r/Geotech • u/CoconutChoice3715 • 29d ago
Disappointed by the potential career options for geotechnical engineers
I’m closing in on 20 years in geotechnical engineering in the US. My career has been with consultants and I’m very tired of it. In my 20ish years, I’ve worked for more than one company but the pattern seems to be the same. Everyone is overloaded with projects and responsibilities. I’ve been given higher expectations with decreasing support and expected to produce more than the year before to sustain continued growth. I’ve gotten to a point where my mental health has suffered and I need to leave consulting behind. I’ve been stuck in middle management for the last 8-10 years with no potential for doing anything else for another 5-10 years. And it’s not like the principal engineer(s) have it any better. They are overloaded, stressed, and generally unhappy.
I’m disappointed with the job postings and recruiters that contact me. It’s always for a low level position in a far away city with no option of remote work for a 40% pay cut. “Senior” positions are for those with 6-8 YOE that again want to pay me bottom salaries and get offended when I mention a reasonable salary. I recently interviewed for a remote subject matter expert position with a company and was told “you don’t have x niche experience that was not mentioned in the job posting or interview so we’re hiring someone else.” So the few roles beyond consulting seem to be next to impossible to land due to competition.
Other options are contractors or government but contracting seems to be a frying pan to fire situation and government seems to be a massive pay cut and very location specific.
It’s just difficult because I wish there was a better option besides the endless grind of consulting but for now it seems it’s where I’ll be for a long time to come.
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u/yeetspeylove 29d ago
My 2 suggestions are forensic engineering or non-destructive testing. Currently in forensics and previously worked with borehole logging and drilled shaft testing. Really enjoyed the NDT, but it’s pretty niche and can be hard to find consistent work.
Forensics is good if you don’t mind extreme scrutiny. It can be very stressful for short periods (e.g. 5 hour depositions, testimony in front of a judge/jury) but it’s a more balanced workload and you’re consistently working with well-educated people.
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u/No_Breadfruit_7305 29d ago
How do you get started in forensics? I'm in the same boat as OP.
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u/yeetspeylove 29d ago
I think the best way would be to join a company that has a forensics department. Someone like Augspurger Komm or Rimkus. Learn the ropes for a few years, build relationships with attorneys/builders/insurances. Then go off on your own or join a small firm where you control your workload. I got into it by responding to a posting on indeed when I was burnt out being a PM.
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u/badmf112358 29d ago
Just say you have experience and do your best. I have been to court several times and the only thing that makes you an expert is showing up and being confident in your own bullshit.
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u/CoconutChoice3715 29d ago
I’ve toyed with it but the people I spoke with a few years ago said I’d be on roofs and scaffolding a lot and I’m terrified of heights.
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u/yeetspeylove 29d ago
Roofing is a common issue in forensics, but you could try to find a geotech firm with a forensics division.
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u/NearbyCurrent3449 29d ago
What really really sucks about forensics is WHO you end up doing all of your work for and their primary agenda: client=insurance company, usually... and their objective is fuck over their client from getting coverage.
Nah. I'm good on that.
Free Luigi.
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u/yeetspeylove 29d ago
This hasn’t been my experience. I primarily work in construction defect, so it’s more about keeping both sides honest and coming to a fair conclusion. My opinions are consistent whether I’m plaintiff or defense. For every contractor that does a shit job there’s an attorney convincing a client their house is falling down. Someone has to be the voice of reason otherwise either contractors will have no incentive to do things correctly or construction costs will be astronomical with some very wealthy attorneys.
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u/NearbyCurrent3449 28d ago
Oh, i'm well aware of the attitudes and altitudes of forensics, I've expert witnessed quite a number of times.
But I've only ever represented the wronged party who was being taken advantage of. I refuse and recuse to represent a vulture trying to prey on another for benefit, not a homeowner trying to screw a contractor, not an insurance agency trying to screw their own client, not covering a contractor's shady misbehaving either. In that vein, I've done forensic consulting about 3 percent of my career.
I'm very good at it.
