Structural Engineering Career 1

[Calif]

Hello everyone, I am new here. I have a situation which may be uncommon for most of you, but I want to ask for advise if I am doing the right thing. Here it is.

I have been working for a firm, " I wont say which one" for about 2 years, 4 months now. The first year, I can honestly say that I was not motivated because the work was boring. I was doing bridge inspection since the day I walked in and nothing has changed since then. The first year I almost got fired due to not being motivated enough and not showing interest in the work I performed. My work was subpar at the time but I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I did not get a raised that year and for the following year I decided I was going to try more. The following year, I worked incredible hard. Stayed late, did what I was supposed to do, and the engineers almost never complained about my work. In fact, two engineers said to my supervisor that I have improved enough and should get involved in bridge design, which is my goal, to design. Now when I got my second review, my supervisor said I did not improve enough and now I am there for a second year, and no raise. I tried to love the work because I felt that bridge inspection is part of being a structural engineering but for over two years that is all that I have done. I feel that I am stuck. Now my feelings is that I should leave. Get another job but a part of me feels that I still have to prove myself as an engineer and most likely, I will be doing bridge inspection for the another year. I got my EIT and I am hungry to do design work. That was and still is my interest. Part of me wants to leave due to interest and over 1 hour of commuting that I due everyday. Another wants to stay to prove myself that I can make it as an engineer. Should I stay or should leave?

I await your response

Sincerely,

K

 

[corus]

3 years is enough to prove to anyone that you have gained some experience and aren't stupid enough to be sacked after the first week. I'd hang in there for another 8 months and then look around.
The mistake you made was to get a bad name in your first year. That'll stick with you while you remain there no matter how well you do. You have, what doctors call, a 'reputation'. There's no cure alas other than amputation from the company. Fortunately your good 'reputation' can come back surprisingly quickly at another place, or you can gain another bad one. I'd also try something else and burn your bridges, as they say. That way you'll get experience in other aspects of engineering and not be labelled with the 'I only do bridges' tag.

 

[leanne]

I'd also try something else and burn your bridges, as they say.

It's never advisable to burn bridges, as they say. It's a small world & you may work with some of those same people again in a different venture. Keep your nose to the grindstone & get your three years in. Volunteer for extra projects where you are qualified. Make yourself visible. Find a mentor. Ask your boss to place you on a more challenging project. If you are still in the same position after doing all this, start quietly looking for a change where you will be challenged. But, please do not burn any bridges - you may need to cross them again someday.

 

[rhodie]

I think corus is a subtle genius. To tell a bridge inspector to "burn his bridges" borders on insane hilarity.

 

[leanne]

Considering most bridges today are made of concrete & metal, I did not interpret it literally - of course, I've also been slightly sleep deprived lately thanks to Mother Nature's nocturnal storms....

Just goes to show, get four engineers together & you'll have 5 opinions...

 

[Focht3]

Kmat:

I am disappointed that you have not valued your field experience. If you apply yourself to the field work, in a few short years you will learn things about bridge design and construction that would take decades of design work - and lots of design mistakes - to acquire. The best civil engineers I know - of all types - have spent a lot of time in the field.

Stick with it awhile longer. And the next time you talk to your supervisor, ask that your work contain a mix of inspection and design duties. That may help your supervisor to ease up on you somewhat.

 

[RDK]

Kmat

You have just proved again that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

By your own admission you first years work was sub-par. It was that way because you did not understand what your actual role as an inspector was.

Your role as an inspector was twofold. Firstly you were expected to “pay your dues”. Everyone in every career and in every job within that career is required to “pay dues”. This takes many forms usually being assigned the least prestigious jobs, given the worst tools to do the job and expected to smile and say in effect” Thank-you Sir. May I have another one?” This is in part to prove that you are worthy of being asked into the inner sanctum of design and partly because someone has to have the brown end of the stick.

Please don’t blast me because you think that things should not work this way. That’s how they work and nothing we can do will ever change this simple fact of human nature.

The second part of your role was to see how bridges actually go together. You can study all you want, look at all the pictures you want, watch all the video’s you want, talk to all the designers you want, nothing will teach you how something actually goes together like actually watching it getting built. You could not get beyond the fact that you were not hired immediately out of engineering school to design a major bridge. Engineering is all in the details and you had a lot of chances to see them in practice and it appears that you blew it.

