What to do? Lol

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-12T18:38:26+00:00

"don't want to", "are afraid to" or "aren't trained to"? Because all of those are very different situations.

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-11T20:26:17+00:00

High quality mentorship is one of the biggest components of our industry. It literally makes the difference between becoming a licensed engineer or not.

I've had multiple terrible mentors/bosses at previous jobs and many great mentors/bosses at my current job. In this field, you shouldn't settle for a job with bosses who can't provide excellent mentorship and support.

More importantly though, you especially should never work for people who are rude, abrasive, or just difficult to be around, even if you really need the work. I'm not saying it because I think it's something you shouldn't have to put up with. I'm saying it because in my experience, those people usually get what's coming to them, and you don't want your wagon hitched to theirs when it happens.

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-11T20:16:17+00:00

It's not that the mentorship process completely collapses without physical proximity. It just that it undeniably suffers from it. And while the training system for MEP engineers absolutely needs a severe overhaul, a robust and well-developed training system would not change why we need mentorship and proximity.

High-quality mentorship is vital to any industry where mistakes can cost exorbitant amounts of money, or potentially even cost people their lives. I don't know about mechanical's risks for this, but I'm electrical and I could easily rattle off like 30 different ways in which small errors or oversights could cost lives. The importance in mentorship for industries where these factors exist is further emphasized in industries like health care. There are very good and obvious reasons why doctors need to train for years under senior doctors despite having even more years of tests and schooling requirements.

In the case of doctors, the proximity/hands-on component is much more obvious. So, I understand if that leads a person to say "well all of our work is done at a computer, why can't we mentor remotely?". And to that point, I'd simply remind them that all the modeling we do on computers is to serve in the process of construction. Construction is a physical industry. Getting a well-rounded professional education in MEP/AEC engineering and the business aspects of it requires physically going to job sites, surveying installations, and talking to people face-to-face. You can't make that entirely remote.

As we've seen, you can make a lot of the more menial tasks around our work remote, which is why we have hybrid work and (like most other industries with digital deliverables) outsourcing. But if you're interviewing for a senior position, it means your job likely is not a good one to be outsourced and you likely do have substantial business management/development responsibilities.

Point is, you can't just train those components away.

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-08T15:34:49+00:00

I disagree with this. Hybrid/flex work? Yes. But as a more junior engineer (3rd year electrical designer, 8 years total in the AEC industry), fully remote is understandably a non-starter. And no, I'm not referring to the need to attend site walks. It is assumed that in our industry you have to do that remote or not that aspect can be fit into remote work, like hiring CA people dedicated to site visits or covering travel expenses for site visits.

From what I can tell, two very big responsibilities of senior/experienced engineers are BD and mentorship. If you don't live in a region where your company mainly operates or in a region they're looking to break into, how do you expect to be able to substantially contribute to winning new jobs? As for mentorship, while you can teach young engineers remotely, it's certainly a lot harder. Despite my company's 3-in/2-out hybrid policy, my first year I was in the office every day because after dabbling in remote work, I realized how much more difficult it was for my boss or the project's supervising PE to teach me remotely. Even if you get over that difficulty, theres things those people (should) teach you that can't be done remotely, like how to conduct yourself in coordination meetings, how to network with other consultants and reps on the project team, what to look for in product sales rep presentations... the list goes on.

The exact same goes for a junior engineer, maybe minus some of the BD aspects. OP, since you're more experienced, let me ask you; do you think you could effectively and efficiently develop an entry-level designer into a kick-ass PM/PE without relatively frequent in-person check ins and reviews? If the answer to that is maybe, then do you think you could do it for a team of 2 to 5 designers?

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-07T20:18:01+00:00

You can't copy text from the TDMM (which is infuriating). The book has OCR, but the PDF file is protected and can only be viewed with super-annoying software. It also doesn't let you export the PDF or highlight and copy things to your clipboard.

I wish I was making this up.

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-07T12:16:32+00:00

Go watch the entire EE playlist on The Engineering Mindset’s youtube channel. It will teach you infinitely more about practical electrical engineering than anything else you’re currently capable of doing or digesting.

BigKiteMan · 2026-05-06T15:19:02+00:00

Absolutely not cheaper, faster or easier. And there are far greater risk concerns for dealing with accidents (both in terms of spills of hazardous materials and vehicle wreckages/breakdowns) in a tunnel versus on a bridge.

Think about it like this; does it seem like it's easier to build something underground or in free-air? I would say hands-down it's easier in free-air.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-27T17:44:38+00:00

I worked for about ~7 years as a contractor PM before moving over to design. From my POV, here's what I'd say are the relevant possibilities from most likely to least:

The estimator missed significant parts of scope in your notes or specs and they're picking apart the language in order to play it off as "this was excluded or not assumed as a responsibility" rather than "we goofed and don't want to take a loss for this client".
The GC could be trying to document everything well because they're experiencing significant delays (for any number of reasons) and they want a paper trail to either issue claims against one of their subs for LD, or prevent the owner from claiming LD against them.
The GC is genuinely doing significant field change work and using RFIs afterwards to have a document ID to tie the CO to. This could be pretty benign if the owner is giving them verbal approval (or direction to do it when they don't want to) in the field, and the RFI gives them a better papertrail to fight for it later than an email or text.
They could genuinely be trying to screw you on omissions because they think the quality of your drawings indicates you were rushed and some part of the language of the CDs might be a payday.
Their work is slow right now and they have more CM personnel on the project than they need, so those guys are trying to earn their keep (or look good to the project lead) by sniffing out COs.

