A few guidelines

I feel stupid every day I walk into the office 😭 It’s been a few months, and I’m STILL making the most simple mistakes known to mankind. My PM will ask me to do one thing, and somehow I’ll end up doing an entirely different thing 💀 Like bro, how did we even get here??

On the bright side, I can actually see myself improving every day. I’m slowly starting to understand what the heck is going on in the office, and things are finally starting to click. So there’s definitely progress being made… just at the cost of my sanity and whatever brain cells I have left. Thoughts?

Happened about three weeks ago but o thought some other people would find it interesting. They are replacing the bridge with two other bridges and will hopefully be done in 2028

I'm a relatively new civil engineer working in land development in South Florida.

The problem is that I feel like I'm not really learning much engineering. About 90% of my time is spent on CAD doing whatever tasks I'm assigned, with little to no guidance.

Nobody has really sat down and taught me how to design anything. Most of the time, I have to look through previous projects to figure out how something was done and try to apply it to my current task. Whenever coworkers have some free time, I'll ask questions, but everyone's usually busy.

I want to actually understand how to design things like roads, grading, drainage, water, sewer, utilities, etc. Not just copy what was done on another project without fully understanding why.

I'm also struggling with knowing where to find and how to apply the different design standards and requirements.

For those of you who started out in land development, how did you actually learn? Any advice, resources, courses, or anything that helped you become a better engineer?

I really want to improve, but right now I just feel like a CAD monkey.

Wife is an east coaster in physio and cant speak french, we are currently in NCR. My background is municipal engineering (road, sewers) and geotechnical (MEng, pending PEng requirements and nppe are met, application submitted and under review).

We did a road trip to scout the other provinces to see if we liked the cities, and mainly, we absolutely loved cornerbrook NL, loved St Johns NL, enjoyed Yellowknife, and anywhere in NS that has work that isn't halifax (valley, north shore, cape breton etc.). I personally have done projects in MB, Sask, Alberta for context. - for me I liked calgary but wife doesn't want to move to alberta.

So I guess my question is..... what kind of jobs are out there, and whats the compensation range?? -- Mainly, we don't like city life like Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg at all but aren't country people, and... we don't want to be living in a townhouse at the same price a normal house would cost in the maritimes and just not ncr/gta.

Any advice for in demand industries, companies, and fields? I feel geotch + municipal infra will always be there, but I never got exposure to the oil and gas field aside from a few drill pad designs I've done, but never was the one to connect with the client.

Basically title, I’m interviewing at a few places (public and private), and I was wondering if anyone has any ways to get an accurate tell of work life balance?

I know I can ask explicitly, and I have, but sometimes they’ll just say “sure!” And move on, which doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy

Long story short, I’ve seen multiple people being promoted over me and honestly it’s very disheartening because I ask for feedback and get told that I’m doing well.

When I bring this up to my manager, I get told that I make more than them anyways but at this point there’s no way.

Been at the firm for 6 years and only gotten promoted once. Didn’t even get anything for my PE last year.

Yet other managers are promoting their guys like 3 times already. I always get told “the xyz team promotes slower than others”

Or “what we do is harder than what they do”

I’m in CA, PE, huge city, and am at 94k.

I see people doing cad work, redlines, or easy tasks and getting promoted, yet I’m working on a renown project that people who don’t even know civil engineering know if it.

I work and put in about 50-60 hours a week with 10 of those hours just dedicated to get ahead and I end up getting work done that senior engineers tell me
“Wow that’s fast” but the reality is in my head I’m always thinking I’m a POS and haven’t done anything.

I like my team, like my boss/manager and have so much respect for everyone but starting to have doubts of if they even like me?

At this point I don’t know what to do. I got my PE, I ask for feedback and extra work and get good results, I am always present in the office even when everyone works from home. I’m always willing to work weekends if a deadline is coming. Like what more can I do?

What would you recommend me studying, I'm done with most of my core classes (Getting general studies AA at a community College) so I don't have to focus on those. My mom is an accountant and dad is a pilot, so pretty much all of these classes are out of what anyone in my family knows. My grandfather did work in construction, but he hasn't worked since the 90s due to an injury. I am confident since I'm a fast learner and my background is in network engineering (nowhere near as difficult).

I'm a civil engineer with around 10 years of experience, primarily in site execution and construction management, working for a large general contractor in my country. I'm not American but I graduated in Civil Engineering from the United States, and while I've learned a lot throughout my career, I'm honestly starting to feel burned out by the lifestyle that comes with site work.

