Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
(OP)
I know in many professions, such as Accounting, Finance, or Marketing, there are the "Big Firms" that pretty much hire the best of the best (Deloitte & Touche, Accenture, Proctor & Gamble, etc...). Many of those jobs are considered prestigious by their peers, and slouches typically need not apply.
My question is, are there any equivalently "prestigious" engineering jobs out there? In other words, if you run into a guy at a conference and he works for XXXXX, do you say to yourself, "that guy is probably pretty sharp if he works for them."?
Curious to hear some insight on firm reputations. Thanks!
My question is, are there any equivalently "prestigious" engineering jobs out there? In other words, if you run into a guy at a conference and he works for XXXXX, do you say to yourself, "that guy is probably pretty sharp if he works for them."?
Curious to hear some insight on firm reputations. Thanks!





RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
I've seen many sharp engineers from small consulting firms and many not-so-sharp ones from large firms. At least in the structural arena, in my opinion, people will not generally assume someone is sharp because he/she belongs to a so-called prestigious firm.
Other engineering disciplines may be different...
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
The same can be said of accountancy companies and others. Surely the issues at Arthur Anderson, Enron, Tyco, Lloyds etc are still fresh in our minds.
Larger companies generally have invested in systems and procedures and the work is routine rather than innovative. That's not to say that the engineering isnt first class.
The larger oil companies have a reputation of employing good people in that they pay well and thus have a competitive edge as to who they select. But even they tend to go for the good quality steady person rather than the entrepreneur. These companies have set procedures that do not allow people to fail.
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
There is no correlation. All firms large and small have competent and incompetent people in design, field and administration. It is very hard for those who excel to single out their accomplishments, because the whole design team gets credit (or blame) for a resulting project.
The competent tend to move around a lot, due to the fact that they can keep commanding better compensation than their current bosses want to give. It is very common for the best to not only leave a company for better compensation package, but to then return to the former company; because the former company will now give that person the compensation they had previously refused to provide, once that competent person demonstrates he or she can command it elsewhere.
Finally, many of the most competent tend to start their own firms, which the larger companies then buy out, further blurring the lines of where the best people work. I have a surveyor friend who left a company, started his own firm, then sold it back to his former boss. That is not unheard of.
Remember: The Chinese ideogram for “crisis” is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
-Steve
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
By best firms to work for, I mean the following:
1) competent staff (overall)
2) well established set of company standards
3) main boss typically is the founder
4) room to grow professionally
5) have opportunity to learn new things
Firms where the founder has either retired or sold to the best of his disciples have a tendency to go down in quality, although there are exceptions.
Someone making the dream salary is not necessarily the smartest.
Highly technical staff who put down their managers or marketing people are usually right but often they ignore the skills that their managers have that they don't. Some managers have "it" but many don't. Maybe they just got lucky...
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
Who does he consult to determine the true value?
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms
RE: Hot-Shot Civil Engineering Firms