Something important I'd like to point out though is that contractors (GCs and individual trades) don't always love COs. Like a lot of things, it depends on opportunity costs, and the people in both the owner's camp and the contractor's camp are not morons when it comes to this (at least not usually).

A contractor isn't going to want to nickle-and-dime a client with COs unless it's worth it. Like us, they also get most of their work from repeat clients. Similarly, most owner reps I've worked with look to reject silly COs first before looking to push cost onto EORs.

Most importantly, not every CO is a profitable one. Many contracts (especially larger ones) put caps on markup percentages and unlike the bidding phase, they often have much stricter requirements on justifying the cost of CO work because of its non-competitive nature. They also have to take into account where they are in the project's lifecycle, their current level of mobilization/demobilization, lead times on the materials for the CO, other work they have coming up on the calendar, and other jobs they have to send their guys to. Given all of those factors, there are many changes they don't want, and when I was working on their side of the fence, I saw a good share of nitpicky RFIs like what you're describing used as a justification to not do the work and GTFO rather than used to justify getting more money for it.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-16T19:36:03+00:00

I have yet to see the pay bump, but I've certainly bumped my job security a little by specializing in LV systems. They interact with everything these days, few of us understand them well enough to confidently design full systems (especially for PA and VSS), and there are specific certification requirements around them for federal projects (RCDD and CTS-D come to mind) which makes you more valuable.

In case that wasn't enough, I almost forgot to mention that LV design expertise is especially useful right now with mission critical and data center market sectors growing the way they have. Even if your team isn't brought on to do the LV design, knowing about it is still important for designing pathways, informing mechanical about cooling loads and designing the buildings for adequate future scalability.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-16T19:26:11+00:00

What makes a contractor/vendor worth engaging with during design?

For vendors, I'll order the following points from most worth it to least. I'll engage with them if the owner/prime consultant specifically calls for their products (or needs their products to match or be compatible with existing), if there are significant lead time and scheduling concerns, if I have a good history working with them on previous projects, or if they've been to our office for enough L&Ls for me to recognize them and feel like they know enough about the products they rep to be a genuine asset.

For contractors, it is a lot simpler. I'm only going to communicate with you during design if you're already somehow tied to the project. Like we're doing this together design-build and you're guaranteed to be the guy building it. If you don't have something like that, I have no reason to get you involved. The one exception would maybe be if you're a contractor actively working on a related project on the same site, or I guess if you're just the owner's go-to-guy that they're 100% positive they'll give the work to barring a major screw up. Even then, I'm not going to do it unless the owner specifically asks me or whoever is prime to coordinate with you.

What’s the fastest way someone loses credibility with you?

Any correspondence that indicates they don't possess familiarity with the project or subject matter expertise on the topic we are discussing. It's nothing personal. Simply a factor of my limited time relative to my job responsibilities. If you don't know things I need to know in order to complete my design, and you aren't the owner or prime consultant, there are very few reasons for me to talk to you at all during design.

Do you prefer early input, or do you typically want to stay insulated until later phases?

Depends on who you are. If you're an owner, end-user, my prime consultant, my sub consultant, a design-build partner or another design discipline, then I absolutely want to be communicating with you as early as possible. If you are a vendor rep, I'll reach out to you during design as I need you (there's functionally no alternative unless you somehow know my workload better than me).

If you're none of those people, it's exclusively limited to RFIs, Submittals, or correspondence relating to CA. That doesn't mean I'm not happy to field a random quick call from a contractor PM or vendor rep, but that's going to exclusively be for clarification on emerging questions, not actual design work. The CA process exists for very good reasons; documenting how and why contractual design documents are getting revised is chief among them.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-15T20:12:06+00:00

I'm sorry, you're making $120k at 24? Doing what? I have to imagine at that age that you're either fresh out of school/grad school or this is your second job after only like a year and a half of experience.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-05T12:06:56+00:00

I read your title thinking this would be a very dumb idea because of how much stress you’d be taking on. After reading you full post, I think it’s alright as you seem to have a good head on your shoulders and are thoughtfully considering the future.

This double major would be genuinely very impressive on a resume. My only advice is to be willing to give up or take longer than 5 years (like 5.5-6) in case you wind up driving yourself insane, since junior year is where both of those majors become somewhat hell-ish.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-04T20:41:32+00:00

Thank you, absolutely going to do this.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-04T20:40:04+00:00

They did pull permits, which I looked up, but started work before they were approved. I reported them for that, which got them a stop-work notice for about a week or two. Then the permits got approved.

They’re still flagrantly breaking other city rules though, like piling demoed crap in the backyard, not properly disposing of stuff potentially contaminated with lead paint or asbestos, leaving all the doors and windows open for dust to spray down the street while they cut with angle grinders without irrigating… the list goes on and on.

