civil guy wondering what the future holds
civil guy wondering what the future holds
(OP)
I work in the materials side of civil engineering
My job is to teach materials classes to engineers and technicians, which I have grown to like very much. I teach 300-400 technicians and engineers materials courses each year.
I also am involved in materials meetings regarding establishing specifications and often deal with contractors that want to make changes to specifications or want to understand specifications better. In addition, I help write materials specifications and learn alot doing so.
Currently I am extremely happy with my job, and hope to retire from my current employee.
However, time does change things, and I often wonder if I have a change of heart years down the road, what options would I have with my desribed above experience???
I feel I lack design experience desipte having a MSCE and a PE. I would be scared to ever stamp anything, since my experience is limited in actual design. My PE stamp sits on my desk as a trophy and has not been used to stamp anything. My job does not require me to design or stamp anything. I am more of a manager/teacher/negotiator
I am pretty well rounded in materials...I can do concrete designs, asphalt designs, soil tests...However my experience with materials is totally textbook/laboratory in nature and is has not utilized on a practical...that is on an actual engineering project.
I am filled up with education, theories, equations, and lab experiments, but I realize the real design world is much different than theories. If I had to go look for a job at this point, I would feel like a rookie on an interview since I have never had any real life design experience.
My job is to teach materials classes to engineers and technicians, which I have grown to like very much. I teach 300-400 technicians and engineers materials courses each year.
I also am involved in materials meetings regarding establishing specifications and often deal with contractors that want to make changes to specifications or want to understand specifications better. In addition, I help write materials specifications and learn alot doing so.
Currently I am extremely happy with my job, and hope to retire from my current employee.
However, time does change things, and I often wonder if I have a change of heart years down the road, what options would I have with my desribed above experience???
I feel I lack design experience desipte having a MSCE and a PE. I would be scared to ever stamp anything, since my experience is limited in actual design. My PE stamp sits on my desk as a trophy and has not been used to stamp anything. My job does not require me to design or stamp anything. I am more of a manager/teacher/negotiator
I am pretty well rounded in materials...I can do concrete designs, asphalt designs, soil tests...However my experience with materials is totally textbook/laboratory in nature and is has not utilized on a practical...that is on an actual engineering project.
I am filled up with education, theories, equations, and lab experiments, but I realize the real design world is much different than theories. If I had to go look for a job at this point, I would feel like a rookie on an interview since I have never had any real life design experience.





RE: civil guy wondering what the future holds
RE: civil guy wondering what the future holds
So down the road, it's really easy for a designer to relocate, but I don't see any job listings for "Fabrication Engineer". (And the PE licensing process doesn't recognize such a concept either.)
My aim for when I finally decide to leave the public sector is along the lines of what plasgears suggests.
It's sort of reassuring to see someone else in a similar position to mine.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376
RE: civil guy wondering what the future holds
Certainly we don't want to have 20 years of experience but as the same one year 20 years over and over.
But isn't it natural that as we progress along in a particular field that we will get more and more specialized? An exception might be a "project manager"...but even that generalist would have the same problem when moving into a more specialized position like design work, etc.
RE: civil guy wondering what the future holds
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376