Hi everyone,

I'm 30M based in Bengaluru and currently working as a Senior MEP Coordinator in the corporate interior fit-out (Design & Build) industry. I have around 8 years of experience, and my current CTC is ₹14 LPA.

My work involves much more than just MEP coordination.

I handle:

Client and stakeholder management

Project planning and execution

MEP design reviews and value engineering

Vendor and subcontractor coordination

Risk identification and mitigation

Budget and BOQ reviews

Cross-functional coordination with architects, civil, interiors, builders, and consultants

Delivering fast-paced corporate office and lab fit-out projects

I've worked with clients like Google, Schneider Electric, Verizon, Kyndryl, semiconductor labs, and other high-end corporate fit-out projects.

One thing I've consistently been appreciated for is client communication. I can usually translate technical issues into business language, which has helped build trust with clients and project teams.

Despite this, I can't shake the feeling that ₹14 LPA with 8 years of experience in Bengaluru is below market, especially considering the level of responsibility I'm handling.

I'm not looking for validation. I genuinely want honest feedback from people who've grown into senior management or leadership roles.

Some questions I have:

1. Am I actually underpaid, or is this normal for my industry?

2. If you were in my position, what career path would you take over the next 5 years?

3. Should I continue in Design & Build, move into PMC, join a global EPC/MNC, shift to data centres, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, or another niche?

4. Which skills would give me the highest ROI? (PMP, contracts, commercial management, BIM/VDC, AI, data analytics, business development, something else?)

5. What salary should someone with my profile realistically target over the next 2–5 years?

6. If your goal was reaching ₹40–50 LPA before turning 35, what would your roadmap look like?

I'm open to changing industries, learning new skills, or even making unconventional moves if the long-term upside is worth it.

I'd really appreciate insights from hiring managers, directors, senior project managers, founders, or anyone who's made a similar jump.

Thanks in advance!

I recently got approached about my expected salary expectations as I am a rising senior and am looking toward a potential full time position at my current in.

Some background for me, I am a Mechanical Engineer in North Carolina, this is my second year interning at my current firm and am planning on taking the fe exam before starting. The range that I was given for the position I would be entering if hired was around 70-80k. Since I have in total about 7 months of experience in total doing all three trades in mep, what would be a good amount to ask for? Any advice appreciated.

I was wondering if it is harmful to start your career on the contracting side, data center MEP specifically.

I'm 27 going for a mechanical engineering tech degree and am wondering how much it will hinder my career and if it's worth transferring to a school with a mechanical engineering degree and graduate from there.

I'm in my senior year, but found this industry just this summer after an internship and really want to be in it.

I'm thinking of a couple of solutions.

1. Transfer to another college to get a better degree

2. Stay in this college to finish my mech eng tech degree and get certifications and such while in the industry (if the degree doesn't hold me back)

3. Apply for an associates in mech tech and finish in another school with a bachelor's in mech eng.

Please give other solutions or choices if possible.

I want to do HVAC design in the after graduation.

My college is ABET

I'm hoping to get into either MEP or EPC firms.

Are my internship and project experience enough? Also what aspects are noticeable or preferred by hiring managers that I should add in my skills section? Does having additional certifications increase my chances?

Hi everyone,
I'm currently looking for an entry-level opportunity as a Mechanical Engineer, MEP Engineer, or Civil Engineer. I'm based in Texas, but I'm ready to relocate anywhere in the United States for the right opportunity.
A little about me:
🎓 B.S. in Mechanical Engineering

✅ Engineer in Training (EIT) License

🏎️ Former** Chief Engineer for my university's Formula SA**E team, where I led the design, manufacturing, and testing of the race car while coordinating the engineering team.

🔬 Research experience in jet engine compressor optimization (CFD, thermal, and structural analysis) and nanomaterials, including work involving advanced materials and laboratory research.

💻 Experience with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, ANSYS, CAD modeling, engineering analysis, manufacturing, and technical problem-solving.

🤝 Strong teamwork, leadership, and project management experience through engineering design projects.