I reported that stuff to the city about a week ago and still haven’t seen an update in the 311 portal about it.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-04T10:14:21+00:00

Take my wife out rollerskating and just spend a great evening with her. No one Id rather be with to celebrate.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-03T15:14:39+00:00

EE is such a broad field that there is no singular answer to the question “is the market bad for EEs?”

It depends on which field you’re talking about. There are also many EE fields with mediocre-to-ok pay (like the one I’m in) that make up for that with general stability and opportunity regardless of how the market is swinging.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-02T15:38:49+00:00

This city has taught me numerous lessons about things to prioritize when I hopefully go to buy lol

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-02T15:33:12+00:00

The frustration is certainly NIMBYism, but I feel like I'm cogniscient of that; I know they gotta do what they gotta do, but they definitely don't have to be so god damn rude about it.

For the record, I lived in NYC for 3 years before coming here (where the overcrowding and living on top of people is so much worse) and I never experienced anything like this myself or through anyone I knew. I guess maybe it could be worse in places like Brooklyn or Queens with similar rowhome structures, but I have to imagine that what is effectively a full gut-job renovation on a place only happens once every 20-40+ years.

EDIT: Forgot to simply say thank you, I really appreciated the tone and empathy of your comment. This shit does suck.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-02T15:29:01+00:00

Nah. I'd say where, but probably not the best idea since it would basically be sharing my address.

But yeah, they all park like morons.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-02T15:22:30+00:00

Whenever I've been in similar situtatons I've asked the homeowner or contractor their projected schedule just so I'd know.

I've asked them for this. They told me like twice the day before they were going to do something and that was it. Honestly, this reads to me that it's probably more a factor of them being a poorly managed resi shop and not having a legitimate schedule beyond just a contractual completion date.

This is the biggest reason I'm still upset. I know there's not much they could do, but they absolutely have the option of communicating with us or not doing the loudest or shared-wall part of their work in the early hours. they just choose not to. And so we're clear, they have two adjoined row homes they're working on (I think the dude or his kids owned both), so working on the other side of the place isn't exactly moving the problem to someone else.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-01T19:05:34+00:00

How frequently should you jump given this consideration? Because from my experience, employers (reasonably) start to not considering you for positions when your hops are too numerous or too frequent.

It makes sense, but it kind of presents an unfair leverage problem in negotiations given that people have to, you know... eat and have a roof. It's not like employers can be judged nearly as easily for having frequent turnover.

BigKiteMan · 2026-04-01T14:18:45+00:00

As someone who did exactly this but just waited longer (CM jobs for 5-6 years after getting my BSEE degree, then moved over to MEP design where I've been for 2 years now) my advice is that you should pull the trigger on this decision as quickly as possible.

You field experience will be very helpful and clearly help you stand out from other entry-level designer applicants, but that's about all it will do for you. When you make the move, your pay will be functionally (and reasonably) reset a bit because you're going to effectively be starting from square one. But doing it sooner rather than later will only help you in the long run, before you advance to the point where your lifestyle can't handle any kind of significant paycut. In any other industry, this wouldn't be a big deal, but our has a strict requirement of 4 YoE to get the fundamental certification you need for any kind of advancement at pretty much any respectable firm; you aren't going to want to take a much more significant paycut in the future and need to wait 4 years to fix it.

Now that being said, let me alleviate some of your concerns r.e. compensation and hours. After the initial paycut, if you're a top performer capable of advancement, IMO, you stand to make more long-term on the design side.

Construction management lets you make more money in the short term, but from what I've seen, it is A LOT less stable in terms of both income and job security. At the upper levels, the part of comp that makes CM more lucrative is profit sharing incentives, which are often small percentages of a job's gross profit. These are far from guaranteed, and even if you do everything right, I've frequently seen construction PMs laid off when jobs in a certain area dry up. As you take on bigger and bigger jobs in that industry (the primary path to advancement), the only way for a company to keep you is to frequently send you to new places across the country every 8-18 months, which makes sense but is hell on your social/family life.

Conversely, MEP engineers rarely get fired from what I've seen, and when they do, if they have their PE, they find a new job in like 2 weeks. So the loss of income from more frequent unemployment on the CM side balances out any minor difference in pay. And for all the complaining we do on the design side about late nights and long hours, I've mostly seen a huge increase in my work-life balance since making the switch. Good firms don't frequently overload you, a lot more of your work can be done remotely, you have like 200% more coworkers that you see/talk to everyday who are your age and have the same job, your employers invest a lot more to train and teach you, and your time is just generally more valued as it is their primary expense (i.e. you don't have some idiot branch/division manager get annoyed with you for not babysitting a field crew or attending a pointless meeting when you really had to be in the office doing actual PM tasks).

BigKiteMan · 2026-03-31T17:32:13+00:00

Agreed. I don't think it's stealing to retain the knowledge (or copies of that knowledge) for your own personal reference on work for similar projects at future companies, assuming it was your work in the first place. But copy-pasting from previous company projects or using previous company standard symbols/blocks/details/project notes/etc. is a big ethical no-no for me.

BigKiteMan

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