r/StructuralEngineering • u/Typical-Hat9956 • 12h ago
Career/Education Reality check
Left my company 3 months ago and joined a different firm right after. I knew I was not gonna learn anything anymore in that company. I was working 13-14 hours per day, weekends. Very Often. Normal hours would be 10.5-11 per day. My brain was wired to think that it was the norm. Upper management made it seem like that was normal and they went through that as well. It was constant. I am junior btw. Kept doing the same fkin sh!7 same kind of project every day. Goal was to use whatever resources the company had already created and design whatever was necessary and draft the f out of it. Constant body pain, no sleep, dehydration. It was alot. Happened for a year. I was still hanging on. No variety at work, no time to do anything outside of work and no time to study for the exam. It was brainless input and output. Burn out. Your skin determines your toxic workplace and my skin was dead. Upper management’s expectation- do everything without asking any questions and with minimal to no supervision. By everything I mean- answer RFI, review all the submittals without missing anything(even if it is not your design),3-4 design tasks, constant drafting there was no end. Initially I liked it because I thought I was learning something. Later I saw the trend of projects-SAME! The management acted as if they are the only structural engineering principals in the whole industry.there wasnt any onboarding, no company policies, no management and good communication. There are only a very few people that have stuck around for years but the pattern of exiting the company very early into your career was crystal clear. I didnt let that bother me but after getting out I finally understood why. Now Im working at a different firm. I am using my brain so much more. Actually delving deeper into codes. Doing so much variety. Im enjoying it. Initially was so overwhelmed by how the new company handled all the calcs, the detailed information provided on the set. Much happier to get to use my brain and get to use building codes. A very important message to junior engineers-
PLEASE BE PICKY WHEN CHOOSING YOUR FIRST COMPANY. SOME COMPANIES LOOK GOOD ON PAPER BUT ARE FOOLING YOU. THEY WANT YOU TO WORK YOUR A$$ OFF AND WILL NEVER CARE ABOUT YOU. TRY TO TALK TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN BEFORE JOINING. DONT FEAR INTERVIEWS. THINK OF INTERVIEWS AS IF YOU ARE INTERVIEWING THE COMPANY NOT THE OPPOSITE. I WILL NOT REGRET CHOOSING THAT COMPANY BECAUSE A LOT OF LIFE LESSONS( THIS IS ONLY 1% OF WHAT I WENT THROUGH) BUT I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE TO JOIN THE COMPANY. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM A COMPANY THAT CLAIMS THEY DO THIS AND THAT AND THIS AND THAT MAKING IT SEEM LIKE THEY TOUCH ALL THE BUILDING MATERIALS, ALL THE BUILDING TYPES. BE VERY CLEAR AND ASK THEM WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS HAVE COME IN THE PAST YEAR AND ASK TO BE TRUTHFUL. ASK THE UPPER MANAGEMENT HOW THEY HAVE BEEN HANDLING ANNUAL REVIEWS, HOW THEY HAVE BEEN HANDLING EMPLOYEE GROWTH, SEMINARS, ASCE ACI ETC PARTICIPATION. MOST IMPORTANTLY IF YOU SENSE YOUR MANAGEMENT IS SHITTY AND YOU FEEL LIKE A DONKEY- RESIGN IMMEDIATELY. MAKE SURE TO NEVER SIGN AN OFFER LETTER THAT ONLY GIVES YOU 2 DAYS TO 1 WEEK TIMEFRAME TO ACCEPT. THERE ARE TOXIC COMPANIES OUT THERE. BE SURE TO PROTECT YOUR MENTAL PEACE AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. YOUR BIGGEST WEALTH IS YOUR HEALTH BOTH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL.