Power Company Project Engineer vs. A&E Project/Design Engineer---better career path?

[MinnesotaSlinger]

I've been a mechanical project engineer for two years for a large electrical power supplier, working under contract rather than directly. Most of my work deals with planning, scheduling, estimating, equipment selection, project documentation, design, etc. for small capital projects. (Before that, I was a mechanical engineer for six years for an A&E firm, mostly doing design and some drafting for hospitals. I received my PE near the end of my time there.) I enjoy my current position, but because it's contract, I'm somewhat worried about job security, fewer professional development opportunities, and less connectedness than my direct-hired peers. I've come to realize I really enjoy project management (even if my exposure has so far been to small projects) although I miss doing more design work as I would at an A&E firm. And even though I don't expect to ever do as much drafting as I did earlier, I do worry that my CAD skills will become completely lost if I wait too long to return to the consulting side, and I enjoy AutoCAD and Revit.

Anyway, I'm interviewing at an A&E firm this week, and in the event the interview goes well and they offer me a job, I'm not sure if I should take it assuming I like the offer. I can't imagine anyone else would pay me what I make now (considering all benefits), and right now my job is pretty flexible. I get paid by the hour so if I need to work more I get paid more. And power plant work would presumably tend to be more sophisticated and specialized than commercial buildings (although I may be underestimating what goes into such buildings). But in some ways I'd think I could be a more well-rounded engineer at an A&E, managing projects while staying immersed in design work and some amount of CAD/BIM.

If I'm on the owner's side doing power plant work and I generally enjoy it, is it a mistake to leave it to go back to the consulting side? Is one better for my career long-term than the other?

BTW, are there good forums out there for engineering career talk? I realize this maybe isn't the best forum for this, even though I'm sure a number of people here will be able to give me some good wisdom.

Thanks.

 

[RossABQ]

There is this subforum on here:

http://www.eng-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=731

I had three phases in my career, that pretty closely mirror what you're considering. First I worked in the project management division of a large AE designing new powerplants. As a "cub" engineer, PM meant developing the specs, issuing them for bids, and evaluating the bids. Undoubtedly would have been a fast-track to a partnership, but I left it to move to the Owner side at a medium-sized public utility. When I told my boss I was leaving for the Owner side, his immediate comment was "you'll get bored in a month and be back". Pretty close. 90% of the people there were putting in time, counting days til retirement. But the position allowed me to do pretty much what I pleased, and I found a niche I really enjoyed. I was able to grow professionally due to generous training budgets at the time. But I would have had to wait for several supervisors to die or retire to advance at all.

I got laid off from there on a company buyout, and went into HVAC engineering at a large AE. Very challenging work on large commercial projects. HVAC was not my emphasis in school so I had some catching up to do. I thoroughly enjoyed it until the last 5 years or so, when all the LEED stuff hit, and it became more of a paper exercise than a design exercise. Using RevIt et al was an interesting development, not sure if there is a payoff tho.

Other factors: While working on the power Owner side, I never missed a school play, soccer game or other activity for my sons. On the AE side, I missed many. AE's get worked to death. However, the salaries and professional growth at the AE's is much, much better.

 

[chicopee]

There is never a clear answer when it comes to life events. My suggestion is do what you enjoy most because if you get to be miserable at work, it will reflect in your performance, then you know what will happen next.

 

[dgallup]

I did turn down a job offer once and ran into the guy who made the offer a couple of years later. By then he had moved on to another position and he told me I made the right decision. Usually you never know what might have happened down the path untaken.

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