A few guidelines

Yes, I’m posting career advice on Reddit to tell you not to take career advice from Reddit.

Before the comments write themselves:

• “The company won’t love you back.” Correct. This isn’t about the company. It’s about the people you work with, who are the ones deciding who gets staffed, promoted, and kept.
• “Unpaid overtime is theft.” Not talking about working free weekends. I’m talking about how you show up in the hours you’re already there.
• “Job hopping is the only way to get a raise.” Early on, a move or two often is. Doing it every two years indefinitely is a different story.
• “Layoffs happen anyway.” They do. Ask yourself who gets cut first.
• “Must be nice, some of us have lives.” So do I. Most of this costs an hour here and there, not your evenings.

If your approach is “I owe them nothing, I log off at 5,” that’s a legitimate choice and this isn’t aimed at you.

It’s for younger engineers who want to lead big projects and move up, and keep hearing here that effort is for suckers.

The core of it: being a normal, smart, responsible person who’s good to work with is what wins work and keeps you employed. That’s it. Here’s what it looks like in practice.

You’re not employed by the team. You ARE the team. I don’t care much about the logo. I care about the work and the people I do it with. Checking out is fine if you’re comfortable being the low-utilization engineer nobody asks for. But you can’t be a reliable professional and refuse to help. When a deadline hits and someone’s underwater, the people who pitch in are the ones everyone wants on the next job.

Technical skills are the floor, not the ceiling. Past a certain level, everyone can run the analysis and produce clean plans. A PE says you meet the bar, not that you should lead the job. Plenty of strong engineers stall because they never step back to see the whole project.

Not all civil jobs are the same. Firms, roles, and pay vary enormously. The best positions go to people with a track record, and a resume full of two-year stints reads as someone who leaves before anything gets built. Value yourself, but know you can price yourself out of the tier you actually want.

Show up to the stuff that isn’t work. Get beers after work. Go to the company baseball outing and bring your partner. It’s optional, but it’s where people stop being names on a staffing plan. If an hour here and there feels like too much to trade for job security and peace of mind when layoffs come around, I don’t know what to tell you.

Raise your hand for the small stuff. Take notes at the kickoff, pull the agenda together, cover a site visit. Almost no effort, and it makes you the person people think of first.

Be in the room. Hybrid is great, but when you’re the only junior or mid-level person at a BD meeting, people notice. That’s where you learn how work gets won, and how your name comes up for the next pursuit.

Look at who’s giving the advice around here. A lot of it comes from new EITs and career technical specialists, which is a fine path, but maybe not yours. You don’t have to give your life to a company. You just have to be someone people want on their project.

And if this made you want to write three paragraphs defending r/antiwork in the comments, you’re who I’m talking about.

the side of the highway i should specify

Kind of a dumb question but I am genuinely curious…

Most companies have people that they’ve terminated due to poor performance. My question is what happens to those people after they left the job. I know that they can go get another lateral job, but if they have the same performance at the new company, won’t it just happen again? Do they eventually clean up their act and improve their performance? Do they leave the industry? Or do they settle in at a company that accepts their performance?

I've often wondered why road construction and underground utility works are still planned so separately in many developing cities.

A road gets resurfaced. Not long afterward, another section is opened for water pipes, drainage, power cables, or telecom infrastructure.

Each project may have its own budget, contractor, and completion schedule. But for the public, it means repeated disruption, additional costs, and another damaged road surface.

I work primarily on public infrastructure development and project financing rather than engineering design, so I'm particularly interested in how this is handled in practice.

Is the main obstacle usually inaccurate utility records, poor coordination between agencies, different funding schedules, or something else?

For engineers and project managers who have worked on urban road projects, what has actually helped prevent this problem?

I'd be interested in examples of coordination arrangements that worked, especially where several public agencies or utility companies were involved.

Y’all ever have the foreman perform a ceremonial ritual atop a manhole cover to the road gods before?

Want to know your thoughts.

I guess Im kind of just making this post because I wanted to get it out somewhere where people could maybe relate.

Im a pretty brand new EIT engineer, at 1 year in at my first civil engineering job out of college. Land development consulting, private sector, mid-sized company in IL.

I battle a lot with anxiety (and maybe ADHD or depression, i am not diagnosed but I have my suspicions), and its gotten particularly worse since I graduated college and entered the workforce.

I am struggling a LOT with this career so far, largely because as an anxious person Im finding myself freaked out all the time at work. My team culture is pretty nose to the grindstone—everyone is very serious and stressed, and works some unpaid overtime almost every week. I get a large variety of work but its often without explicit training, most of the time it’s “hey do this thing youve never done before” and my PM is very perfectionist and critical so it feels like Im essentially always doing poorly. I feel out of place and unexcited at work on a good day, totally burnt out and upset on a bad one.

The lack of positive feedback or training, my team’s high standards, and the fact people have been randomly getting laid off / moved ever since we got acquired awhile back all sums up to a daily fear and anxiety from the moment I wake up every morning until I leave the office every weekday. I find myself physically shaking or hyperventilating a lot, on the verge of tears, having trouble focusing, all things that make it difficult to succeed in an engineering workplace.

I really wanted to start off my career on the right foot, but as it stands right now, Im not sure if this is at all for me. What ive read online seems like my concerns are all largely just “part of the industry”, and I could pivot to public sector but as of late there have been nearly zero openings anywhere close by to the downtown Chicago area.

