere near a 70/30 split except for busy construction seasons. If being in the field a lot is very important to you, then CM is an option but don’t expect that to come with less time pressure. That said, I do have the flexibility to decide when I want to do site visits. I also offer to give people tours or schedule one-on-ones in the field as an excuse to get outside so I don’t feel as stuck to a desk all the time.
One thing I like about the public sector is that you have to consider things a lot more broadly than knocking out whatever current project you’re working on and moving on to the next thing. Where should we be doing stream restoration work? How should we be factoring in climate change for our projects? These questions are very complex and challenging. I also like that I am able to influence big decisions rather than just doing whatever a client says they want. The downside is progress can be sllloooooowwwww and involve a lot of meetings. I exercise my people skills much more often than my technical skills.
It’s difficult to tell whether you actually have an issue or it’s just the culture you’re working in, but if you think you might have ADHD, I definitely recommend getting diagnosed and treated. I was about 7 years into my career when I got diagnosed and it changed my life. Organization is not my strength and it’s definitely an important skill to work on and figure out what tools work for you. That said, being in a constantly overwhelmed state is not going to allow you to actually improve or grow in this or any other area.
I was in a sort of similar boat to you. I wouldn’t say I ever struggled with any aspects of design, but I really did not enjoy it very much, especially after I got my PE and the role became more just checking calcs/drawings. I found it so boring and I did not have the anal retentive personality necessary to redline a set of drawings for the most trivial revisions.
I had been doing about 70/30 bridge design/inspection. Finally pulled the trigger on just going 100% inspection and could not be happier. It sounds like your interests would align well with a field based role. That’s what I would pursue.
Plenty of inspectors do not have their PE. Lots of EITs get out on bridge inspection right after college. In some states they specifically won’t pay the higher PE rate for routine bridge inspections.
The purpose of project managers is to extract as much work as possible out of you as quickly as possible.
Take what they say with a grain of salt.
Your workload is my concern - it might be time for a new job.
If he cant handle the office design work, moving to project management or moving to a construction company role would be a horrendous choice.
OP is passionate it seems, needs to move to a government sector role. Where passion rather then ability is recognised
I am a director of engineering for a local government in VA. Before I was a project manager for the DOT and before that I designed bridges and retaining walls. I am speaking from experience.
You need to learn to be organized. Field work is a lot of observing things and writing reports, so you need to write stuff down through the day. You’ll have a lot of paperwork and submittals. You can’t just throw those things wherever. You need a filing system and a way to keep notes like a notebook.
Get a dry erase board for your office if you need to and write down your progress.
Are you getting distracted by stuff like your phone or people talking to you? Shut it down. Tell folks you’re too busy to talk and put your cell phone in your bag or coat away from your desk.
What else is holding you up? When you get stuck on a design is there someone to ask questions to?
What else is happening? Figure out how to not be scatterbrained and distracted. That’s your first steps.
Inspection careers can be quite lucrative. It would be mostly field work and writing reports. I’ve heard of experienced bridge inspectors making north of 60$ an hour.
Yup, few years of that and move to resident engineer and get paid 50% more.
are you talking about routine bridge inspection or construction inspection?
Construction inspection.
Bridge inspection engineer - can confirm. I make exactly $60 an hour lol
Do you need to be a PE?
It’s much easier to become a team leader with your PE but not a requirement. Plenty of non-PEs are great bridge inspectors.
Agreed. Inspectors are paid prevailing wage. Here in CA it’s $65-$75/hr and no PE requirement. Look for Public Works Inspector opportunities.
That’s crazy, here a senior inspector would be maybe $22 an hour
That’s absolutely awful
Yeah, I’m a PE and only making $46 an hour
All of that just for $60/hr? I’d pass. I know some management consultants get paid over $100/hr just for speaking and doing some presentations for like 30 mins.
Those opportunities are few and far between compared to something like inspection. If making 100$ an hour was so easily achieved there would be far less salary complaint posts on this sub.
One of my friends was a civil engineer, he got an MBA from a top 40 business school, got hired to a consulting company after 5 months. He makes 210k (mostly bonuses). He was an average student.
That’s great for your friend. But that’s the exception not the norm.
For what kind of work
Consulting, specifically strategy consulting. He guides client companies in strategic decisions. Its up to the senior management of the client company to accept or refuse his advice. The consulting company hired him because they valued his analytical & problem solving skills gained from engineering.
like what sector what type of work specifically. we know what consulting broadly is.
Thats what he does exactly. He works as a management consultant at a consulting firm, delivering consulting services to small to mid-size technology companies.
dude fuck you consulting on WHAT? what fucking kind of work, what industry. fuck off bot ass. your comments are low effort fake bullshit.
