Consulting to Construction...

[HeavyCivil]

Has anyone made the move from working at a design firm to a GC?

I like elements of design, but really only find myself excited by concrete and timber design. I'm doing more and more steel and after switching from an A/E firm to an engineering firm specializing more in commercial and institutional work, I have far less say and involvement in the project and usually am working for architects. I love the flexibility of my job and the room for advancement is pretty good, although looking around the company compensation doesn't appear to be anything stellar down the line (stories of 50 cent raises the year someone gets their PE abound).

The most fun I've had has been as serving as an RPR, and prior to graduating college working in heavy civil, commercial and residential construction. I like coordinating work, planning, and building things more than designing and analyzing - except residential which I find fun to design. That, coupled with the perception of better pay (albeit much less flexibility) has me thinking about making the switch. I am most energetic and challenged working our situations in the field. CA phase activities are by far my favorite thing to do at work.

Has anyone been in this situation, gone though with it, or care to share? I have an interview with an ENR top 300 company coming up in a couple weeks...

 

[HuckleberryFinn]

I'm interested in learning about this as well. Let me know if you find anything VT.

 

[OneDay11]

I sort of did the opposite a few years ago. I used to work for an EPC company and my first assignment was as a field engineer on site building an LNG import terminal. At that time I was working for the C part of the company, construction. I bugged my PM relentlessly to let me work in the E part of the company, Engineering. I ended up in an office mostly working on structural analysis and steel connection designs. Did not find the transition technically hard but it was tough getting used to sitting by a computer for 9 hours a day. When you go into the construction side of things with a few years of experience you most likely will be a project engineer. If you are lucky you can skip the field engineer step. Look forward to far more hours on the job, stressing over the schedule, stressing over demands from clients, stressing over subcontractors not doing what they are being paid to do. Cap it all off with safety inspectors on power trips. Don’t get me wrong, I think safety is paramount but people can get a little hard to work with at times
The problems you have to solve as an engineer in construction are not as rooted in science as they would be doing analysis. You got to be good with seeing the big picture and strategizing. Can you come up with a good way to time the arrival of materials to your site and guarantee that your crews will be ready for that material at the time it is delivered? What do you need to say to the client reps (who are very often contractors that are looking for any opportunity to dramatize things to secure/justify their jobs (not slagging on contractors… just a dramatic example)) to have them go home with smiles that day even though some concrete cube tests came out low?
Personally I find construction to be more stressful but it is very rewarding. I also felt a much stronger personal connection to my work in the field.

 

[Mr168]

I'm not sure I can agree with OneDay11's comment regarding "if you are lucky you can skip the field engineer step."

I found field engineering to be one of the most fun, interesting, and critical components to my career path back in the Corporate world. There's nothing worse than a Project Engineer writing specifications, budgeting, and planning construction activities, with no real experience relating to whether or not it's feasible in terms of time, money, and physical execution. Seen it more times than I care to count.

If I weren't so sick of the travel, I'd do it all over again!

 

[OneDay11]

I think Mr168 actually has a good point that I overlooked. The experience you soak up as a field engineer is a big deal and quite vital in forming your construction know how. Did I think it was fun?? Not so much… but those are personal opinions.

 

[Jmoore1]

I have worked as a project engineer for over a year now and recently finished my first big project. I have no doubt that project engineering is what I want to do so I may come off a little biased. My favorite part of being a project engineer is looking at the big picture, starting from front end and going through to construction as the primary point of contact. Its very interesting and you get a very very broad range of experience. That being said I work on site where my projects are, and can act as a field engineer to, this experience was invaluable and seeing the actual construction working with contractors daily, ordering materials, working with vendors was all absolutely invaluable experience. I think the field part of my job was more beneficial to my career as a project engineer than the project engineering part (at least for the beginning).

When working with engineers at DE firms, I can almost instantly realize when one has no field experience. Making decisions without knowing about the constructability side is not worth the paper they are printed on, and often end up being changed in the field.

Just my two cents.

 

[nuche1973]

I came in from the field. I was a carpenter for several years in concrete forms and metal studs. When I worked for a Design Firm, one of my biggest pet-peeves was when Design Engineers with no field expereince would refer to contractors as "Stupid", "Con-artist" or my favorite "Monkeys with Hammers". For this reason I never truly fit in. However, the experience I gained from my time in the field has proven to be valuable. And, ironically, I was always sent out into the field to resolve problems, regardless if I designed the project or not.

My advice: go in as a sponge, eager to absorb everything you come into contact with. Treat everybody you meet with respect and you will also discover that the friendships that are made in the field are stronger than the friendships made in the design office. Also, beer is the currancy of the field person.

There are days when I wake up feeling like the dumbest man on the planet, then there are days when I confirm it.

 

[EricaB]

I am a project engineer as well. I get to work as a field engineer when the job demands it and I encourage getting into the field. What better way to learn about what you are designing than interfacing with those who will build the design! This job works from start of a concept to implementation and closeout of that project. I find this very rewarding when you get to see what you've conceived and seen it be built, especially if you've designed it. To be honest I prefer the construction side of things as well, it is just a different culture to work in. Besides, who honestly likes sitting in front a computer ALL day EVERY day??? Not me!

 

[B16A2]

If you make the switch, I think you have about two years to change your mind. One of my good friends made the switch from being a licensed SE who designed relatively large buildings to working with a fabricator as a field engineer. After a few years I noticed his brain started to shrivel. First went lateral system concepts, and most recently column buckling.

Problem is you'll be surrounded by people who have relatively no clue about design....but if you intend this switch to be permanent, maybe that's the way to go.