Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
(OP)
I have a BS in Civil Engineering from a very good school; however, upon graduation I went to work as a laborer for the same heavy/highway contractor that I had worked for during summer vacations throughout college. They had picked up a lot of work at the time, including a large bridge project that I wanted to be a part of, and as of this coming May it will be my sixth year working heavy construction full time.
It's gone by rather quickly, and what keeps me going is that I continue to learn. Every new project I'm always learning something new and interesting; gaining more experience and knowledge that for some reason seems valuable to me, even though I don't want to this for a living. So I find myself not wanting to leave for fear that I might miss something, but I know that at 28 years old, if I want to have a professional career I need to make a move now.
Worthy of note, is that even though I have been working as a laborer, I have kept up on my education and continued to educate myself in civil and structural engineering using old textbooks, new textbooks, handbooks, manuals, magazines, papers, engineering journals, and webinars; you name it, I've used it to do my best to stay on top of things. With that said, I took and passed the the FE/EIT exam in October, and am now a certified EIT. I would love to start a career as a civil engineer and get on the design end of things. I'm certainly capable, and to have an opportunity to learn from a good mentor and work towards becoming a licensed PE would really be something.
My question is: How do I take experience working as a laborer and make it sound attractive to a potential employer? I mean, I've built bridges, rehabilitated bridges, demolished bridges, rehabilitated dams, built deep foundations, built roads, etc. But never have I used structural analysis software, had an office internship, or shadowed an engineering professional; all experiences that 22 and 23 year old kids applying for the same entry level positions have done. Somehow, I have to differentiate myself from recent grads enough to get an interview. Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can do that effectively? What do owners or hiring personnel of civil engineering firms want to see that someone with experience as a laborer can leverage? I appreciate any and all advice or suggestions. Thanks.
It's gone by rather quickly, and what keeps me going is that I continue to learn. Every new project I'm always learning something new and interesting; gaining more experience and knowledge that for some reason seems valuable to me, even though I don't want to this for a living. So I find myself not wanting to leave for fear that I might miss something, but I know that at 28 years old, if I want to have a professional career I need to make a move now.
Worthy of note, is that even though I have been working as a laborer, I have kept up on my education and continued to educate myself in civil and structural engineering using old textbooks, new textbooks, handbooks, manuals, magazines, papers, engineering journals, and webinars; you name it, I've used it to do my best to stay on top of things. With that said, I took and passed the the FE/EIT exam in October, and am now a certified EIT. I would love to start a career as a civil engineer and get on the design end of things. I'm certainly capable, and to have an opportunity to learn from a good mentor and work towards becoming a licensed PE would really be something.
My question is: How do I take experience working as a laborer and make it sound attractive to a potential employer? I mean, I've built bridges, rehabilitated bridges, demolished bridges, rehabilitated dams, built deep foundations, built roads, etc. But never have I used structural analysis software, had an office internship, or shadowed an engineering professional; all experiences that 22 and 23 year old kids applying for the same entry level positions have done. Somehow, I have to differentiate myself from recent grads enough to get an interview. Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can do that effectively? What do owners or hiring personnel of civil engineering firms want to see that someone with experience as a laborer can leverage? I appreciate any and all advice or suggestions. Thanks.





RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Have you considered moving up through the ranks in the company you now work for?
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Barb84...your experience is invaluable. Being the you have an engineering degree, I'm sure you got were able to see a lot more than a typical laborer would see....you looked for the "why" not just the "how". You worked for a large civil contractor. I see two things. One, you were part of a construction team, so you don't have to simply bill yourself as a laborer. You worked there before you graduated and found the work to being of continued interest and thus, stayed to gain more "ground floor" experience. Now you're ready to move on. Two, as berkshire noted, you might have an opportunity to move up within the ranks of your company; however, you need to find an engineering mentor within if you want to pursue professional licensing, which apparently you do. Otherwise, proudly display your practical experience and get an entry job into a design firm. They'll be pleased to get your experience, particularly a bridge design firm!
Good luck.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
As a young boy in my formative years, growing up in a rural lower middle-class or even "poor" area, I never had much exposure to what engineering was or how to achieve the knowledge & skills. One day our world-travelling family doctor brought a visitor to visit one day. He was a Civil Engineer from Switzerland. From the perspective of my rural environment, he might as well have been from Pluto. He told me about how part of his training was actually doing the manual labor work. This experience provided much-needed context to the theoretical studies and allowed him to travel the world on construction jobs. I always thought that was a very practical approach to learning the art of Engineering.
I pretty much pursued that method myself, getting down & dirty, crawling around machinery twisting wires, turning wrenches, punching keys, and making things work in the middle of the night. The experience has served me well. But sometimes it backfired: some of my employers kept me held back as what I considered a "supertech" and would not promote me because I was so effective. So it can be a double-edged sword unless you learn how to promote yourself to your management. Your company SHOULD recognize this and move you up as a wonderfully experienced graduate of technical studies. Be ready to move on if they don't.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
With that said, I agree with Ron, you got a lot of practical and invaluable experience. If you were involved with bridges and you enjoy that work, there is a whole career in project engineering on the construction side of the business. You could start our on the site as a field engineer and work with the engineer as his go-between with the construction office, and then you can work your way up from there. There are construction companies I see hiring entry level BS Civil graduates for this type of work.