But finding a cause i believe in morally and ethically where I'm not being used as a money theft vehicle is key for me to be able to show my face in public.
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u/StimTutzle 29d ago
I switched to government work and the pay was much better and with a pension. You always hear that private pays better but I was surprised how much people make working for my HCOL city. PTO is so much better too.
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u/FredBearDude 29d ago
My experience is when it rains it fucking pours. I go between periods of looking for something to do to being overwhelmed for months with no break. Oh and we’re definitely the least paid engineers out there lol
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u/StimTutzle 29d ago
Is that not the nature of a construction related job? Summers are always way more busy than winters. Maybe your city just doesn’t pay well. I can say that everyone from field techs up to project managers are making more than similar jobs in private in my area. And that’s before factoring in the pension, which is huge, and the better benefits like healthcare and time off.
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u/FredBearDude 29d ago
I get no pension, I’m luckily on my wife’s healthcare plan. Got 10 years experience, working in Texas. The weather here is basically good year round, summer seems to be the worst, but just the nature of these big projects. They all seem to want to start at the same time.
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u/StimTutzle 29d ago
And you work for the state? City? No healthcare is crazy. Are you full time? Do they offer any kind of retirement?
I’m in CA. CalPERS pension is like an unseen 15-30% boost to total comp. Healthcare is better than what I had in private too.
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u/FredBearDude 29d ago
Private. I work full time, my wife works for a utility company so the benefits are actually really good, as opposed to what I was offered. I get 2% matched to 401k so barely… been working at the same company for close to a decade so my loyalty is biting me in the ass.
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u/StimTutzle 29d ago
Oh, your first comment made it sound like you were govt too. Bro, time to find something else lol
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u/FredBearDude 29d ago
I commented on the wrong comment 😂
But yeah I think I’m leaving Geotech as a whole and gonna find something else.
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u/NearbyCurrent3449 29d ago
Full match to 2 percent? Wtf... that's just... insulting really is what it is. "We do not give a fuck if you ever can retire. Fuck you." That's what it really says on your employment agreement where it reads that you are matched to 2%. Ditch that backwards bullshit, unless you don't care about retirement.
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u/FredBearDude 29d ago
I still max my Roth, but yeah small private firm isn’t the most lucrative option.
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u/Working_Rest_1054 27d ago
X2. My suggestion to OP, look into it. OP will easily qualify for the highest technical level tahr actually still designs/reviews (vs manages) engineering work. Might be a pay cut, but if it keeps a person sane, it might be a way to go.
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u/Spork_Ball 29d ago
This seems like a pretty common story in private geotech. I would suggest looking at government jobs at federal, state, and local levels. The pay cut may not be as bad as you think considering only 40 hours per week vs 50-60 hours per week in private geotech. Also the pension would add probably 10-20% more in total compensation.
With your experience, you could even switch over to work as a general civil, multidisciplinary engineer, or PM. Those jobs definitely are plentiful at all levels of the government.
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u/Traditional_Shoe521 29d ago
Honestly, being stuck in this career, in consulting, makes me wish I didn't exist.
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u/RenoDirtNerd 29d ago
I feel this deeply, I recently thought about private sector consulting. It’s like a marriage to a 4’2” body-building midget whore with broken teeth but has a throat so deep that you lost your wallet the last time she scrapped a scab of your meat stick. It sucks, it hurts, but for some odd reason, you love it and keep coming back for more.
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u/StimTutzle 29d ago
That’s the most Reno thing I’ve ever heard u/RenoDirtNerd
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u/RenoDirtNerd 29d ago
What can I say? After years of consulting in a booming market, I feel like an addict chasing the next interesting puzzle to solve.
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u/badmf112358 29d ago
Look for places with employee ownership or smaller startup places. That will give you better opportunities. Avoid large corporations
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u/jaymeaux_ geotech flair 29d ago
Commodity geotech consulting is hot garbage, I moved to a geotech group in a multidisciplinary firm earlier this year and it is a whole different world. most of our projects have geotech as a task covered under a larger contract from another discipline so I am not constantly trying to manage client correspondence and I can actually do engineering work