construction industry career advice 1

[mklee479]

I am currently working for a mid tier construction firm for two months now , previously I was working for Skanska for the last three years . They let me go because work ran out . Now my new job is going okay , but it's not really challenging and I dread going to work everyday . The people are nice but everyone is older , generally over 50 and it seems as though it would be a good place to work once I'm over 45 years old. Now I got a call for a potential job with the big boys, Fluor , to be exact . They are doing a mega project and need people . My question and advice that I need is that will it look bad if I jump ship after only two months ? Also , in the construction industry is it better to have worked on larger projects such sat over 500 million dollars ( potential new job) vs smaller jobs 30 million dollar jobs ( currently working ) . I've always been told that working on the larger projects always look better . Any opinion or advice

 

[thaidavid40]

When you took the job you have now, did you take it with the idea that you were making a commitment to them? Did they make a commitment to you? If either, does making a commitment carry any particular weight with you? Opportunities come and go, but principles should be unwavering. Make you decisions based on what you believe to be the right thing to do, and you can never fault yourself. Others may fault you one way or the other, but you will not regret following your inner principles. Besides, you can learn great things in any job. I never learned a skill or bit of knowledge that I ever regretted, and I learned most of those in small settings.
Good luck with your decision-making efforts,
Dave

Thaidavid

 

[Ron]

Mk.....I agree with Dave.
Further, you apparently have only a few years of experience. On a huge project you will likely be so far removed from decisions that your only claim to fame will be that you were on the project. Working on projects where you get to see and be involved in the whole process is much more valuable as a learning process.

Be able to look back in 20 years and say that you have 20 years of experience.... not 1 year of experience 20 times.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Also, I agree with Thiadavid and Ron.

...I dread going to work everyday.

Multi-hundred million dollar project are often multi-year projects, too. Suppose the new job on the big project does not work out for you... now what do you do, bail out in the middle of the project? That will not look good for sure. IMHO, look for projects that are in line with your interests without regard to what somebody says "looks good". You will learn a lot more, be happier in your work, and perhaps wind up with a rewarding, outside-the-ordinary career.

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[Ron]

SRE....Amen!

 

[ashtree]

Think about all the openings that will occur when all those old blokes are retiring. By then you will have had 5 or 10 yrs of experience(good experience hopefully) and the company will know who you are and what you can do by then. If you have learnt from those older guys you should be set for increased responsibility and promotion if thats what you are looking for.

Regards
Ashtree
"Any water can be made potable if you filter it through enough money"

 

[sam74]

Those 50 year olds have a lot of knowledge to share most likely.

I've worked for Fluor and it was fun at the time. Unfortunately it was a very political type situation on an ARRA project during the lean years and they were a subcontractor gunning for a larger/longer stint as the prime contractor. Once it was determined that they were not getting the new prime contract I was laid off by the current prime and was replaced by their business managers fiancé who had immediately previously been working for the newly selected prime. It was still an awesome experience while it lasted.

If they are going to be the prime contractor on the position you are talking about I might consider it. One thing to remember though is lots of times when the project is over you can expect a layoff unless you have some really good ties within the company. Regardless of what they tell you I would certainly plan for a layoff as things wind down should you choose that route. From my experience it is hard to get a foot back in the door with them and from what I have seen from their alumni forum lots of people had the same experience but the global economy was kind of in the sewer regardless and that was just the norm and the wars were winding down.

If you know someone in the company pretty good or are a pretty good arse kisser you will stand a better chance with them. Of my two immediate managers on site one left because the prime gave one of his positions to a more local guy and I got his other position. The other left without warning before I was laid off and was replaced by another contract guy from a different company altogether. So basically my two managers failed (or ran off with the assistance of the current prime and other subs) and the company failed to secure the 8-10 year new prime contract. But then again both managers (long term Fluor employees) left for another 8-10 year job with a secured contract. That may be why I was having a hard time getting back on with them.