If there is one thing I could change about my education I would have gotten summer jobs doing something more practical like you did.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
With that said, there are some things that only I do in the company. I'm the only one that knows anything about CPM scheduling AT ALL. So any cost loaded scheduling that needs to be done using Primavera P6 software, I take care of that. Any surveying that needs to be done using the GPS, I handle that. If there are any breaks or issues with a model that a surveyor had prepared, I'm the one that gets on the phone and talks with him to troubleshoot and fix the problem. After an issue we had in 2011, I'm the only guy allowed to run any structural lifting operations. I'm the only guy that isn't afraid to set up our new bridge deck finisher. I'm always designated as the signalman when working with a crane on whatever job I happen to be on (which is more difficult and carries a lot more responsibility than people think). I take care of any and all layout and/or quantity measurements that that exceeds the superintendents math capabilities. I typically take care of any critical layout on whatever job I'm on as well. I actually watched the owner of the company chew out one of our superintendents when he wanted to hire a surveyor to do some easy construction layout for him. The superintendent said "I just don't understand, why not have a surveyor lay these points out?" The owner pointed at me and said "I want him running that total station and doing the layout on this job!" "He has the background to do it, we don't need a surveyor out here! Have him do it." In the winter, I'll do takeoffs for jobs they're bidding, and I'll put numbers together using HeavyBid. During January of 2012, we had a superintendent walk off a small dam job (making us look awful in front of a client) and the PM selected me to finish it. That following spring, we had 2 small bridge rehab projects (within a few miles of each other) in the inner city that this same guy was supposed to run. I was chosen to run them after he left and I ran $600,000 worth of work in 3 months. However, after that I went over on a good size bridge job we had just started, working under our best superintendent, and I was back setting up traffic, setting jersey barriers, cutting guide rail, etc. But once it came time to start getting the staging and scaffolding set up to lift and shore the bridge, I all of the sudden was back in charge had a bunch of responsibility again. Following that, I'm back with a rivet buster busting out pedestals. So my role both on the job and in the company changes and it depends on what we're doing and what the company's needs are at the time. Its hard to describe to people, especially in an online forum. So no oldestguy, I'm not a "grunt" that "takes orders" and never asks questions, but when I'm not in charge, I do take direction from superiors and only ask questions when what they're saying doesn't make sense or I think I have a better approach to something. I'm not the type of guy that creates problems where the aren't any.
At the Christmas party, I was talking to the owner and he told me he'd like me to run a small, but complicated culvert project in the spring. I also shared with him that I passed the FE exam, and am now a certified EIT. He was so happy he almost started crying. I told him I'd like to move on to the design end of things and start working towards a PE, but that if I can't land a job with an engineering firm by March, I'd be happy and thrilled to run this project for him. He has a high regard for engineers, and says that if he had to do it all over again he would be an engineer. He's almost 70, and he hates the way the construction industry is now, and that he tells young people to stay out of it. He would like to see me practicing engineering, he thinks I would make a good one.
Oldestguy, I'm a member of the ASCE, but I have not taken advantage of any networking services they offer so I will definitely look into that. I am also a member of the ACI.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
I'd prepare for a pay cut if you are doing all the things you say you are doing as a worker. As an entry level engineer you'll probably be making less than you are doing what you are doing-and you will be very likely coming into a salary type position where overtime may or may not be compensated. If the money is a big issue, be sure to figure out your finances first. Many will say you need to do what you love, which I agree with 100% but make sure you can make the jump to a lower wage before you actually do it. And who knows, maybe a construction company, major contractor, etc. will hire you as an engineer above entry level because of your pracitcal expierience.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Another advantage you display is a good grasp of the language and being able to communicate effectively. And when looking forget the word "laborer". I'd use something like "trouble shooter engineer supervisor". Gosh I have done jobs like digging test pits and even sweeping floors, but that showed ambition.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Ditto to Oldest guy.
You have a ton of great hands on experience that sounds a lot like being a project engineer or project manager or whatever fancier title you want that is nothing like general labor (even if you do some of that). You have way more experience then 99% of other recent grads that is very applicable. If you like project managing bridge and civil projects, why not tell your boss that is what you want to do? If not, there are plenty of other companies I am sure that would want a young , go getter, with a BSCE and real industry experience!
And if you want to do design, you have field and construction experience, which is also invaluable on that side of engineering.
You are good to go!
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
Just yesterday, I was thinking about leaving engineering and become a laborer. I don't mind the physical work, it seems a lot less stressful (as a laborer not a foreman), and with Prevailing Wages the income would be higher. Maybe it's a grass is greener thing.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
I don't know where you are where you think the pay would be better. Most places in Florida at least with no skills you may get $10/hr to start as a laborer. Stress? Try living off that $10/hr while single much less with a family. Most construction work is sweaty, dirty, noisy work that can do long term damage to your hearing and lungs, and pretty easy to lose a finger or fall off a ladder. My hat goes off to any blue collar guy who does it day in and day out, but often that is because they don't have many other choices. You do.
Now if you really want to work with your hands, use your head too. Go to school to learn how to weld and get qualifications, or become an electrician, AC/heat repair and installation, or a plumber. Just doing residential work some of those trades bill out at over $75+ an hour. Those jobs cannot be outsourced and someone off the street cannot come take it since you need a license and high level skills.
RE: Laborer to Civil Engineer Advice
I would suspect that any heavy construction firm would be idiots not to hire you as a construction manager. They'd also be idiots not to get you into the design office- you could teach their staff a thing or four, while learning a whole lot yourself. The only question is, how to get your resume past the HR weenies. Personal connections are the best way. You must have some contacts with local engineers, and you need to work those until something pops up.