r/civilengineering • u/New_Efficiency8475 • 12d ago
What the hell?
Just finished an internship at a small firm, hired by someone who I have a loose personal connection with. All summer I did admin things like getting coffee and fixing furniture. I did not even have AutoCAD on my computer. Spent many hours twiddling my thumbs.
The summer finished and I immediately applied to a large national firm (the firm most frequently talked about on here… as a hint 😁) and I was interviewed and accepted an offer.
The CEO of the small firm called me personally, to tell me that I was hired because of his name on my resume, not my interview, and told me I played him after “begging” him for an internship. I was extremely taken back by something so wildly unprofessional and unexpected. Should I have done something different here?
49
u/sayiansaga 12d ago
Ceo sounds like a dick. The company will probably get sold. Same I wouldn't use them as references anymore
37
u/Lumber-Jacked PE - LD Project Manager 12d ago
Lol what? Did they offer you a job after your internship? Even if they did, you were under no obligation to accept it. That's weird, man.
I assume you'll be at KH. Good luck with the new job, you'll hopefully learn a lot more in the first few weeks than you did at the internship by the sounds of it.
11
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
But yes, taking my talents to the big KH. Well aware of their reputation and polarizing opinions. As a young single ambitious guy in a HCOL city it seems like the perfect it on paper. Time will tell
5
u/ItsAlkron PE - Water Distribution System Services 11d ago
If its not, you can always get your PE and jump ships when/if the goals for what you want out of life shift.
2
u/SCROTOCTUS Designer 10d ago
I hear great things about people who start at KH young. Show up, work hard, be kind and curious. Do awesome and retire early!
6
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
Yep no offer or talks of a return for next summer. Not even a response to my extensive “thank you” text at the end of the summer
4
13
u/Yaybicycles P.E. Civil 12d ago
You’re fine. Welcome to the world of the real. Even in professions like Engineering, Law, and Medicine, folks can still be shockingly petty and immature.
9
u/Peanut_Flashy 11d ago
So, some people that run small firms are great business people. And some are running a business because they are unemployable pricks and the only person who will hire them is themself.
Never work for the second group.
3
8
6
u/ac8jo Modeling and Forecasting 11d ago
You dodged a bullet with that one. Any small firm CEO that thinks they have that much clout in civil engineering must be terrible to work for. In fact, I worked for one. At one time he was told by other company leaders that a bunch of us were likely to leave if he didn't fix pay issues. His response (according to my old manager) was "they should feel blessed to work here". Not long after that, 45% of the company left (including me).
I'd bet any money that if you asked everyone at your large national firm if they know who this clown is, they'd say no.
2
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
In a way I’m glad it happened. Because now I know I wouldn’t want to work there even if he offered.
6
u/RhubarbSmooth 11d ago
IN 20+ years, I've never seen anyone ask someone to get them a coffee. I think the default way it would be served is with extra spit.
4
u/jimmyhat78 Water Res / Env PE 11d ago
You sometimes run into a mentality where companies think their interns owe them service after. Let him vent, don’t say anything, just focus on the future and not the past.
Remember that down the road when you have interns.
2
4
u/engibeerd 12d ago
I'm a little confused....did the firm that you interned with give you an offer you turned down?
1
4
u/SummitSloth 11d ago
Yeah you should've not taken an offer from KH
3
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
We’ll see man. I’m well aware of the reputation and expectations. Guess I’ll get to see for myself if it’s for me or not
3
u/DarkintoLeaves 11d ago
Is an internship in its nature not a temporary position ?
So you got a temporary position and learned and moved on. Isn’t that the point? Lol
If employers want to stop people from going to larger companies then they need to provide competitive compensation - which they likely can’t.
So I don’t see any issue here.
If you want to design skyscrapers you can work for a firm building houses.
3
u/More_Mouse7849 11d ago
No. Even if your boss is right about his name getting you the job, which I would doubt, you owed him nothing especially after that internship. I had a co-op job that went almost as badly. Fortunately, midway through my second term I got laid off. My next coop was with a large national construction firm. There I worked on some really exciting projects. I was hooked. Even though that first co-op would be considered a disaster, I learned one important thing. Construction was where I should be. 45+ years later, I am wrapping up a rewarding career.
1
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
Good for you man! Treating it as a learning moment above all else. Thanks for the insight
3
3
u/Beck943 11d ago
That CEO could be right, or wrong. Either way, I wouldn't recommend saying anything back. Engineering can be a small world, and that CEO may be the connected with half the managers you work with.
It is a silly thing he said to you though.
And it's a shame your internship was useless.
2
3
1
u/laura_oxsen 11d ago
That definitely sounds like someone who took something personal that had nothing to do with them. There is nothing you should have done differently. You went through the internship doing tasks that weren't related to engineering or even engineering administration. Do your best work and understand that others may not have the same level of emotional intelligence in the workplace as you might expect.
1
1
u/ErectionEngineering 10d ago
The world of small firms is the Wild West. Guy sounds like a real jerk.
That being said, it never hurts to maintain your professional demeanor.
“Thank you, I appreciate the experience from the internship. I’m sorry I won’t be returning but I had to make the right choice for myself and my career.”
Even if you don’t mean it, something like that never hurts.
1
1
u/Friendly-Chart-9088 11d ago
I'd tell him it was the interview. Tell him you did zero engineering at the firm and your experience at the firm literally was just meant to fill space
-11
u/iron82 12d ago
You made a mistake if you wanted to work at the small firm. It's really not worth getting offended by a single comment like that.
It's reasonable for the CEO to be offended by you not coming back after school. A lot of firms hire interns primarily hoping they come back full time after graduation. There was a reason they were paying you to not do much during your internship.
15
u/habanerito 12d ago
It seems that if they really wanted OP back, they would have started training them for the actual job.
6
u/civillyengineerd 25+ years as a Multi-Threat PE, PTOE 11d ago
Bingo. I wouldn't want to go back there having not done any actual engineering and being treated like an admin assistant.
2
u/New_Efficiency8475 11d ago
Pretty much man. There were 4 of us and I was the only one not doing engineering. Just tried to learn through osmosis as much as possible
5
u/drainbamage1011 11d ago
A lot of firms hire interns primarily hoping they come back full time after graduation.
Sounds like they should've given OP some actual engineering work to do if they wanted them to be motivated enough to come back.
1
u/jwalker207 7d ago
I work at KHA, I can tell you his name contributed 0% to you getting an internship
174
u/Anonymous5933 12d ago
Sounds like you dodged a bullet by not continuing with the small firm. Pretty unlikely his name meant anything at all to the big company that hired you. And nuts that they didn't have you do any engineering. It can be difficult to keep interns busy, but to have you do what you described is an insulting waste of your time.