Working six days a week, spending hours driving to and from projects, and regularly putting in 55–60 hours a week has become exhausting. I understand that construction is demanding, but I'm starting to question whether this is sustainable long-term.

My spouse is Canadian, so moving to Canada or potentially the US is something I've been considering. I'd really appreciate hearing from civil engineers working in either country about what the industry is actually like.

I'm not necessarily looking to leave construction altogether. I enjoy the industry and the experience I've gained, but I'd like to find a career path that offers a better balance without throwing away the experience I've built over the past decade. keep in mind, I havent done design at all and I do have some experience in contracts. Maybe go into planning? I dunno

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who've made a similar transition from site execution into an office-based or hybrid role, and whether you feel it was worth it.

I wanted to open up a discussion regarding mentorship and management in our field. For the Tech Leads, PMs, and seniors here, what has your experience been lately when coaching newer or junior staff?

Specifically, how do you navigate communication gaps when a junior engineer struggles with alignment, frequently pushes back on established workflows, or resists senior guidance?

Every generation has its own learning curve, but I'm curious about how people are successfully managing these dynamics today.

Hello, I’d like to know what level of math I should prepared to study or at least know in order to thrive in my Civil Engineering course. I watched a YT video where it was said that most math I’d have to do was up to Calc 3. I didn’t enjoy math much in High-school but worked hard at it as it was my weak point but it’s been a few years and I’m not remotely confident that I remember most of it without revising and relearning a lot of HS math. I don’t mind doing this as I’m planning to start in a year or so, thus I’d appreciate any advice with regard to this and at what point I’d be good with beginning studies.

Families of dairy workers killed in Keenesburg farm accident file lawsuit in Weld County

Encountered this story in a confined space training. Reading further details just makes it more appalling. Any technical review of this situation shows pure negligence. It also seems like an explosion within what should have been a classified area with explosion-proof equipment may have led to the pipe burst, on top of the lack of pipe restraint.

I'm perplexed by this defendant's claim from another article:

"The defendants dispute that the bracing of pipes with ratchet straps is inadequate to support the pipes. According to the filing, the defendants admit that ratchet straps were being used, but “deny that ratchet straps can properly be used only as tie-downs and state that they also can be used to, among other things, hold multi-segmented structures in place while adhesives dry.”

Dairy responds to lawsuit, says it was not responsible for accident that killed six workers

Hope the families will receive appropriate restitution and be supported after this preventable tragedy.

I’m a newly licensed civil engineer in the Philippines with no work experience. I’m currently applying for estimator jobs on OnlineJobs.ph and taking software certification courses.

My goal is to work in Canada or another high-paying country. What certifications, exams, or licenses should I pursue? Would it be better to gain experience in the Philippines first before moving abroad?

I’d appreciate advice from engineers who have been in a similar situation!

Experience : Around 3 years
Certifications: EIT, CFM, passed PE (soon to be licensed)
Education: Masters
Looking for drainage/ flood modeling work primarily in NJ/NYC area.

Always get rejected from big companies like Jacobs, HDR, GFT, WSP.

I recently realized I want to be a humanitarian aid worker (disaster response, clean water, rebuilding). I can’t decide between civil and environmental engineering. Which one is more useful for NGO and aid work?

Also, I’ve never been good at school and only just found my motivation. I’m scared engineering will be too hard. Has anyone succeeded in engineering after struggling academically? Any tips?

Thanks!

I wasn't sure what flair to use in this case but figured education was more for university education questions and topics.

I'm an engineer and state regulator of drinking water utilities. Something our unit has been struggling with lately are how to handle water main break situations and how to determine if there were pressure drops in the system that would necessitate a need for a boil water advisory.

When a water utility experiences a water main break, they have to determine if the break resulted in customers experiencing a pressure drop below 20psi or a complete loss of water service. The utilities have to notify the state of any situation where an incident happens that may lessen the quality of quantity of water provided. That's where we step to ensure the systems are following the steps to protect public health.

For example, a medium sized (between 10,000 and 50,000 customers) community water system experiences a 12-inch transmission main break in their system. That is a larger sized main that could disrupt the distribution system through an immediate change in water flow patterns and cause pressure changes in particular areas most affected by the break. You know the main break will disrupt your system, but how do you determine if it was enough of a disruption to issue an advisory?

Questions we ask the utilities are:

1. What were you storage tank levels before and during the break?

2. Do you have any continuous pressure readings in the distribution system?

3. Did you receive customer complaints of no water or lower than normal pressure?

4. Does your distribution system have multiple pressure gradients?

5. Where is your treatment plant, storage tanks, and pump stations located in relation to the main break?

Some utilities have hydraulic models of their entire distribution and/or pressure monitoring stations. In these situations, you have a much better idea of how the main break affected the system and can more easily make a decision. The problem is, and what we struggle with, is what if these systems don't have this information?

