Hey friends, I recorded this episode over the Fourth of July weekend while I was horrified watching the devastation unfolding in Kerrville. Since then, I’ve learned that my alma mater was impacted, as one of my fellow Trinity Tigers, and the daughter of one of our football coaches passed in the floods.
My heart goes out to the people of Kerrville, and especially to my best friend, Emily Peter and her fiancé Dan Navarro who have been tirelessly working to help their community rebuild since the tragic flooding.
This episode is dedicated to my friends, the deceased, and their families.
Thank you to my top tier supporters, Jon Ott and Leroy Jenkins, this would not be possible without your support
Episode Description
Listen to this episode if you: are an early career engineer, are contemplating a career change, or just like engineering career stories.
This Week in LinkedIn Lunatics:
1. $20 an hour to work as a Civil Engineer? PE license preferred? Get out of here
2. Wow… (No Reply All, No Offer)
College Questions
1. Question for Engineers
I’m in the 11th grade and want to become a engineer, but don’t want to do physics 12 because I struggled this year. Is there any type of degree or something similar to engineering I can do that skips out on physics?
If I can’t skip out on it, I also want to know what the best type of engineering is to go into regardless of the work.
2. If my Phd isn’t funded is that bad?
I haven’t done my PhD btw, I’m still in my first bachelor’s. But I was just wondering.
3. Is it normal to hate all of your classes
Im a 2nd year engineering student after switching from being in a BSc in my first year. I’m in a mix of first and 2nd year courses and i’m in environmental engineering but haven’t taken any discipline specific courses. I was in class recently and realized that I hate pretty much all of classes and find them very boring. I have no passion for anything we’re learning despite me doing quite well in most of my classes. Is this normal? does it get better?
Internships
As a current undergrad intern, I recently attended a presentation by a PhD student who came to our company whose technical knowledge was far beyond mine. It made me wonder how technically proficient companies expect interns to be. I’m concerned I might be letting my managers down because my skills aren’t yet at that level.
Industry: Oil&Gas
2. Taking off a few days during internship?
Hey y’all! I’m going to be spending my summer (starting next week) working as an intern for a relatively large radio company. I’m really excited for my role, and I think the work will be super interesting. I plan on putting 110% effort into my work, but I’m a little worried about not being the perfect employee, as I’m looking for a return offer after this intership.
I wanted to go fly out and visit my boyfriend in another state a few times throughout the summer for the weekend. Do y’all think it would be unacceptable for an intern to take maybe 3 Fridays off (spaced out over 12 weeks, probably once a month) for the purpose of travel? I’m even a little worried to ask my boss for fear of being seen as bad/lazy or anything like that.
Thanks so much!
Career Questions
1. First two days on the job and I wanna quit (because of my sexist manager)
Hi, I am a recent graduate with my degree in mechanical engineering. This is my first job outta college and I started a construction job as a field engineer. The pay is fabulous but the hours are horrendous and I dislike my boss.
Today he took me and another new hire out for lunch, it was a nice Amish owned restaurant that serves lunch and canned goods. My boss would frequently comment about how the Amish women were uncleanly and gross, and he says he dislikes “ being served food by a woman with hairy legs.”
For reference I have worked in the oil fields and I am used to men making crass comments or jokes in poor taste. But I was hoping that this would be a job that would be a bit friendlier to me as a woman because before I interviewed I got a call from the HR at this company telling me that this is a good company to work at as a woman.
I know this would be something I should go to HR about but like…. I kinda just wanna quit and not look back. I’m living at home with my parents rn and I don’t have any huge financial obligations.
I’m looking for any wise words or clear path forward.
2. Wearing engagement ring to work?
I’m starting a new job on Monday and it’s in chemical manufacturing. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I was wondering if wearing my engagement ring would lead to judgement/not being taken seriously? I only say this because I’ve heard lots about married women having bias against them because they’re seen as unable to commit fully to work.
Also, I’m not sure just yet as to how much hands on work there’ll be and if wearing it would risk damage/loss. Has anyone had experience with this? I’m a chemical engineer for reference.
Anyone wish they were just a Drafter sometimes? I miss the time when I was drafting and work was straightforward and mindless – now, I have a lot more to do and spend a good amount of time telling drafters how things should be shown.
Is it just laziness or am I in the wrong career/position? I like the idea of logging out and enjoying my personal life, remote work, and minimal coordination, writing and meetings. Walking around as a mailman seems fun to me.
I am not sure how many drafters/designers there are on this sub, but curious about your hours, pay and input.
4. Do civil engineering contracts/billing rates not allow for ‘personalization’ of salaries?
I’ll try to be more clear than the title. From what I have seen at firms, engineers in a similar role at a firm are all generally paid the same, and there is not much room for personalization of a salary. For example, one project manager may be taking on a lot of responsibility and having a great impact on their project, while another project manager may be struggling to stay afloat. If these two project managers have the same YOE, certs, etc., they would be getting paid the same despite one having a larger impact. I am thinking, is this because there’s no justification for the client to pay a higher billing rate when on paper the company will sell these two engineers as the same? And so, the company will then say since billing rates are the same, the salary for the two engineers must be the same too.
Am I thinking about this wrong? Or is this not widespread and only exists at firms I’ve worked at? Thanks!
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Daniel is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Trinity University’s B.S. in Engineering Science and currently works in Commercial Management in the Engineering and Construction Consulting Industry. All views expressed on this podcast are his own and do not reflect the opinions or views of his employer. Music by Maxgotthetracks: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Pclog68AY
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