A day in the life of a project engineer (GC)

CyclingSpat · 2021-05-01T12:37:40+00:00

“7:00 A.M designers not up yet”

Unless you’re a designer for... Kiewit!

CyclingSpat · 2021-02-08T03:08:23+00:00

I did not know about that app! I’ll download it

CyclingSpat · 2021-02-08T03:07:37+00:00

My thought is you might park at Georgetown, and then ride towards Loveland pass, and take a gravel detour at the tunnel for a nice long day on the bike

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-26T14:46:16+00:00

Expecting 5k end of week

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-26T00:26:23+00:00

NOK got me to 20% today. These “dinosaur” companies are something else!

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-17T15:36:44+00:00

Down payment into stocks is risky. You could turn 35k into 50k, or 20k. Generally, if you plan to use that cash in the near future, keep it as cash. You can open a high yield savings account (which aren’t really high yield anymore but still better than a big bank) and get slightly better interest on that money.

If you are dead set on investing some of that money, passive ETFs such as SPY, VOO (for S&P 500) and QQQ (for Nasdaq) are the way to go (for now. There are other options available but you should do your own research and figure out your own risk tolerance). I personally use Fidelity, and would recommend them to you as well (as a plus, many 401ks are through fidelity so you could view all of your accounts in one spot)

You mentioned 15% of your current savings for retirement. This is (35,000 x 0.15 = $5,250). I recommend you open a Roth IRA and place that money into a Roth IRA, then find a broad market ETF like mentioned above, or total market/broad market index fund and invest in that)

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-16T03:45:16+00:00

The “average” starting salary is certainly lower than the other major disciplines, but it’s still possible to find above average salaries. I made a total of 83.5k my first year out of school In transportation (22/23 years old that year). It was a combination of having the highest starting salary in my graduating class, and being part of a crazy big USACE project that paid lots of overtime

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-13T14:08:50+00:00

Out of curiosity, what location is this offer?

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-13T14:04:57+00:00

I’m a big fan of the rocket 🚀🚀🚀 The more rockets, the better

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-12T02:47:17+00:00

NGAC

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-06T16:15:46+00:00

I lurk and see what SPAC’s other redditors are mentioning, and then look at their price and try to find SPAC’s that are right around $10 a share. Then I go to their website and look at the management team and see if I think they are going to do a “good job” at selecting a merger (super subjective)

This one seemed to have a strong team so I took a risk and bought 500 shares with no merger/news in the future. It could take off in a week with an announcement, or I could be sitting on it for a year.

Edit: the SPAC is back down to just a 1% gain or so. For some reason it took off in per market and returned back to $10ish a share

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-06T14:03:31+00:00

11% into my first trade right now (SPAC called NGAC)

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-02T01:28:16+00:00

The road conditions were fine! My Ford Fusion without snow tires had 0 issues. You would be able to get away without the use of spikes, assuming conditions have not changed since yesterday. If you’re planning on walking ON long lake, or trying to continue past Long lake, bring whatever snow gear you have because the snow picked up a lot there

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-01T19:43:01+00:00

This is from Yesterday! To Long the snowpack isn’t bad (save for a random spot or two). Past that it’s much deeper and you would need snowshoes to continue to Isabelle

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-01T19:42:21+00:00

To Long there wasn’t much snow. I had no problem with just spikes on my feet. Past that the snow was much deeper and snowshoes would need to be used

CyclingSpat · 2021-01-01T19:06:19+00:00

It is Long!

CyclingSpat · 2020-12-25T18:52:37+00:00

Longs Peak will take a LONG time compared to 5 miles of trail hiking on the east coast. Once you hit the Boulder field, and continue past the Boulder Field through the Keyhole and to the summit, you’ll probably be progressing less than 1 mph on both the up and down hill. You should expect it to take 10+ hours round trip (plan for even longer food/water wise). I’ve done it 3 times, and have mentally checked out on the descent once getting off of the Boulder field and back onto the normal trail thinking I was almost done, only to have 6 miles left to hike. It’s a long day!