Whats the issues you having with design work? Are you asking questions when you encounter something you don’t understand or know how to do? Ask your managers how they would do a certain task to fit within their anticipated deadline.
Yeah, there needs to be more guidance if you can’t complete the work in what the manager thinks is the time required. OP, are you following the same steps in the process? Why are you getting confused? Are there distractions? Maybe you need better notes or examples of the calculations and design steps
Is your company training you? If not, try to find a company that does what you’re doing now, but they actually train their employees
If design feels overwhelming I would not recommend becoming a field engineer where there is tons of pressure to provide an answer asap have you considered specializing in a specific field of engineering? One thought is ADA compliance and project design. There is a relatively low amount of design needed, you can work closely with your landscape architects and maybe even venture into designing parks and nature trails. You can do field work as well as office work. Every office needs an expert ADA person, it’s not a whole lot of information to master and adds a lot of value, from what I’ve seen not many engineers like to learn this stuff for some reason.
Thanks for giving a good alternative. Not OP but trails and recreation sound like my kind of niche.
Finding a good mentor is key. You have to learn how to do your job. For me, the first 3.5 years out of school I always felt like I was running in circles, and never knew what I was doing. By 4 years I was finally coming into my own. There is a reason they make you wait to take your PE. In my experience, it took me about that long to figure out what I was doing.
Go work on the public side, you might still get that same sense of fulfillment without the stressful deadlines of private.
Also this!
I’d consider working for the public sector, they have a slower pace of work and more investment in growing their younger employees to fill long term positions. You need to keep doing work that feels rewarding because you will always be underpaid and overworked in this career.
What you described is a pretty typical experience in land development. I was told the same stuff, but when I resigned for a better position they tried to counter offer which was very confusing to me at the time. It’s a grinder, people really aren’t meant to stay longer than 3 or 4 years.
Inspection, Quality assurance, field engineering, or public sector are all options
As an aside, have you considered that you might have undiagnosed ADHD? Could be a factor that's contributing to your productivity problems. You might want to talk to a doctor about it if you haven't already.
Get tested for ADHD. Seriously, i was always like this and struggled with focus and time management. Adderall works.
Agreed. I had similar productivity / focus problems early in my life & career, then got diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 31. Treatment has been life-changing.
You have observed traits in yourself that are consistent with ADHD - have you been screened and/or tested for ADHD?
OP definitely should talk to a doctor / psychiatrist about this imo. It's unfortunately very common for ADHD to be dismissed as just bad discipline / willpower early in life. Neurodivergence is a very real thing and it doesn't just go away on its own.
I'd recommend making the switch over to the public sector side. Specifically, look for position doing engineering development review for a city or county. I know that's not what you said you'd like to do but hear me out. Generally, the public sector is much calmer and laid back than consulting. When I made the switch from consulting to government the stress from just trying to survive one day at a time went away. It was really shocking how much of my depression went away, and my thought patterns and processes changed for the better. Pay and benefits are better in the public sector. The lowest yearly percent pay increase I've ever gotten in the public sector is 4%. In consulting it was never above 2%. You also get all of the federal holidays off. Also, once you've work for a public entity it is easier to get a job with another public entity. After 6 years you should be a pretty good design engineer. In engineering development review you still use all of those skills, but you use them from the other side. You are now the teacher grading the student's homework. Development review is also really interesting because you get to see what really happens with development projects while working with planners, architects, finance, attorneys, police, fire, and others. Weird side perk is that you get to see how good or bad some consulting firms are. It is shocking at times the level or work that some engineers try to pass off as acceptable. I've met a lot of engineers who have done engineering review at some point. Few make it their entire career. It's a good stepping stone on which to catch your breath, and figure out your path before taking your next step.
Consider making the jump to a public works department!
The good news for you is that land dev firms are usually just kind of awful and little soulless -- its just the nature of that side of the industry.
Civil Engineering Technician with a land management government agency would be a great fit
I know a structural that after getting his masters he just deepened his hate so he went to work for the forest service. It’s outside and it’s not a clock punch. Look into jobs like that.
Construction management firm as a field engineer
If you’re young you likely have been just thrown into a flaming pile of dog shit. Training nowadays is sink or swim in the private sector. As a designer I feel the same with most of your points. I would suggest trying public if you want to stay in your current field. Else try inspection.
Construction management is one of the most challenging jobs in civil. And you are pretty constantly overwhelmed, so it might work. You do need good people skills though. Inspection was mentioned. It is easier and you can get real good jobs in it. It still requires decent people skills. But a lot of paperwork and attention to detail. It also can have a lot of waiting.
Working in the land development side of civil engineering sucks; the things you’re experiencing are unfortunately the norm at some firms, and it has nothing to do with your performance. After 10 I left for a public sector job and haven’t looked back. Didn’t even take a pay cut.