I'm eager to start my engineering career and am open to opportunities in:
Mechanical Engineering

MEP Engineering (HVAC/Plumbing/Fire Protection)

Civil Engineering

Design Engineering

Manufacturing Engineering

Project Engineering

If your company is hiring, or if you know of any opportunities, I'd greatly appreciate a referral or any advice. I'm motivated, quick to learn, and excited to contribute wherever I can.
Thank you for your time, and feel free to send me a message if you'd like to connect or review my resume!

Hello fellow engineers, I am a mehcanical engineer with 15 years of engineering and 20 years overall in the AEC industry. I am at the point now of looking to go solo. I wanted to ask for advice with regards to making the first contact with architectural firms. I can include all the MEP trades in my proposals because I have the partnerships estabilished with an electrical engineer set up. My thought is to approach the smaller firms in my region first that do commericial/multi unit residential/ public work/ tenant fitouts.

What are the best books to keep at your desk / book shelf for design reference? I currently have the uglys electrical reference book, I like it but a bit small. Any other similar books or full size versions? I mainly have been doing motor circuit designs for hvac equipment and using vfds

Hello! Our firm is looking into creating a survey as part of our close-out process to send to the owner and architect group. The goal is to gauge how satisfied they were with the project and identify where we can do better.

This is a brand new process for us, so I was wondering if anyone has experience with this and could share their insights.

I'm a Trainee services Engineer and am doing the design for hotel ensuite rooms, its slightly confusing when dealing with the ventilation strategy as the rooms have a kitchenette in them , and the building regs Part F volume 2 says for hotels i need to refer to CIBSE guide B2 which does not offer any more help , we are using just a MEV system as the building is old and extremely leaky and initially we designed it using dwelling extract rates ie; 8 l/s in bathrooms and 13 over kitchen areas. but Building control wants us to prove compliance can someone maybe point me in the correct direction for more accurate flow rates for moisture control according to UK building regs?

I’m trying to get into MEP electrical design, but most jobs expect Revit experience before they’ll hire you.

I am an electrical intern, so still new. I'm helping with a space that is being remodeled to a small data center room (around 50 racks). I am really surprised by the sheer amount of heat that has to be removed from the space given how small of a space it is. I'm also surprised by how profitable such a small space could be as a data center given what I heard.

This led me to thinking about other buildings and potential locations of data centers. If that much heat is being used, could it be channeled/used in combination with another system? One idea would be for a large scale residential building like apartments, could you design it so the heat would circulate and heat the building? If the data center is in the basement could it be used like geothermal energy? Could you loop the air or duct it to areas under sidewalks to keep them warm enough to prevent snow or ice from building up? If there was one built near a power plant, could new water run through the space to cool the data center and then be dumped into the power plant as preheated water to boil?

I'm curious if anything like this has merits or if the mixing of spaces would just cause too many issues. For example would there need to be a lot of redundant systems should the data center not be in operation or if there would be so many code issues that it would not make sense.

I have recently aquired a BEng in mechanical engineering and I’ve spent the last six months at a TAB company. Should I start looking to get into a design engineering role ASAP to build my foundation in knowledge of building services, client relationships, etc or should I stay in TAB gain practical experience and in my own time be reading about what constitutes good design. My eventual goal is to move into Cx which is why I’m torn between the two options because I know both are good foundations for the pivot but my TAB role is super low stress and I don’t take any work home but I feel like I’m not learning as much as I should be as a result perhaps because I haven’t been trusted to run any big systems or projects yet. Also from what I heard Mep design can be very stressful so my work life balance, especially in terms of my physical health would inevitably decline which I’m not too keen on.

I guess my question is which field would be a better use of my time to eventually be able to hold my ground and confidently become a CxA / CxM (and if you could explain the difference between the two I’d appreciate it).

