Do you ever find that you have regressed professionally?

[proletariat]

I started out in big construction, and had waaaay more responsibility than I was ready for. I feel like I rose to the occasion and was adequate in the role. Adequate enough, anyway, to get promoted in the company.

I went to government, and responsibility stayed the same, but I was treated more like a peon, which I was fine with. I knew the govt. job was a temporary affair.

Now I'm in a civil consulting A/E firm, and my responsibility has regressed back to Co-op/Internship levels. This is a very small firm, which is surprising because before joining, I assumed small-firm empolyees would have huge personal responsibility requirements and wear many hats. For example, I have spoken to a client maybe 5 times in 1.5 years working here. I have no chance of standing before a planning board meeting to present a project for another 2 years.

Those of you in civil consulting, do you feel reigned in or stifled. Is this just the way of the consulting industry, and I should go back to construction if I want a free hand to conduct things as I see appropriate?

I am planning to job hunt soon, and am curious if another civil consulting firm is really what I need. If they are all meek hand-holding institutions in search of plow horses maybe I'm better off back in construction where a thorobred is appreciated. (not that i'm some hotshot thorobred, but that's the best analogy I can come up with)

 

[UcfSE]

I guess all of our civils are too meek to answer.

 

[proletariat]

lol

 

[sam74]

It seems in consulting that unless you are bringing work in you play a very small role. Or maybe you can tag along on your brother in-laws coattail.

 

[FACS]

How come the other engineers don't get to regress?

Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[proletariat]

Sorry, if you are other than a civil engineer, please feel free to respond as well.

 

[HVACctrl]

This may not be too helpful, but:

I am a mechanical engineer who has worked in varied fields. I have been surprised at how the roles change at various types of firms. I have alternately been both in charge of nearly 2 dozen people and 3 departments and have been just barely responsible enough for myself under the strict direction of a superior.

I did a cameo at a large EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) firm specializing in petrochemical plant design and construction. It was a 6 month contract job that could have lasted longer if I had wanted, but I cut it off due to the slow pace and wasteful, inefficient ways of the culture there. The company made money based on T&M and the slower the design teams were, the better for the company, which sickened me. They would say things like, "Are you working this Saturday?". I woiuld say, "No, I'm caught up and I have a family life". I digress.... I did have a pretty fair amount of responsibility there even though I was a relative newcomer. In this setting though, it was kind of a cattle-herd. People were moved in and out of the project as the company saw fit to maximize profit, etc....

I have found it hard to really determine the overall amount of reponsibility that will become available at a given job. I think a lot depends on the individual and whether they are a "take the bull by the horns" type person. If this is you, why not assert yourself and let your superiors know in no uncertain terms that you want to be and do more? You may have to do this quietly as there are bound to be some slackers who will hold your ambition against you since it contrasts and offsets their lackadaisical attitudes about work. As we speak, I am way lower in responsibility than I was at a previous job. However, I am new (4-1/2 months) at this job, its a MUCH smaller company (12 employees rather than about 700) and the company and I haven't really felt each other out yet. I have some obstacles to overcome yet.

I am a little taken aback on the lower responsibilities, but I am in a different economical/geographical area(different state with a completely different culture) and on a different end of the market "food chain" so to speak.

I have no doubt that I will continue to rise right along with my abilities and the demand for them.

Ed

 

[ccor]

After working for several companies and many years of good progression in land development I decided I didn't like what LD had to offer over a career. I tried to find more stimulating work, but I was limited by not having an advanced degree. So I thought, if I don't like what I'm doing I'll relocate so at least I'll enjoy where I live. I now work for a small LD firm in Steamboat Springs, CO and have regressed each of the four years I've been here. This is the first position I've had to do any CAD, and now I consider myself a CAD operator and not an engineer.

It would be easy to say that all small firms are like this, but I know it’s not true. It has more to do with corporate leadership, commitment to quality, and vision, not size. Admittedly, these are difficult to determine during a normal job interview. I think a firm's outside reputation is a good indicator. The type of work, and more so the type of clients that a company deals with are also revealing. Of course the ideal situation is to know someone you trust that works at a potential employer. Ask thoughtful question in the interview to get a feel, and hopefully not the used car salesman feel.

The best piece of career advice is "When looking for a new job don't put too much weight on what you will be doing at the start, think more about what you want to be doing at the end of your career, what could you spend the rest of your life achieving." My path will take me through graduate school this fall and a job search the following spring. Best of luck for us both.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I sometimes find that I am socially regressing...

 

[proletariat]

I guess in a small firm we are all here to support the owner(s) when they go to put on the show. In a larger firm, they can absorb more 'growing pains' of a budding project mananger and are thus less risk averse.

In past jobs, responsibility has always been thrust upon me. I never had to go looking for it. Maybe that is part of my problem. I have asked for more here from time to tiem, but you know what they say about the squeaky wheel. I guess in the future I'll need to be more insistent.

