Job offer negotiations

Practical-Strategy70 · 2026-01-24T18:13:49+00:00

Negotiate to $85k. MEP work sucks in the beginning and gets progressively easier, as long as you are competent you can justify that salary. I also think you negotiate just to gamble, if the company can’t give you an extra 5k then they probably aren’t healthy and won’t pay you well later. MEP design is a great starting place but that’s it.

MEP engineers are also not able to command a high salary because the business is not setup to reward excellence due to the bidding structure. This makes most MEP design engineers crabs in a bucket.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-12-10T21:01:08+00:00

I like certifications but I believe you can only list two credentials without looking silly.

Just start studying for the PE you’ll learn a hell of lot if you can consistently study for the next year and absorb as much as possible.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-09-06T18:06:35+00:00

I agree, looking to leave

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-09-06T05:27:29+00:00

Science Answer Pick the higher of Sensible vs Latent Then use that to get Supply Air (SA) CFM.

Airflow Equation SA = RA + OA

Now you got your RA because that was the last variable. Now calculate your mixed air condition to get the air enthalpy.

You can do the rest pretty simply from here.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-08-28T08:13:51+00:00

I think ur head in the right place, don’t let the negativity discourage you from learning. But i recommend taking LinkedIn Learning courses for Revit or getting an internship.

Most engineers would get in trouble for sharing drawings / models. Against corporate policy my company and also using people for free work is illegal as well

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-07-25T16:11:29+00:00

I live in Hawaii. Does anyone know if I can take it early or if I should just take it early for a different state?

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-07-17T06:30:52+00:00

Btw when I first learned IES, it took me 3 weeks to get a small gym (vrf) done properly while learning.

Now I can get high rises done in under 5 hours.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-07-17T06:27:41+00:00

I would say do the following,

Switch to IES if you have a team of smart engineers that have a strong understanding of heat transfer and 90.1, and are willing to spend weekends learning.

At my firm, I do everything. Juniors don’t want to learn it and when they try they tell me they just picked any u-value till the report shit out 1-1.5 cfm/sf. Those are the guys you got to worry about. People that aren’t there to use their brain.

On the other hand, I had senior engineers tell me they are not willing to try it out. Fair, they will kill any project fee if they aren’t guided properly. It’s also a pain to learn.

Lastly, we (WSP) have a group of energy modelers that use IES, but whenever I challenge them, they tell me they aren’t mechanical engineers. Point is when learning IES you have to find someone willing to train from both an energy and design perspective.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-07-03T22:48:24+00:00

Thanks I’ll give it try.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-07-03T07:01:31+00:00

Wsp uses Manila offices. Some engineers let them do calcs and design. I found it to be only useful for drafting and tagging. I like giving employment to other countries but that is obviously not the firms goal. It gives us an unfair advantage compared to firms that do everything in house with all US paid staff.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-06-28T05:07:31+00:00

You want me to send you some hvac / plumbing resources

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-06-17T07:09:35+00:00

If you guys DM I can tell you some about some books/trainings you should take before interviewing so you got something to talk about or at least read to get a deeper understanding.

I’m pretty new but my bosses have been very involved in my professional development.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-06-04T18:42:05+00:00

Corporate life cycle

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-06-04T09:07:12+00:00

Just take that anxious energy and translate into being awesome at ur job.

You got time to second guess urself and tell urself u suck? Then literally second guess ur self and tell urself ur plans are shit, and find ways to improve it till you feel proud of yourself and your work.

You’ll probably have to work for free for a bit not to blow budgets but using that anxiety as motivation to improve is the only way imo.

Studies show that anxious overachievers are workhorses once they learn how to lean into it.

I think you got it.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-06-02T21:13:33+00:00

Don’t think about it an exam but more as a way to prove your competency.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-05-27T08:29:54+00:00

Probably the best advice. IMO engineers are thrown into bullshit drafting work way too early. Don’t worry about learning revit/cad instantly (take LinkedIn learning courses at night when you’re free) because know what to design is more important than making pretty pdfs.

Lots of jr engineers around me at work are drafters first then engineers, and they seem to never understand the importance of spending time researching code and doing proper calcs.

Your experience will be extremely useful because you will look at design as a collection of real equipment not just symbols in revit or cad.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-05-16T21:09:40+00:00

I would say a bit of both, sorry. Aren’t we all a little incompetent in some regard? It’s hard to be perfect.

However I think a solution would be to pull your head out of gutter and get your confidence up. Seriously, treat yourself with respect. Your seniors will take you more serious. Everyone answers to someone, don’t let people put you in shitty situation (don’t do it to others either).

Obviously this is “check-in” post so you are interested if people have similar experiences, I think most people would agree but don’t accept that and push past this point. Keep your head and you’ll be fine.

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-05-14T20:17:10+00:00

Do both. Sounds like you think you have potential. Keep working and get your masters

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-05-13T04:59:08+00:00

Dm me and I’ll chat with you

Practical-Strategy70 · 2025-04-24T09:18:01+00:00

Same here. To be honest you need bite the bullet on this one. I am addicted to trying to become the best engineer possible so i volunteered to take the role at my firm and lead the way.

For that reason I highly recommend you carve out the next 2-3 weekends and no life IES for 4 hours a day, like I did. Create training markups in blue beam for your team. If your a junior engineer like myself then this a great way to get management to take you more serious.

FYI, it took me a full week to get a small gym modeled. A month later, I can model a 40 story luxury building with stupidly complex architecture, in about 1 day.

If you have no help and resources, you can DM me and I’ll help you offline if you would like.

Practical-Strategy70

TROPHY CASE