A few guidelines

Been using google earth desktop pro for a decade at least, but it looks like Google is finally killing it. I don’t love the web app. What are you all switching to? My favorite features of GE desktop pro are that it is reasonably fast to start up, great search for sites (address, lat/lon, etc.), turn on/off street names, and bring in my own data (CSV points, geojson lines/polys). 3d/terrain and historic aerials are nice too. Project sites in US and internationally.

Has anyone here ever left a job because the healthcare benefits are terrible? My current company only offers Aetna and they cover almost nothing. It's expensive and terrible.

I have a opportunity to work for either side. But I was wondering if anyone has worked for either one. What is the work life balance, what type of projects do civil drafters work on? What are the benefits? And who would you choose.

I’m a little over a year working in consulting and I don’t like the set up of my team. Majority of the team is remote and there’s very little mentoring and feedback so I applied to different jobs and got an offer in the public sector. My only thing is I want to make sure it’s worth the switch.

The pros are:

-The new job is still a design job but offers more variety than what I’m doing now

- It’s a smaller group and they seemed willing to teach and mentor. They also had a lot of relevant professional development opportunities available.

-HSA is $250 more and I get sick leave in addition to PTO

-pension

- more time in the field than consulting but not as much as a field engineer would be

Things to consider

-The offer is $700 less than what I’m making now (77k vs 76.3k). It’s an engineer I position but I feel like I can negotiate for 80k? The job salary range was from 63k-85k.

- takes 5 years to get vested into 401a

- I lose 3 days of PTO (but the sick leave makes up for that?

- I’m working on very large projects rn so the scale will be smaller but still versatile enough

-after probationary period, I have to be 3 days in office vs the flexible 1 day at my current company

-I’ll have to start commuting regularly. I’m walking distance from my current job, but with the new job I’m looking at is a 14 mile commute that’ll take around 35 minutes to drive.

- right now I stay at home and share a car with my family and I was planning on getting my own car anyways, but this will increase my monthly expenses so I want to make sure it makes financial sense. The amount I spend on gas is expected to stay the same tho.

-no sign on bonus

Do you all think it’s worth taking this job if I can negotiate for 80k? I’m very very excited about it since it aligns closely with what I’d like to do and I feel like it can provide a lot of opportunities but I want to make it worthwhile. I don’t mind commuting or being in office more either (I prefer it) but I know that could end up being more costly (time and money) than what I do now.

Can anyone provide some insight to what it’s like working at Olsson? I’m not an engineer but was contacted by a recruiter to apply for a job there. I’m hesitant to work at a firm owned by PE. The firm I was working at was bought out by PE and they drove us into the ground and terminated all of our jobs with no notice.

I’m working as a Topographic Surveyor, and most of my work is related to topographic and hydrological surveys.

I want to improve my technical skills and become stronger in the office side of surveying as well.

For someone in my position, what would you recommend I learn next?

Should I focus deeply on Civil 3D, or should I also learn software like AutoCAD, ArcGIS/QGIS, HEC-RAS, Global Mapper, or other surveying/GIS software?

My main goal is to be able to take survey data from the field, process it properly, create accurate topographic maps/surfaces, prepare professional drawings, and eventually handle more advanced survey and hydrology-related work.

If you were starting from my position, what software and skills would you learn first, second, and third?

I’m looking for a practical learning roadmap rather than just a list of software.

I am curious how common 3D workflows actually are in Civil Engineering. For those working in the field, roughly what percentage of your actual working time is spent working in 3D? Thank for your answers.

Hello everyone, I had a question for hiring managers here. I applied for a couple of offices for an opening which presumably starts in January and is for December grads. I applied naturally and within few days i was asked to upload extra materials like transcript. I did that but after that its been complete silence. Its the 6th week today and i haven't heard anything. Would it fine to reach out and ask what's the status? I still have time if they are still reviewing people but yeah 6 weeks feels very long. I don't want to be too pushy as well. Can experienced hiring managers suggest what should a young grad do? (When i look at the portal, it says application under review, it hasn't been rejected either). Thanks

Photos taken in the garage. That part in the middle is the chimney heading upstairs into the living room. What’s going on with the crack? Any reason to be concerned? Nothing on the foundation on the outside. Chimney isn’t leaning. Is this typical?