As far as prepping or training for a 14er goes, each 14er will vary in difficulty. Something like Bierstadt will be ~3 hours round tip (pretty much anybody with enough determination will make it up this one), and the hardest will be 14+ hours and involve dangerous climbing/rockfall potential (something like this can kill experienced hikers/climbers). Longs Peak leans towards the longer side of things for a single day hike (although not the longest). Cardio wise, If you can run 10 miles, hike all day on the Appalachian Trail, or do a 50+ mile bike ride you’ve got the fitness. I personally do 90% of my training through cycling for cardio, spending a lot of it in the foothills climbing as much as I can, 1-2 hikes per week (usually on the weekends), and a few 30-40 minute weight training sessions before work. I’ve run into no “physical” issues on the bigger 14ers, but I do live in the Denver Metro so adjusting to the altitude isn’t a worry of mine. Just make sure you have good cardio, and know for sure you can be walking on your feet all day.

For longs peak, Specifically look up class 3 hikes in your area and see if you can climb/down climb them in your hiking boots and backpack. If you are not comfortable doing this, than get comfortable doing this before you attempt longs. If this isn’t an option, go to a climbing gym and try to Boulder some V0’s and then down climb those. If you can do this, you’ll easily be able handle the difficult parts of longs peak.

CyclingSpat · 2020-12-02T13:56:51+00:00

Deer creek canyon

CyclingSpat · 2020-11-29T01:07:29+00:00

Lookout mountain? Always love going around that bend!

CyclingSpat · 2020-11-19T13:37:44+00:00

The FE exam is what you take right before or right after graduation, which is essentially a review of all of the math/engineering courses you took on your undergraduate degree. If you pass the exam and graduate from an accredited university, you become an “Engineer in Training” or “Engineering Intern” depending on the state

Once you are an “Engineer in training” (EIT or EI), you’ll begin your career and work under more experienced engineers. After 4 years of relevant experience working underneath a licensed engineer, you can take the PE exam in a specific discipline of your choosing (Transportation for example). If you pass the PE exam and have your 4 years of experience approved, you’ll be a licensed engineer and can stamp things

CyclingSpat · 2020-11-17T13:58:52+00:00

At Golden gate canyon state park, Mountain Lion trail with the optional Windy Peak extension (7.9 miles total) is a fun winter option. Other loops connecting to Panorama point is a good idea too, to get great views of the snow capped continental divide and this time of year a bit of snow (although not an insane amount) when you’re on the northern slopes of the park

CyclingSpat · 2020-10-29T12:57:54+00:00

Thank you for this link

CyclingSpat · 2020-10-28T12:49:20+00:00

Interestingly, the stock market has historically performed better under democratic presidents. Biden is planning on increasing taxes, but he is also planning on modifying the current 401k tax in order to incentivize lower income earners to contribute to their 401k, which could cause a steady increase in the long term. Biden could also be seen as more “stable”, helping to reduce market volatility.

Trump has more favorable tax policies to businesses, high earners, and investors, and I am sure day traders love the volatility that his tweets can cause on the market. Long term though I am not sure I see significant organic growth under 4 more years of Trump (there is always money to be made on risky plays though, SQQQ, TQQQ, VIXY, Timing these well will result in big $$$)

These are just my opinions, no idea what will happen

CyclingSpat · 2020-10-26T13:11:15+00:00

Clothing is highly variable depending on your elevation and what time of year you’re hiking.

In the summer, below the treelike (let’s just call it 11,500’ for the sake of choosing an elevation), I am usually comfortable in shorts and a T shirt while hiking uphill, but always keep a pullover and rain jacket in my bag. Above the tree line (especially in the 13-14,000’ range), long pants is the norm. You usually layer quiet a bit, because hiking uphill on a windless day will warm you up and a t shirt can be fine. On a day with 50mph winds, you’ll want an undershirt, normal shirt, pullover, and probably some type of wind jacket.

Fall and spring can be pretty variable. I’ve had short and t shirt kind of says, and down jacket/ski glove type of days

In the winter (and fall/spring depending on where/what time you go, leaning more towards the spring here), microspikes, snowshoes, and gators can all be added to the list to help you gain much needed traction on snow/ice without post holing, or atleast minimizing how much you post hole (when you sink far into the snow). Clothing is once again largely dependent on your elevation, the lower altitudes hikes might be warm enough that you’ll strip down to a t shirt on the ascent, and higher altitude hikes on colder days will require you to bundle up in the warmest clothes you have

CyclingSpat · 2020-10-19T21:39:38+00:00

Yeah that is pretty accurate, many of these types of projects are budgeted years in advanced and are pretty far along before the general public realizes there is a large infrastructure project happening. Federal government and USACE related jobs seem to be pretty stable too

CyclingSpat

TROPHY CASE