In short, my first civil engineering job out of college has been really rough for me, and I wish I was better equipped to handle the pressure I feel each day. It feels like this career could eat me alive, which sounds dramatic but it certainly feels like it every day. Any advice or similar stories would be appreciated.

Anybody have experience with Langan?

I’m prepping to interview for a fairly senior role. I know they were acquired by a PE firm a few years back, which seems to be happening everywhere and I’m not sure what kind of impact that has had.

Curious what peoples experience has been with Langan over the last couple years. This would be on the Civil side. It’s always hard to get an honest take from C-suite level, because they’re so often removed from the day to day culture and hassles everyone below c-suite faces. Appreciate any insight!

I'm a final-year Civil Engineering student. I have a few questions:

- What do most Civil Engineering graduates do after completing their BSc? Do they join private companies, work in corporate roles, join government jobs, or switch careers entirely (e.g., bank jobs)?

- Are people pursuing an MBA or MSc after graduation? If so, which one is more beneficial for career growth?

- What career options are available for Civil Engineers who prefer office-based or corporate jobs rather than typical site engineering jobs?

Bossman asked copilot to write a NFPA 241 plan since he told someone else we could do them. Hands me the slop, tells me to put it in the company format and send it back to him for review.

He called me after receiving the plan very excited to tell me copilot reviewed our plan and rated it an 8.5/10! It only had two edits for me to make. Then he made sure to let me know again that we got an 8.5/10 and only needed to make two tiny additions.

I cannot imagine being a client and paying $150-250 an hour for someone to copy, paste, and format AI

Making a balsa wood bridge for class and was calculating the best way to do it. These are the two I came up with. We have 20 1/8' by 1/8 sticks and two 1/8' by 1/4 sticks which must be used on the bottom. We only get one attempt too. It has to be 2d and two of them will be put together with cross members. Which looks better? Design a is 33% lighter than B but I haven't seen any trusses like that.

The balsa wood strength is about 100lb of tension force for 1/4 x 1/8in and 53 for 1/8 by 1/8. The compression is 35lb for a 2in gap for the 1/8 by 1/8. Since we have a bit of extra 1/4 x 1/8 we are going to put that in the top middle.

Hey y'all. Three months ago, I posted this (No work at internship pt. 1) about not having any work at my internship in the public sector. 3 months have passed, and I'm somehow doing less work. I was told my internship would end around March, and I have the opportunity to take an internship at a regional transit agency that would last until May. Would leaving early (with proper notice) hurt my future employability? Do you think my experience would be any different?

My health insurance premiums have gone up by 30% each year for the past two years, and my monthly take-home pay keeps dropping. I work in the NJ public sector—the health coverage is honestly great, but it’s just way too expensive. What do you guys think I should do? Next year, I'm going to be paying $1,600 a month in premiums for a family.

What should be the expected salary for a land development HnH engineer with a PhD and 6 years of experience. Currently located in TX and open to relocation. Please share if you are aware of open positions particularly in public sector. Thank you 🙏

I'm a civil engineer working in power delivery as a transmission line engineer. About 3 years of experience, just got my PE. Current role is with a consulting firm doing transmission line design (PLS-CADD/Tower work, structure loading, line routing, that kind of thing).

I love the work but I've got the travel bug bad, and I'm trying to figure out if there's any realistic way to combine the two. The obvious problem: utilities are conservative, a lot of client data is sensitive, and most firms seem to want you within driving distance of the territory you serve.

So for anyone in transmission/distribution who's pulled this off:

• Are there firms (or contract/1099 setups) that are genuinely fully remote for experienced transmission engineers, where "remote" doesn't quietly mean "remote within our service territory"?
• Does the PE + a few more years of experience change the leverage here, or is this industry just structurally tied to location?
• Anyone doing the digital nomad thing (or even just slow-traveling domestically) while working utility consulting? How do you handle site visits, client meetings, and time zones?
• Is contract work the only real path, and if so, how steady is it?
• Are there other options I should be looking into since I am young and just got my PE?

Thanks!

Considering moving my family to a different state. I currently work for my state DOT and see a position I qualify for with a private company, specifically Consor.

Having been in the public sector my whole career, I am worried about the volatility in the private side. Although I have confidence in my ability, I’m afraid of getting laid off after moving states. Anyone have advice or thoughts?

I have my PE and the state I am looking into has reciprocity. I am currently in a managerial role, with 8+ years of experience.

Hello! I am an LSU student starting our 3d printing team up, I was wondering if there were any online boards or places for student discussion on it. I'm used to larger competitions like FRC which had chief delphi, but I can't seem to find anything similar for ASCE, let alone 3dpc. What's the best bet for community discussion? I just hope I don't have to start the team largely blind.

I’m not even at the year mark and I feel like there’s a lot I can improve. I try my best and receive positive feedback thus far with the occasional “work to be better”. I’ve noticed I go over budget on projects and I’m worried about charging too much to Overhead when things are a little light. Any advice? (1st year EIT fresh out of college)

Would anyone currently working at OHM Advisors be willing to answer some questions? Feel free to DM or drop a comment and I’ll reach out. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I’m a Mechanical Engineering student graduating next year in Alberta. I was recently offered a full-time Geotechnical EIT position with a company I previously interned with and they really liked my work and want to bring me back full-time after I graduate.

My main concern is that I have virtually zero formal education or coursework in geotechnical engineering.
Down the line when I apply for my professional designation, does APEGA (or EGBC, if I ever move) require formal university education in the specific discipline you practice in or is gaining relevant work experience under a P.Eng enough regardless of your degree discipline?

Thanks!