That’s in the past. You and I cannot do anything to change those facts. What you can do is decide what you want to do now.

I see three options for you, assuming you still want to stay in the bridge engineering field.

1) You can stick it out and try to improve things. If this appeals to you then I would suggest some honest discussions with your superior about what went wrong in the first year, what you are doing about it and how you can overcome it. This will require some brown nosing on your part along with a large helping of humble pie, but it might work. (might not either but you never know until you try.)

2) You can look for another position where you can start over. This might be difficult because you will need a reference from your current employer. You may ask those other than your direct superior to provide these references. The superior can be tactfully described as someone with whom you had a personality conflict and leave it at that. (Never engage in character assignation at interviews. I have terminated interviews when that has happened.) Most employers understand that these things happen and as long as there is no history of this sort of conflict happening everywhere than you should be able to overcome it.

3) You could go back to school and get a graduate degree. This will do two things. It will make you more valuable to employers that the initiation phase will be shorter and will allow some time to help heal things with your current superior.

Good luck



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[RDK]

Kmat

Just a quick addition to my previous post.

I am assuming because you have your EIT that you are American.

If so, then your first language is English?

Proof read your original post.

You may want to consider some additional training in technical communication.



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Calif]

Dear Rick Kitson:

Thank you for your hard nose advise. If you read my post again, you will see that I learned nothing about the construction of a bridge. Yes, my work was subpar in the first year but the following year, I worked and learned alot about bridge inspection. None, and I repeat, none of the lead engineers had anything bad to say about my work the following year. All they said was that I improved the following year and that I do my work. They even recommended me to start getting envolved in design work when the oppurtunities come available. My supervisor on the other hand, thought my work improved but not enough. Now why did he think that, I dont know. When I recieved my grading for that year, I was totally upset that I did all that worked and recieved nothing for it Yes, I did blow my chance the first year by not making a good impression but the following year I showed that I could do the work that everyone in the office could do. I know that and yes the supervisor probably did not give me the good evaluation because of what happen the first year. All I can say is that this is a learning experience.

Thank You and have a good day

K

 

[sc]

Hmmm, how can you carry out bridge inspections for 2+ years and not learn about bridge construction?

By bridge inspections, I assume that you mean either construction inspections or maintenance inspection. I have carried out both in the past and feel that I have learnt a hell of alot about the practical side of bridge building. Little things like de-watering pile caps, layout of reinforcement, the importance of concrete cover, how to solve access problems, how to solve mis-alignment problems, how to know when a design is not working as intended, the importance of concrete testing, the importance of project co-ordination, the effect of water on steel, concrete spalling, retro fitting guard rails, deck rehabilitation, etc. I could go on for ever about the design benefits of having been involved in the practical side through inspection work.

I would suggest that you sit down and truthfully sum up what you have learnt in detail and then make comparisons with the various design requirements. You will be pleasently surprised by what you have learnt.

There is no point in being a designer if the design cannot be built. Good design comes from good construction practice.


On the brighter side I agree with you that 2+ years as a bridge inspector is a long time if it was only intended as a preliminary learning position for design work, so talk to your supervisor, chase the inspection/design mix. If he won't come to the party don't put in the extra hours doing the inspection related work, review the designers work and discuss design with the designers from your practical experience point of view. In other words show your boss by your actions that you need to learn more than just inspection and that you are only willing to spend extra time on the areas you wish to learn and grow in.

regards
sc

 

[Calif]

Dear SC:

Thank you for your advise. For over two years, all that I have done is bridge inspection. When I say bridge inspection I mean the determination of the condition of bridges. Sometimes new bridge, most of the time, they are old bridges. I have never been to a construction site to watch a bridge being constructed, although it would be a change of pace and exciting if I had that experience. My job was only limited to that aspect of my career so far. As far as design work, one of the reason I have not gotten involved is that my firm has not won alot of contracts for bridge design since I have been there and when we did win one, I was always needed out in the field. Lately, my office has not won a bridge inspection contract so I might get a chance to design.

Thanks you for your comment

K