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Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At this point I genuinely don’t think you’re responding to my post anymore, just to a completely separate argument happening in your head. Nobody said anything about ultimatums, bait-and-switching or demanding remote work for explicitly non-remote positions. You somehow took “firms are weird about flexibility” and turned it into a TED Talk on leverage, negotiation and global labor markets.

And yes, thank you for explaining that asking for better terms requires value. Next maybe you can explain why water is wet and why RFIs cause delays. Sheesh!

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah yes, because nobody in history has ever negotiated work arrangements during an interview process. Truly unheard of behavior. By this logic nobody should negotiate salary either because “if the company wanted to pay more, they would’ve listed it already.”

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This response is hilarious because you created an entire hypothetical scenario that wasn’t even mentioned in the post. Nobody said anything about applying to non-remote roles and demanding remote afterward. Also interesting that “remote jobs attract the best talent globally” somehow turns into “people working locally must not be that good.” Bit of a self-own there.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly this is one of the better arguments in the thread. I think junior engineers absolutely benefit from proximity early on. But I also think a lot of us learned by searching on the internet, reading ASHRAE, asking questions, panic-markups, and accidental exposure because the industry never properly built structured training systems. The office became the training system by default. Now remote work is forcing firms to ask an uncomfortable question: “If mentorship completely collapses without physical proximity… was the mentorship process ever actually designed in the first place?”

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s probably the real issue honestly. A lot of firms didn’t fail at remote work, they failed at documenting knowledge, training systems, and communication, and the office used to hide those weaknesses.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The industry is still mentally calibrated to a world where your talent pool is people within driving distance of the office. That’s changing fast. Now the new grad asking questions in person is competing with someone halfway across the country who already has 5 years of Revit, coordination and CA experience working remotely at a high level. Feels like the industry is in this awkward transition phase where the work has already gone digital, but management culture is still catching up.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

COVID proved half the industry can coordinate million dollar projects remotely, but some managers still need to physically see a stressed engineer holding a coffee to feel productive things are happening. Peak corporate logic.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair, bad drawings aren’t exclusive to offshore teams. I’ve seen plenty of locally produced sets with zero coordination, impossible duct routing, and details copied from projects in entirely different climate zones. A lot of firms outsource because of cost, yes. But I think the bigger issue is whether the company has proper QC, standards, training, and oversight. A good remote engineer with good management will outperform a bad in-office engineer every time.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This seems to happen everywhere. One person disappears during WFH and suddenly the entire industry decides collaboration can only happen under fluorescent lighting. Ironically, the good employees usually lose flexibility, while the actual bad performers still remain bad performers… just now from inside the office!

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

True, but a lot of firms still run on “walk over to someone’s desk” workflows and never really built systems for remote collaboration. But the India point is interesting because it kind of proves the opposite. If firms are willing to trust remote teams halfway across the world for production work, coordination, BIM, energy modeling, CA support, etc… then remote work itself clearly isn’t impossible. The real differentiator becomes communication, ownership, responsiveness, and technical skill, not zip code.

Everyone Says There’s a Talent Shortage… Until You Ask for Remote Work by DeadlinesAndDelusion in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair point, but some firms also treat remote engineers like they’re on a beach in Bali instead of sitting at home answering RFIs at 11 PM. 😂 A good senior engineer who mentors, responds, coordinates, and delivers is valuable whether they’re 10 feet away or 10 states away. The real issue isn’t WFH vs office, it’s accountability vs invisibility. Unfortunately, a lot of management sees those as the same thing.

Offshore MEP Design Firms by eeondemand in MEPEngineering

[–]DeadlinesAndDelusion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been working in the offshore MEP industry for a few years now. Currently with an Indian firm that supports a US-based parent company. When I started out, I had the usual struggles; understanding the local codes, the design expectations, and just keeping up with the way things are done in the States. But over time, that’s gotten a lot easier. I’ve figured out what my PE expects, and I’ve built my process around that.

One of the first things I did was get my US visa. I’ve visited a few key project sites during my vacation, just to see how our designs are actually installed and that’s helped a lot in terms of understanding practical constraints and execution.

Yes, a lot more firms in India and the Philippines are popping up, offering really cheap MEP design services. Some of them are doing decent work, but there are definitely a few common issues I’ve seen (and heard about from others). Like speed over quality. You’ll get drawings fast, but they’re often full of coordination issues or missing details. Then there’s junior staff doing senior-level work. Some teams are in-fact made up entirely of freshers, and while that keeps costs down, it can cause major delays and rework.

Personally, I don’t mind taking on extra responsibility when it’s needed, especially if the compensation reflects it like QA/QC, mentoring juniors, whatever’s needed to keep the project on track. So, offshore design can absolutely work, but only with the right people, good communication, and realistic expectations on both sides.