I am 32, and a P.E. and have been working at my company (60 employees) in Orange County, CA for about 8 years and am currently a project manager supervising 6 engineers. This has been the only company I have worked for, so I really don’t know how things are done elsewhere. What I am really good at is design and using civil design software to do design and prepare plans efficiently (I am the defacto CAD manager and write design software for fun at home). As a project manager supervising so many employees and running so many projects, I don’t do anything but paperwork, meetings, and QA/QC. I feel this is wasting my talents as a designer. I am feeling that I need a change but don’t know if the situation that I am looking for is out there. I want to be the lead designer on projects and supervise maybe one or two other engineers. I can meet with clients and do project manager tasks if needed but I really need to be the one doing the actually grading, roadway desing, or pipe design. What I am concerned with is a decrease in pay (I currently make $100k) and my career path from here on out. Any advice?
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Career Advice - Not doing enough design 3
- Thread starter raydefan
- Start date
I would say if you revert back to more design and less project management you will see a pay cut if you take another job. Unless you do your on thing instead of working for someone else.
Mentor your underlings to do the work that you think you need to do and you should grow in other areas developing client relationships which should pay off big in the long run. If you want to do more designer work you'll become stuck.
I enjoy my design aspect of my job but I can't seem to get the old timers to think they need to quit holding my hand (or quit worrying about their job security)so if I were you I'd feel lucky.
I'm your age and at my second job for about a year now with my PE. I'm about to look for something with less hand holders. Mentoring is fun if your not scared to share information. PM is the only way you'll grow to bigger and better things in this profession in my opinion.
Mentor your underlings to do the work that you think you need to do and you should grow in other areas developing client relationships which should pay off big in the long run. If you want to do more designer work you'll become stuck.
I enjoy my design aspect of my job but I can't seem to get the old timers to think they need to quit holding my hand (or quit worrying about their job security)so if I were you I'd feel lucky.
I'm your age and at my second job for about a year now with my PE. I'm about to look for something with less hand holders. Mentoring is fun if your not scared to share information. PM is the only way you'll grow to bigger and better things in this profession in my opinion.
civilperson
Structural
Technical experts can get high salaries if they are able to move, (yes travel required). Management is not the only path to monetary satisfaction. I get 75/hr with 24.80/hr split out for out of town per diem. Thus a 40 hour week pays $992 untaxed and $2008 gross pay,(taxed as normal). As a contract employee, my meetings are minimal and I work on challenging problems with only two or three persons coordinating with me, (my boss and a CAD designer and a estimator). Put your resume out with emphasis on technical skills and a high salary minimum, bet you get plenty offers!
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Consider your staff as extension of yourself. If you know how to design something, train your staff so they can design the same. While they are executing the actual work, you may spend time learning about stuff you don't know yet. When you acquire new knowledge, repeat the process.
I agree with sam74 that you will be paid less if you want to go back to the trenches. Paperwork, meetings, phone calls comes with the territory. Oh yeah, QA/QC can be a drag too. Good luck.
I agree with sam74 that you will be paid less if you want to go back to the trenches. Paperwork, meetings, phone calls comes with the territory. Oh yeah, QA/QC can be a drag too. Good luck.
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raydefan,
If you move to a larger company, you can be something between a project manager and a design engineer - a "Project Engineer." On a large project this person figures out all the nitty gritties of how the project will be done - but may not do much of the actual design. You figure out exactly what is in the scope, how the work will be layed out, how the drawings will be organized, what sort of standards will be followed, etc. In other words, you have the vision and you shepherd your team toward it. If there are 20 similar structures, you come up with the overall procedure that your team of design engineers will use to analyze, layout, design, detail, etc. You sound like such a person.
When I see a project tank, it is usually because there was not such a person to create the vision and think everything through from the beginning. Another thing I see happening is that the PM starts delegating the PM stuff to the project engineer and the project engineer does not have time to devote to the engineering. Resisting this might be seen as a lack of ambition at first, but eventually people get it that good project engineers are valuable and not just PM wannabes. In a large company, a project engineer can definitely make as much money as a project manager.
If you move to a larger company, you can be something between a project manager and a design engineer - a "Project Engineer." On a large project this person figures out all the nitty gritties of how the project will be done - but may not do much of the actual design. You figure out exactly what is in the scope, how the work will be layed out, how the drawings will be organized, what sort of standards will be followed, etc. In other words, you have the vision and you shepherd your team toward it. If there are 20 similar structures, you come up with the overall procedure that your team of design engineers will use to analyze, layout, design, detail, etc. You sound like such a person.
When I see a project tank, it is usually because there was not such a person to create the vision and think everything through from the beginning. Another thing I see happening is that the PM starts delegating the PM stuff to the project engineer and the project engineer does not have time to devote to the engineering. Resisting this might be seen as a lack of ambition at first, but eventually people get it that good project engineers are valuable and not just PM wannabes. In a large company, a project engineer can definitely make as much money as a project manager.
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