Slow work environment common?

[mustang462002]

Hi Guys,
I originally started my engineering career in construction and it was a fast paced environment where there was always some work to be done. I switched over to the consultant side and was able to go through a number of positions to experience different departments. My question is I have never found a department where they seemed to be busy or needed work to be done. I have a task or two to do and then nothing. I've also worked in construction inspection/management and its the same thing. I'm not laid off as they have some work in the pipeline but after 1.5 years its getting old. Is this a common experience in engineering consulting. At this point I'm thinking of working again in a mid-size construction company to get going again.

Thanks

 

[coloeng]

I worked as a consultant for seven years and found the opposite to be true. There were very few times that I didn't have at least five to seven projects that I was working on at the same time. Of course there were at least three to five different project managers for these various projects that wanted me to make there project my top priority.

 

[mtu1972]

In a career that included 7 jobs over nearly 40 years I experienced slowdowns in 2 of those positions. The first was with a Design/Build heavy industrial contractor. The recession in the early '80s resulted in a lot of layoffs and those of us that were kept on were on 4 day (32 hour) work weeks. This lasted nearly one year. In that time our billing rates were also reduced from 2.5x's to 1.95x's to try and obtain more projects.

My last job was with a multi-disciplined industrial consulting engineering firm. Over the 8 years I was there, we experienced slow downs over 3 extended periods. Again, 4-day work weeks were employed, unless you were on certain projects that had schedule issues. The "favorite sons" mostly worked 40+ hour weeks on those projects while the rest were on 32 hour weeks on the more mundane projets. There were also differences from department to department with the Civil/Structural group generally being hit the hardest.

Layoffs were not considered in that management was overly optimistic that every proposal written would end up being the job that would solve our problems.

gjc

 

[kacarrol]

I have only faced your problem once in consulting engineering, I switched departments and that problem ended. I have also faced that situation once when I worked in an engineering department that supported the process systems of a factory (steam, compressed air etc) but that wasn't consulting. Both instances were a couple of months out of nearly a decade of work experience.

Not my cup of tea! I like to be busy. Good luck.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

When I first worked right out of college we had a few slow periods. The boss had me work on little odd projects and ideas he had. Mostly it involved making spreadsheets of things we often needed to do or working on other efficiency related items. Or it involved cleaning out the closet or putting up new shelves. Whatever needed doing at the time.

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer.
(Just passed the 16-hour SE exam, woohoo!)

 

[TheTick]

Slow is bad, regardless of the reason. Find a way to be more fully engaged or find a new place.

 

[glass99]

As a facade consultant who has not worked less than 50 hectic hours per week for the last 10 years, I can tell you that we are at least as busy as any contractor. I will say that when I worked in the bridge design world, things were much slower.

 

[truckandbus]

You need to find out if this slow pace is 'the norm' or not. If the company has always run at this speed I wouldn''t worry. You will be bored but have a secure job. If people tell you 'no, this lack of work is unprecedented', then start to worry.

I've heard this from other engineers - they switch industries and learn that the definition of 'we are really swamped' changes

 

[ewh]

Many industries are cyclic and the better managed companies can handle some slow times while keeping enough somewhat idled employees to handle the swamped times. I don't know if this carries over into the civil arena.

"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively."
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[mustang462002]

Thanks for the response guys.
I feel as though this is the average workflow for the company while keeping enough idle employees for when they are swamped. Its almost as though I'm working for the state or city. I've learned to accept it. But I'm slowly realizing for my sanity I need to move on.