Where to now? 3

[HSNIC]

I am a Civil Engineer by general profession. I have a general bachelor's degree as well as a Master's degree. I have been out of work for 11 months as I was laid off January 19,2009. I am sure January 19,2010 will come along without anything on my plate.

I have more than 3.5 years mixed experience. I spent 2.5 years in site civil designing parking lots. I never really liked it so I went back to school and got the M.S.C.E. studying structures. I even left my job in 2006 to go full time to finish up by May 2007.

I was successful finding a job and began working for a firm designing underground structures, retaining walls, and the like. I spent most of my time working in the field. I took quite a bit of crap from some people at that firm. I may not be a Nobel Prize winning engineer, but I will spend the time to learn something and even cut some time off my timesheet. I had no problem with where my time went. Things fell hard and I was cut from their staff. I left against my will with 1 year 3 months experience in geotechnical Structural Engineering. I even asked if I can check with them later, and the HR man said "It does look it going to get better." I cannot believe they laid me off without giving me an option and then hired someone 2 months later.

I was able to qualify to take the P.E. exam this coming April. That's the only thing that is driving me right now. I do not think I will be able to find work in the near future. It seems like I will be in a strange predicament with only 2 years of Geo/Str work experience. I really can't stand site/civil work. I really liked geotechnical stuff. I enjoyed myself within it.

I am pretty lost right now.

 

[CRG]

HSNIC, why do you think it is morally wrong to terminate someone that does not fit-in at a private firm? No one owes you a job! In the same sense that an employer has the right to terminate you, an employee has the right to quit.

After reading your statement, “I wrote a letter to a company principal. I even included one of the idiot's calculations and how overly absurd they were… ” I would question your ability to work with others, especially those that you believe to be inferior to yourself. Moreover, your attempt to discredit one of the firm’s project managers on a public forum says much more about you than the firm you are trying to discredit.

 

[kepharda]

2 thoughts.

First consulting firms are notorious for cutting people the minute the market changes.

Second I hear the Geotechnical firms have the highest Insurance rates in the Engineering Consulting field. This means that their overhead leads them to cut people even sooner.

So I guess what I am saying is your situation sucks, but is not unique, learn from that last job, and go get another. But first take a couple of weeks to "get it out of your system".



this message has been approved for citizen to elect kepharda 2008

 

[HSNIC]

abusementpark,

The man was not my supervisor. He was a P.M. in the firm. I have a great relationship with my ex-supervisor until this day. he signed my P.E. endorsement and answers my every email. They even know he was incompetent. I was reinforcing the issue. I said nothing my whole time I was there.

CRG,

Question my ability? Go ahead and question it. My ability will answer you. I kept my mouth shut even though I saw something very wrong with the estimate. I was new and so was my experience level. Losing confidence in people and likening the workplace to an episode of Hill Street Blues is clearly not the way to go. The man had a decrepit personality. I designed a concrete slurry wall and instead of telling me the rows were too close, he went into a tirade. I could just imagine him when he was 5 yrs old on his birthday. He could have told me they were too close and go back to recompute the MathCad sheet.

I would never in my life make a big stink about someone's inferiority. I come from humble beginnings, myself. I have helped people at the firm with the simplest calculations and techniques, and yet I never go around telling people how incapable someone is.

I was not the only one who had run-ins. I talked to someone else about the P.M. This one fellow asked for a P.E. endorsement, and instead of declining to do the endorsement the P.M. checked-off the "No" box at the end and wrote a letter why the employee is not capable. If I was that same P.M., I would have told the kid to get the endorsement from another P.E. in the firm. He seemed to go out of his way to discredit the young man. Once something like that goes to the state, do you know how much red tape you have to go through to right the wrongs?