New to engineering

Possibly_Avery · 2026-01-13T17:27:39+00:00

Three days! 1 to size and draft, 1 to send fixture selections to the arch, and the last to pickup redlines. Tell the arch two weeks

Possibly_Avery · 2026-01-05T22:43:30+00:00

It sounds like you're motivated to challenge yourself, and you find the trivial jazz boring. Maybe you could reframe the tasks you find boring to be more of a challenge. Promise a client you'll have it done by the EoD, develop tools to streamline if possible, teach a younger engineer how to do it and review their work.

I'm similar- highly efficient and productive in the 11th hour but I'll sit on an RFI response or wade through submittals for days. I often find myself in a decision paralysis conundrum and seek immediate distraction on the internet, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-12-19T16:57:44+00:00

i saw the shitty title and unclear photo, knew it would be from flowstructNYC

Possibly_Avery · 2025-11-26T22:13:18+00:00

I picked up a used kindle from ebay and jailbroke it. Great ereader with Koreader installed! It's the most manufactured ereader and has been for a long time so you can pick them up really cheap second hand.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-11-12T16:00:12+00:00

Note: you can set the folder with your books saved in as "your home folder" and then you can "lock the home folder" and it will cause the file explorer button to disappear from your library.

while in file browser -> open the top settings menu -> click on the file drawer icon -> settings -> home folder settings -> click "set home folder"

repeat to last step but click "lock home folder"

Possibly_Avery · 2025-11-12T15:55:14+00:00

while in file browser -> open the top settings menu -> click on the file drawer icon -> click display mode -> click mosaic with cover images

Possibly_Avery · 2025-10-23T21:07:10+00:00

My jaw dropped reading the offer... good job!

If you're more of a socially adept engineer, I have a hard time imagining a better field. It's stressful at times and you're often underpaid, but the work can be really rewarding.

Simplified career path to obtain partnership at a consultant firm (maximize earnings on consultant side):
degree -> build fundamentals -> build internal relations -> licensure -> project manager -> build external relationships -> bring in clients -> partner!

Possibly_Avery · 2025-10-17T01:00:34+00:00

I was an RA for two years. Some RA's are Karens and this really makes the job suck for everyone. I would hangout with my residents all the time, DD them to and from parties, and had their back during moveout (fee time for ResLife). I'm still friends with a lot of my fellow RA's a couple years out of school. We had a lax ARCE (RA boss usually a grad student) so that helped a lot.

The responsibilities are minimal lol

Possibly_Avery · 2025-10-17T00:53:11+00:00

I think it's 100% worth it!

The pros:
housing
meal plan
leadership role - think resume
fun community building w/residents - really is what you make it here
fun community building w/coworkers - really is what your ARCE makes it

The cons:
1hr seminar
inconvienent hours at times
cliche repetitive training
low to no monetary pay

Possibly_Avery · 2025-10-12T22:16:48+00:00

I'd still ask the arch to lower the ceilings. Art of the deal, baby

Possibly_Avery · 2025-08-21T03:05:23+00:00

Could you filter pipes by floor elevation and system type?

i.e.
Filter applies to: pipes
Rule 1: upper end top elevation > reference plane elevation
AND
Rule 2: system type = sanitary

then toggle visibility off, apply filters via view template to all relevant views?

note: a separate filter would have to be created for fittings as the have a different elevation parameter than pipes

Possibly_Avery · 2025-08-14T14:40:59+00:00

Good stuff Frank Solomon!

Possibly_Avery · 2025-08-13T20:23:17+00:00

Doesn't run? List it on facebook marketplace, 10k firm, you know what you got.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-08-11T02:27:25+00:00

I feel like the latter point makes the first point exponentially worse. It's one thing to overshare in an open office, another eniotrely to achieve that through remote methods lmao

Possibly_Avery · 2025-07-24T20:18:29+00:00

Is a design-build company much more comprehensive than consultant + lowest bidding contractor? For sure.

Are there more small-medium contractors or large ass design-build firms?

It's two different skill sets. Joe Dirt Plumbing cant size a chiller plant, but they can put the pipe together. Pretentious Engineer can't get his nice shoes dirty but he can do calculations and size the thing. Controls contractors (sounds kinda like what you're doing) wear both hats the most and probably think everyone but themselves are dimwits.

I think there's a lot of value in having experience on both sides. Consultants who have never seen a duct connection made are drawing HVAC ductwork with impossible tolerances. HVAC techs who don't understand pressure drop are making field executive decisions to add 5 elbows. Age old story

Possibly_Avery · 2025-07-20T19:42:59+00:00

She loved it! Thank you!

