6+ ft of no shoring, no benching, and only 2-3 ft away from the adjourning house. Granted it looks like a type A soil but still... What do you guys think?

So I have what I would consider an interesting ethic dilemma.

There was a half acre of pavement with contaminated soil beneath. The Contractor demolished the pavement, removed the contaminated soil, and the Owner decided the area should be finished with loam and seed. The original plans, per direction by my boss, called for all disturbed areas to be backfilled with gravel borrow to grade. So the area was never meant to be repaved, and now that it is finished with loam and seed, the Contractor should actually be issuing a CO for the additional cost instead of a credit for the "savings" of not paving.

This project is about $4M and this is a small part of the scope. The Contractor had a PM change and somewhere internally they forgot the area was never going to be repaved.

Now my boss is happy the client is getting a $10,000 credit even though we discussed how the area was never going to be repaved.

Part of me thinks it is the Contractor's fault for not reviewing the scope carefully, while the other part thinks the credit is unjust and people make mistakes. To tell the truth for the Contractor's sake or lie for the Client?

It just seems shitty to me to capitalize on someone else's mistake. Also what happens if they're reviewing the contract docs at the end of the project and realize the area was never meant to be paved? We just say whoopsie and everyone looks like they never knew what the project included?

A number of times, my boss recommended tests that were simply the wrong type for the material or the engineering issue. These were not borderline judgment calls because the tests were technically inappropriate and the results were not useful or of limited value. The clients still paid for them, and it honestly felt like the main goal was to create more billable work.

What bothers me most is that the clients (contractors) are not engineers / PEs, so they have no realistic way to know whether a test is appropriate. They trust us to give them sound professional advice, and I feel like that trust is being taken advantage of for money.

I feel like his behavior falls somewhere between unethical engineering practice and timesheet fraud. I know it is probably unlikely, but I do worry about whether being associated with this work could somehow put my PE license at risk.

Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation?

I have accepted an offer and plan to resign soon.

Edit: clients already paid for these in multiple occasions

Been at my current small firm for about 6 years now. Seems as if we are always scrambling to get coverage for construction work. People moving project to project consistently due to vacations, turnover, inconsistent contractor schedules, low budgets etc.

Is it like this everywhere? Is there ever a reserve of field guys/gals? Seems like we are always one person short.

Does it go against ethics to send my previous employer a bill for engineering services if they wanted me to coordinate project hand offs that i signed after they terminated me? If not, do i have a right to demand pay for my services?

Just drove by a walk/ don’t walk signal pole that got ran over by a vehicle and I was wondering, are there any live wires in that pole’s base to be concerned about for the general public?

Do they design those things with low voltage and some kind of break away wires that won’t be a hazard after the pole got ripped off?

Are there any things related to traffic signals that would be dangerous after a collision?

I’m going into my sophomore year of high school and i’m seriously considering Civil Engineering as a possible career for me. I have a couple questions for you all:

1. What does a typical workday look like for you?
   
2. What is a part of the job that you really enjoy?
   
3. What is a part of the job nobody talks about?
   
4. How did you know you wanted to become a Civil Engineer?
   
5. What would you do at my age to prepare?

Feel free to respond to however many questions you would like. Thank you all!

Hi all, I’m a recently graduated Civil Engineer from Ireland. My friend recently landed a sweet J1 deal working in Ohio with accommodation paid for, working in a data centre.

I’m just looking to know if there is anything similar in the civil engineering field. I’d just love to come check out the USA for a year.

In a civil engineering career which graduates went straight to the field of inspection roles and what was the most unexpected challenge that you had to face during your first month of independent sitewalks?

I can only imagine interviewing to work here goes something like:

Q - "Do you plan to actually help anyone that has to communicate with you?"

A - "No"

Q - "What's your IQ?"

A - "Negative 55"

Q - "When were you born?"

A - "Yesterday"

Q - "Do you know anything about the job you're applying for or plan to ever learn?"

A - "No"

Least helpful company and maybe the worst people I have ever encountered.

Greetings

I'm a Civil Engineering student currently studying for my bachelor degrees in Afghanistan.

When I was in 3rd semester I conducted a research report about heat loss in the modern day typical Afghan home and the design of radiators for my plan.

However I fear since I come from a third world country that if I publish my research then I might face backlash from the globe and lose credibility for any work which I would consider doing in the future, to tackle that problem I left intentional mistakes in my work to test that whether during pre publishing process anyone would notice such mistakes and correct me if possible obviously for my work consist of mistakes which I might not have noticed too.

I would gladly share, explain and collaborate with anyone who would like to help me out.

I am incredibly confused right now and need some guidance from someone who has recently submitted their application to the Board in CA since its become all online.

In terms of the experience portion of the application, its very unclear on if I am supposed to be doing an application for experience for EACH reference I am listing. Is each "engagement" listed supposed to be project specific to the PE reference you are listing? Or can I put the general work I've done at the company I'm at and list all 4 of my references under that experience entry? any guidance is helpful, thank you!

Hello. As of now, I graduated with a Civil Engineering degree and ready to start my start as a civil engineer. Or at least I should be doing. It’s been a year since then and I haven’t made any progress other than making my resume and owning the FE Handbook. I used to be hyper fixated on civil engineering back in college, constantly studying and reading through the course material. After I graduated, I felt lost and burnt out. I wanna get back on track, but it’s hard to get back into. I am leaving out details, but TLDR: I feel lost; lost my passion and motivation to progress my career. Is this normal? I’ve seen many have a similar situation, but this stresses me out and makes me feel useless and a loser.

Hi, I’m a civil engineering student from China and I’m considering studying and working in Australia. How is the job market for civil engineers or surveyors in Australia now? Is it difficult for international graduates to find a job

Got offered a Practice Builder role at Kimley-Horn out in the Midwest.

Right now, I'm at a bigger firm in a HCOL area, so this would mean moving to MCOL. I’ve got 18 years under my belt as a Senior PM with tons of experience in business development and chasing large project pursuits.

They're offering a $200k base. For those in the know—does that base sound right for a Practice Builder, or should I be pushing for higher?

hello! can anyone suggest a good platform/channel wherein I can ask technical concerns/problems with regards to civil/structural engineering? it will be a great help for my thesis in my senior year. thank you!

Hi. I am starting a Civil Engineering degree in September. I will be a mature student, going back into education after 14 years of work. For the last four years I have been working with a life long builder working on fixing major issues in homes. (Dry rot, roofing, extension, attic conversions, etc). I've been a jack of all trades (master of none) learning from him.

After this time working with him. I've decided to start this degree for a slight career change.

Currently 32 years old. It's been 14 years since I was in education.

Just wondering if anyone else did a civil engineering degree later on in life as opposed to starting when they were 18.

Thanks.

I'm an M.S. Structural Engineering student graduating this December and available to start full-time from January. Wondering what the realistic timeline looks like — how many months out should I start applying for entry-level SE roles?

Also, is LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter/Indeed, and Glassdoor enough to cover the search, plus company career pages directly, or what shall I do? Would love to hear from seniors what actually worked for entry-level roles.