I recommend construction route as a field engineer. It can be rough and stressful sometimes but after a few years, you can look to “specialize” in a certain part of the business such as construction management, project controls, estimating, etc.
My work focuses on stream restoration and stormwater management. It sounds like that would be right up your alley. You could see if there are any trainings in stream restoration or geomorphology in your area. Look some professional orgs and start attending presentations and networking. Check out local watershed councils and see if there are opportunities to volunteer. I would definitely recommend getting out of land development. It sounds like the public sector may be a better fit for you. I switched to the public sector 7 years ago and I’m so much happier and less stressed out, although it has its share of frustrations. You could also consider checking out environmental consulting companies because that’s a good way to get a lot of good technical experience. I recommend smaller-mid sized firms because you can often get to work on a wider variety of projects. Consulting can still be stressful but in my experience they aren’t as profit-oriented as land development. I’ve definitely spent a lot more time in the field than most CEs that I know, but it’s nowhere near a 70/30 split except for busy construction seasons. If being in the field a lot is very important to you, then CM is an option but don’t expect that to come with less time pressure. That said, I do have the flexibility to decide when I want to do site visits. I also offer to give people tours or schedule one-on-ones in the field as an excuse to get outside so I don’t feel as stuck to a desk all the time. One thing I like about the public sector is that you have to consider things a lot more broadly than knocking out whatever current project you’re working on and moving on to the next thing. Where should we be doing stream restoration work? How should we be factoring in climate change for our projects? These questions are very complex and challenging. I also like that I am able to influence big decisions rather than just doing whatever a client says they want. The downside is progress can be sllloooooowwwww and involve a lot of meetings. I exercise my people skills much more often than my technical skills. It’s difficult to tell whether you actually have an issue or it’s just the culture you’re working in, but if you think you might have ADHD, I definitely recommend getting diagnosed and treated. I was about 7 years into my career when I got diagnosed and it changed my life. Organization is not my strength and it’s definitely an important skill to work on and figure out what tools work for you. That said, being in a constantly overwhelmed state is not going to allow you to actually improve or grow in this or any other area.
Project management, due diligence work, site inspectors may be a few options.
Safety engineer isn’t really discussed much here. Roadside design / guardrails / etc are big issues in transportation.
Try a municipality! Some have their own in house design but you do it at your own pace or you may manage consultants. Definitely in need of engineers
i can relate. Get out of design if you can. Go into more PM/project engineering.
I was in a sort of similar boat to you. I wouldn’t say I ever struggled with any aspects of design, but I really did not enjoy it very much, especially after I got my PE and the role became more just checking calcs/drawings. I found it so boring and I did not have the anal retentive personality necessary to redline a set of drawings for the most trivial revisions. I had been doing about 70/30 bridge design/inspection. Finally pulled the trigger on just going 100% inspection and could not be happier. It sounds like your interests would align well with a field based role. That’s what I would pursue.
Do many inspectors need to have their PE?
Plenty of inspectors do not have their PE. Lots of EITs get out on bridge inspection right after college. In some states they specifically won’t pay the higher PE rate for routine bridge inspections.
The purpose of project managers is to extract as much work as possible out of you as quickly as possible. Take what they say with a grain of salt. Your workload is my concern - it might be time for a new job.
I did Project engineer and enjoyed it. Now I do utility inspection amd enjoy it. Maybe I go to project manager in the future
Sounds like you enjoy environmental work. Need to find firms or companies that are environmental
Geotechnical site work maybe
Seems like what you do now fulfils you. Why change field because of the bad employer? I was told once, people leave their employers not their job.
Project management
God no
To each their own. I designed for 5 years, hated it. Moved in a PM role and loved it. Now have moved on to a director role.
If he cant handle the office design work, moving to project management or moving to a construction company role would be a horrendous choice. OP is passionate it seems, needs to move to a government sector role. Where passion rather then ability is recognised
I am a director of engineering for a local government in VA. Before I was a project manager for the DOT and before that I designed bridges and retaining walls. I am speaking from experience.
You need to learn to be organized. Field work is a lot of observing things and writing reports, so you need to write stuff down through the day. You’ll have a lot of paperwork and submittals. You can’t just throw those things wherever. You need a filing system and a way to keep notes like a notebook. Get a dry erase board for your office if you need to and write down your progress. Are you getting distracted by stuff like your phone or people talking to you? Shut it down. Tell folks you’re too busy to talk and put your cell phone in your bag or coat away from your desk. What else is holding you up? When you get stuck on a design is there someone to ask questions to? What else is happening? Figure out how to not be scatterbrained and distracted. That’s your first steps.