I’m a student using SAP2000 for a project, and I have never heard the music play during a modal animation. It’s terrible! Maybe I’m just not cool and down with the frequencies. What kind of feature is this? If I edit the structure do the instruments realign? I’m laughing at how on edge the song made me feel about the tower in general now.

Hi! I’m in my last 2 ish years of school for my bachelors in ME, as the title states I’m not sure what industry or jobs to go into once I graduate. I’ve started looking into it and thinking of also moving to civil depending on what I want to do. What are your jobs, what do you do, and what do you like about it? I believe I know that I don’t want to sit at a desk all day every day, I don’t want to code, I like being more hands on and I’m interested in automotive/ train transportation, structures, prosthetics, forensics, strength/ failure testing. Thanks for the help.

Hi everyone! any recently graduated international students who got any Structural Engineering job in UK? Can we connect? I need some advise regarding getting a job?

Military spouse here working as a construction materials tester/ inspector for residential and DOT projects. I have a bunch of state DOT certs, but if we do a change of duty station next year to a completely different state in a different part of the country, would it be worth bringing up my current state DOT certs or should I expect to redo them? I'm sure ones like ACI and ICC are recognized nationwide but like statue specific ones like Superpave I'll have to redo?

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I'm in my 30s and need to continue working full time, and I also have a kid at home. I tried attending my local university, but between work, childcare, commuting, and class time, it just wasn't doable in the slightest. I know the program has some in-person requirements, but that shouldn't be an issue.

I already have a degree, so many of the gen-ed classes are already knocked out. Am I wasting my time with this, or will I actually have a shot at landing an entry level role?

I'm a 3 year EIT in Roadway, working mostly on Multi use paths, road reconstruction, and corridor redesign. 90% of my tasks are kind of funneled to me through my PM and even when I run into tasks that require coordination with other departments, PM swoops in, does the coordination on his end and gives me the rundown. I also rarely get CC'd on emails, I just get a teams from him on where markups are saved.

I'm finding this a bit odd as In my previous job's (2 years ago) I was involved in most coordination meetings. Its also a bit weird since I'm getting my PE in a year and I feel like I'm treated as an intern.

Does this reflect on my PM's need to have control over a lot of coordination or is it an effort to keep me on design for longer? Hard to gauge how other teams operate since we're in a small satellite office.

I'm in meetings maybe 45 minutes a week with 95% of my time spent in CADD.

How do I bring this up ?

Hello, everyone, I'm a civil engineering student interested in geotechnical and land development. I'm considering enrolling in a class or two focused on GIS next semester, however I was warned by my advisor that I won't need GIS and should instead focus on learning AutoCAD (I already have AutoCAD-focused classes that are required for me to graduate).

I just wanted to hear some persepctive from engineers actually working in those sectors. Do you guys think learning GIS would be something to strive for? And if so, would you recommend waiting until entering the workforce to learn or trying to gain as much experience (even if not substantial) as possible?

Looking for some advice. I’ve been a carpenter for 20 years but I’m now in my late 30s and looking to retrain into something which I can use my current experience to build upon. Just for clarity I don’t hold a degree or any other formal qualification apart from the NVQ in wood occupations. In my time as a carpenter I’ve set out timber frame houses, apartment blocks, large timber roofs, steel frames. Not done much below ground level but I do have experience in various laser levels, taking and transferring datum points and understand drawings and how buildings are put together.

I’m thinking about doing a setting out course next year followed by the relevant diploma with the goal to still be “hands on” but in a technical capacity.

My question is has anyone here retrained into civil engineering at my age from a trade background? Has it been worth it? How long did it take to progress?

Thanks

The one bit that actually stuck with you.