Hydraulics are complicated, so if the system cannot provide enough evidence to us there is a lack of confidence in the decision making process so the recommendation is to be conservative and issue a boil water advisory.

We may have engineers, but we aren't operators. We also don't have access to hydraulic modeling software like Bentley WaterGEMS (but may be something we could get if we can justify a license). Our goal is to not only be able to provide guidance and technical assistance to utilities, but to better understand the physics and engineering behind a water utilities' distribution system.

Specifically, I'm working with a 12-inch diameter concrete cylinder and a 2-7/8" OD and 2-3/8 ID pipe.

Under an applied pressure of 10,000 psi (or 10 ksi), the cylinder looks to be subjected to over 4,000 kips, which sounds insane to me. Compared to the pipe, multiplying that pressure by the actual area of the wall thickness, gives me only 20 kips.

Am I looking at the problem wrong? Miscalculating something? I know intuitively (and from experience) that the concrete will shatter long before the pipe buckles, but... the math isn't making sense to me. Help!

EDIT: I should mention, I am applying the pressure axially in both instances.

Something that ticks me off about my company is how the project managers review last minute and I have to work very long hours and very fast to make deadlines. There are periods where either I’m light or I have to make a deadline very quickly. Is it like this everywhere, do I just need to get more resilience? I also work for the public sector by the way.

Hey every one
I have recently joined civil engineering in BMS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Banglore India hoping that i can do civil services after.

But seeing the recent competition in upsc and civil services field Im scared.

The max package we get is 7lpa which is way lower compared to other branches.
So i want to get high package or to be successful early cuz i come from middle class family and want to be independent as soon as possible.
Can u guys give some advice on what all to be done and learnt so that it would be helpful for me.🙂

Also is doing masters worth it ( intrest in environmental engg)

Also i have heard that dubai/ other foreign countries has good scope for civil engg. If its true how to get in there.

Pls do help out your brother.❤️❤️

I’m starting a new job while also planning to prepare for my PE exam. Is taking on both at the same time a bad idea?

I’m married, and I’m moving to another city for this job, which means I’ll be living alone for the first time after being together with my husband for eight years. I know the transition might be emotionally challenging, and I’m wondering whether I’ll struggle with the adjustment or whether living alone might actually give me more time and space to focus on studying, establish myself in my new role, and build trust with my new team.

Am I taking on too much at once, or could this be a good opportunity to grow both professionally and personally?

I’m a civil engineering student, and honestly, I’m so tired of this internship search process. I want an internship so badly, and this week has completely drained me.

Two days ago, I interviewed with PC Construction for a Project Engineering position. Honestly, I thought the interview went really well! The woman interviewing me seemed to like me, and I felt good about how everything went. She told me she would meet with the hiring managers yesterday and get back to me on Friday. She also said that if I didn’t hear from her by Friday, I could email her on Monday to ask for an update.

I have not yet received an email from her and I’m getting nervous.

Now, I had another interview scheduled for today with a different company, but unfortunately, I missed it. I’ve been exhausted this entire week, and I had to wake up really early this morning. I was so tired that I ended up missing the interview. I emailed the interviewer to explain and ask if there was any possibility of rescheduling.

I’m really hoping they’ll give me another chance, but I’m worried that missing the interview ruined my chances with that company.

As for the first company, I’m trying not to overthink things, but I’m nervous about whether they actually want me for the position. Even though the interview seemed to go well, I know nothing is guaranteed until I receive an offer.

I’m just so burnt out. I’ve been trying so hard to land an internship, and I want one so badly that the entire process is starting to take a toll on me mentally.

I’ve just put in my resignation notice to leave a small structural firm that I started working at, about three months ago. Short backstory, I have a bachelors degree in civil engineering from an African college, moved to the USA and got a masters in transportation engineering. I had been searching for transportation engineering positions with zero success. Then I tried structural and a firm hired me. I was placed on probation until I pass my exams and I don’t see how that will happen with my work schedule and a family that equally needs me. I am a married mom of very young kids.

I told my boss I was leaving. But now I don’t know if that was a wrong move? My plan is to spend the next two months studying for my FE which I have already failed twice. And then try re applying and this time find a position with flexible schedule /transportation engineering.

We had a team activity today and I felt bad that I would be leaving my coworkers. We have so much work to do. I feel like I’m leaving them in a lurch