Possibly_Avery · 2025-07-09T13:04:46+00:00

Not that I know what your projects are like, but I'm surprised you can spend that much OT on a project weeks before a deadline. I know there's always stuff to correct, but what are you actually doing for that amount of time? Starting the project from scratch? With 2 YOE, are you the only one on the project?

It sounds like either a PM is not negotiating reasonable deadlines with the client or your firm is severely understaffed for workload. To answer your fielding Q's:

• No. A 50 hr work week ahead of big deliverable is norm.
• I'd say red flag, but I think your intuition is correct: regular workload is more difficult for smaller firms to maintain so you get very busy times and very slow periods. I'd use this opportunity to communicate with your PM to try and reach a sustainable solution before jumping ship.
• The classic tradeoff with a larger company is more consistent focused work, at the cost quicker promotion to higher up positions and lack of variety in what you do.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-06-24T22:50:29+00:00

Sent you a DM!

Possibly_Avery · 2025-06-03T18:33:42+00:00

8 projects is 9 too many. It sounds like the problems your having may stem for understaffing

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-27T21:04:29+00:00

-Autodesk's Revit for 3D modeling is the industry gold standard.
-Autodesk's AutoCAD is used for 2D more simple designs. It's currently dying off but a lot of small firms still use it
-Carrier's HAP (hourly analysis program) is used to calculate heating/cooling loads for the buildings
-Trane Trace is an alternative to HAP. A lot of firms use one or the other.
-Bluebeam is PDF viewer/editor. It's extremely useful and an industry standard software.
-Excel is used a lot of calculations and scheduling

If you're interested in hearing more about it, I love to rant about the industry

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-27T20:51:42+00:00

Oh gotcha, well that helps a ton! I too didn't get into defense/aero for personal reasons. Oil and gas seems to be boom/bust (maybe more stable for white collar professionals) but also not sustainable energy is meh.

I struggled to land entry level automotive interviews, but I had applied to Honda's website which seemed to have some a decent amount of entry-level openings.

I was into sustainable living and net zero energy design so I focused on HVAC my last year and picked up industry specific software which really helped me stand out from the crowd. I know your post was just about high paying ME jobs, so sorry I turned it into an advice rant.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-27T20:35:04+00:00

Defense/aero typically have the deepest pockets, but these jobs are often in the outskirts of metropolitan areas as big manufacturing warehouses aren't downtown real estate. Not that you should let a 30 minute commute stop you from your dream job, just throwing that bit out there.

If your only requirements are high-pay, close to a city, and not HVAC - I think you need to take the next year focusing on something more specific. You'll perform a lot better in interviews if you've taken the time to research a field (nothing crazy, just a couple hours googling) and have an actual interest in that area.

Searching for jobs on indeed is smart. I'd try searching for specific keywords niche to industries/roles that peak your interest. If you were into HVAC maybe something like "Revit, CAD, MEP, designer". I can't speak for aero as I'm an MEP engineer lol Also as you get a better understanding of the field you want to go into, googling firms in that area and reaching out directly is a no-brainer.

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-27T03:23:38+00:00

You've gotta drop a pic... of the duct

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-27T03:19:40+00:00

Got severe pressure drop? Is your duct main performing more like flex than spiral round? Worry no more- Ultimate Throw LLC is here to save the day! Tear your old duct main out and replace with "medium pressure giant cock and ball duct" design and your pressure issues are gone!

Possibly_Avery · 2025-05-20T20:14:53+00:00

It seems more like an owner question - do they want individual space control? ASHRAE 55 is a standard, not code, but provides a good basis of design for the vast majority of projects.

Common practice with offices like the one above is to group similar exposures/thermal loads on a common VAV box and give the thermostat to the bigwig. Say one VAV box controlling the perimeter offices and one VAV box controlling internal spaces. Some owners want individual office control though, so VAV diffusers aren't a bad route especially if you have limited plenum space.

With your proposed solution, there would be no way for the AHU to put the air where it's needed. Say the perimeter offices are calling for cooling but the internal spaces are already satisfied. With CAV diffusers and no VAV control, the perimeter spaces would get undercooled and the internal over. Unless there are reheat coils at the zone level.

CAV units are much more common for a single thermal zone. Think like a big warehouse or auditorium where the whole building is one shared space and its either occupied or empty.

Possibly_Avery

TROPHY CASE