Why didn't you like the career path of land development?

 

[proletariat]

I find that I'm socially regressing too. Schmoosing was part of the job description when working with the public / media / consultants in govt. work, and dealing w/ contractors was necessary in construction. I schmoose with my computer these days.

It's very demoralizing because I picked land development specifically to be able to get out to planning meetings, talk to the public, contractors, etc. I don't love grinding out calculations, and LD seemed as if it would have the smallest component of that. However this has not been the case at my one-horse company.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

While I don't have the quantifiable data to support it, I am positive that my professional collegues who go into "management" begin regressing immediately. They focus on business processes that they, being engineers and all, should take about half an hour of their day. Yet money management, scheduling, etc. are the epitome of doing the near-impossible.

They also constantly complain about needing assistants to take care of the big work load. Like the administrative paperwork the "real" engineers take care of in a second but that they're just not able to do. etc.

They stop reading trade mags, stop caring about being in the engineering business, and generally take on the "everything's a widgit" mentality.

Then again, as long as I get paid, I should shut up...

 

[BelspringKen]

I had something similar happen. I was working in one town, living in another. I bought a house, and wanted to work closer to home.

I got a job at Company "B" and it was not at all challenging. I think they advertised for one thing, but in reality wanted someone with less experience, or someone who was content to do the same thing with no chance to move up.

After being shuffled around as the PMs came and went, I started looking for another position. At my current job, I felt like I had regressed in the 1.5 years that I was at "B". But I am getting to do new things here, and I am getting paid better.

 

[quark]

I faced same situation like yours. During starting of my career, I was into a company(second big of its kind) with management that never believed in inability of an employee. They put a jack ass into a horse race and, yet, could win. They have their own ways to see that no mistake was done. I prospered both technically and financially.

My next move was close to home and another big(third) company with lot of good management practices (they can show you the certificates of various business magazines). In reality, they don't care you if you don't satisfy their ego. For sometime, I thought I was in a wrong place. Then I thought to learn how it feels being unimportant. It was three and half years of tough time but I was through. There were good increments and I got two promotions. When I resigned from the company, two top bosses, who I rarely interacted with, tried to stop me with counter offers.

When it doesn't matter me now, whether I am important or not, the new company recognized my work too early and now I am in a good position.

Let me put out my self suggestions.

1. Though you may be important in your company, nobody notices it the moment you come out of your premises. You are as stranger as any other fellow walking beside. Importance is subjected to an imaginary boundary.

2. Though nobody seems to be noticing, put your points and ideas in a straight way. There are people to recognise them.

3. There is atleast one good thing at every place. (I made maximum number of posts at eng-tips when I was at the second company and downloaded a ton of technical data)

 

[proletariat]

Jackass in a horse race. That's good. I'm going to make that part of my analogy / cliche reperatoire.

 

[plasgears]

Yes, when I went from aerospace to industry. I was chagrined by the prevalence of unqualified individuals in "engineering" jobs.

 

[ornerynorsk]

We are all "chameleons". We rise to meet responsibilities, difficulties and challenges, and tend to slack off at the lack of them. A job path that has no perceived purpose or value is going to throw one into regression, no doubt about it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BelspringKen]

ornerynorsk,

You make a good point. If you are working at a job with no challenge, then you will not be growing and learning.

 

[kchayfie]

In my current role, I am often asked to size equipment which is not required as part of the design but the client wants it so the project manager has agreed to provide it. As the storage tank, bypass pipes, etc is entirely unnecessary and hardly likely to be used I put very little time or effort into deciding what size it should be. Unfortunately now that habit is creeping in to sizing equipment which is important for the design of the plant.

Luckily my gut-feel answers have all been OK so far and I'm moving on to a new role shortly. Hopefully I can go back to working like a professional design engineer!

 

[imok2]

Most of you are still working for someone in the Engineering field but let me say this from a different perspective, as I am retired 10 years now. It seems to me that if you want to be a happy camper and enjoy life you have to work in a job that makes you happy and gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Most of all you have to be true to who you are. Although I have three degrees I am not a graduate mechanical engineer. I began my work in this business as an apprentice in HVACR with the United Association and for most of my career I worked with my hands as a Mechanic, Supervisor, and Craft Head all the time going to school for certifications and degrees. My point in telling you this is in all the time I was doing this I was self for filled. I found a great deal of satisfaction in fixing and solving problems. I’ll let you in on a little secret, when you are a mechanic with a service truck and working for some contractor, and you have the ability to do service and construction, you are your own boss. Why, because you are making your employer money and you are making a lot of money. I always made as much or more then most engineers I talked to and I loved my work. You might say I had the best of both worlds. So I say find what makes you happy first and foremost and usually the money will come to you.