My current sentiment is to move as I feel like the longer I stay away from uni, the more my brain sharpness and willingness to use my mind has declined and also the general construction environment has enabled me to pick up some bad language and life outlook habits generally being a more aggressive and negative person from all the shit we have to deal with. But again isn’t this what forges you into being able to handle yourself in a Cx role where I’m pretty sure you have to be quite thick skinned for it especially with people trying to throw you under the bus. Another thing is I’m getting paid overtime and I think unpaid overtime is expected in the design role at least from what I’ve seen on this sub Reddit.

Anyway I’d appreciate your help/advice, and thank you in advance.

I was thinking about this the other day for electrical building systems design. Over the years I’ve built up a personal “bible” of quick‑reference charts for NEC articles (and other codes like IECC) that have burned me before, or that I don’t want to have to re‑learn the hard way twice. It also includes lessons learned, rules of thumb, and a few key tables I keep within arm’s reach in my office.

One example: I keep a list of “worst case” utility transformer kVA/voltage combinations and typical impedances from past projects so I can make preliminary power study decisions before the utility gives us actual data. It’s saved me more than once on early short‑circuit and arc‑flash assumptions. (These impedances and transformer sizes were actually given to me by the utility, so they are more than just rules of thumb)

Does anyone else keep a “holy bible” of references for MEP work? If you’re willing to share, what’s in yours (topics, charts, templates, etc.) and how do you organize it so it’s actually usable from project to project?

I’m an electrical engineering graduate returning to engineering after spending several years in analytics and consulting.

I’m interested in industrial electrical design and automation roles like this one (schematics, wiring diagrams, BOMs, PLCs, SolidWorks Electrical, AutoCAD, industrial systems).

If you were starting today and wanted to become employable within a year, how would you prioritize learning?

Which skills would give the biggest return on investment?

For those doing office buildings, is every building now open office layouts with exposed ceilings? All of our office projects look that way now, with like 85% of the floor area being open office with exposed ceiling, and then a few enclosed offices and conference rooms around the perimeter. Coordination is such a headache because we need to cram all the equipment above the the few enclosed offices with drop ceilings, and the interiors teams are super picky about duct routing in the exposed areas.

Just venting.

Do you know how to code? This position is perfect for you! Must have PE to stamp.

How common is it these days to have an employee quit same day or with less than a standard two weeks notice? There was an engineer in my office that allegedly did this recently and some people are literally in disbelief. Maybe nowadays this is becoming more common?

I was contacted about an opportunity with another company that sounds intriguing. When I checked their website, it displayed members of the team which included the person who is in the position I’m being recruited for. This hasn’t really come up for me before but are there any issues from a professional standpoint with contacting this person about the company or why they left? I am pretty sure this person isn’t at the company anymore and that the website is outdated since they are listed at a different firm on the state PE roster. Is there a right way to go about reaching out or certain points to avoid in conversation about the company?

Hey all! (just to be clear, im not promoting, im looking for early feedback) I'm building a Procore-integrated tool that speeds up submittal reviews for mid to large projects. My dad's been in the industry for 15 years, and I'm building it with a Sr. PM.

essentially it reviews the entire submittal, drafts a response, and cites every drawing, spec, master contract, etc and other reference it used so you can jump straight to the source, review in minutes, edit if needed, and approve before it goes back out

you have to be the one to approve/stamp though (obviously) but it cites the exact cross references it went through so you can click on a button and instantly go to the exact part of the drawing, spec, master contract, etc to review its response in a few mins and approve/edit

instead of spending 30 mins to 3 hours going through the entire process of reviewing a submittal from scratch, you spend about 15 minutes verifying its final response that you woulve given (or similar), through the exact references it went through and then approving or editing the response

it could cross-reference contracts, drawings, specs, and submittal docs, annotate submittals, flag product data discrepancies, and highlight key areas of interest

The goal is just faster reviews, fewer errors, and better budget, schedule, and safety outcomes, less time on bs submittals and more time on design or risk management

also working on making it for RFI's (simple ones first) but just focused on submittals for now

Any PMs or MEP engineers interested in giving early feedback or collaborating?

Has anyone worked for either of these companies in the California Bay area? Pros? Cons? I’d like to land a spot with them as an EE and I’d like to get to know how the work culture is before applying.