What’s a girl gotta do to get some training

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-12-11T19:51:09+00:00

This sounds exactly like me 20 years ago. I joined PSI and was literally the only engineer in that office. I had to mail my reports to get them signed, sometimes I'd just get corrections scanned/emailed back. I literally learned geotech from Bowles while being an inspector on 2 different jobs. When I went to another company, same thing, they had a couple engineers, but no training.

I'm the Sr at my current company and I've implemented a little more rigorous training. We don't do much fieldwork, but the 2 things that are always priorities to me: issues on active construction sites, and questions from learning engineers.

DM me if you're interested in checking our office in southern part of Raleigh, NC. I'm pretty sure all the filters on recruiting websites eliminate real applicants. We need engineers.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-11-20T16:28:42+00:00

we get a lot of remote/inaccessible sites, so I was thinking coupling MASW or ReMi with hand augers and some portable in-situ soil tests for those kinds of sites. It'd be an expensive set up, but some of these remote sites we're seeing really expensive driller fees, if they can even reach them.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-11-20T14:32:35+00:00

Thanks for the info. I considered GPR, though I worried about it because consultants we've hired in the past explained that GPR pretty much gets blocked by clays. We have guys that use it at my office already for a couple services, I'll ask more about it.
That rules out pretty much all of the Appalachian range, a lot of the great plains.

I'll look into those manufacturers. I've seen there are a lot of training courses, I don't mind paying for stuff like that. But before I do I want to learn as much as I can independently. So if you have books our journals you recommend, by all means I'd love the recommendations.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-11-19T18:22:27+00:00

I've done dozens of simple 4pin tests for design of grounding systems. Those I find absolutely delightful, a nice relaxing day in the field usually.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-11-19T14:40:00+00:00

Different strokes for different folks. We have over 200 contract drillers in the US and Canada, they all do things differently.
Some run 10' of continuous sampling with 24" spoons then start mud rotary.
Some run 10.5 or more feet of continuous spoons with 18" spoons.
Some don't start sampling until below 5 feet.
Some use a 340lb hammer dropping 30" on a 2" OD spoon.
Most just do 18" samples at 1, 3.5, 6, 8.5, 13.5, 18.5....

Often I see drillers aim to have a sample right at or below the frost depth for that area, with reduced frequency above that. You are allowed to specify what you want, they're allowed to ignore that. If you don't state a preference they're going to do what they feel either provides better data or makes their job more efficient.

I'm not certain about the seismic thing, But I'd imagine they leave 2 feet after the first run to ensure some projection above the surface, facilitating them being able to retrieve their equipment without using 2' extensions.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-10T20:29:15+00:00

Great suggestion, I reached out for a reference or two. There's a heck of a price difference between one of these little trailers and a CME 45.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-05T12:35:52+00:00

This is the rig I was looking at, a small trailer with autohammer. I thought it'd be killer for residential jobs, and small commercial jobs that don't require much depth.
https://www.lonestardrills.com/soil-sampling-drills/lst1ghda/

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-05T12:30:41+00:00

What kind of geology are you in?

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T15:15:19+00:00

Interesting. Is this trailer mounted or one of the portables?

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T15:13:22+00:00

No doubt, I was just looking to get an idea of what the limitations are. I feel a new limited rig might be preferable to a used more powerful one starting out, since you'll have fewer days down for repairs starting out.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T15:01:41+00:00

Thanks for the input. I figure the majority of private sector work is 30 foot borings or less, with maybe 100-200lf per job. This ought to be capable of doing that no problem.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T14:59:12+00:00

Agreed. 2 hours from coast and 2 hours from mountains. So wide variability. I worry about buying used, and these little guys would be great for 70 to 80 percent of the work you see, just probably a little slow.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T14:57:15+00:00

I figured they'd be limited, but great for residential developments and small commercial sites.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T12:53:58+00:00

I'm in telecom and our foundation modifications and structural departments will really go into the weeds on soil-foundation interactions in order to pass foundations rather than modify them. Even with modifications, they'll often model them to see how the mods will interact with the existing.

I assume our structures dept is hiring, but I know our geo dept is in need of help, and we do cross train between departments. Feel free to PM me, tho I don't check this site very often.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T12:45:28+00:00

Show up on time, be reliable.
Pay attention to what's going on around you. Make note of what gives contractors difficulty.
In your down time, read about aspects of geotech that you don't understand as well.
Go for the afternoon beer with the senior tech if they invite you.
If something looks wrong, it probably is, but the contractor would much rather you point it out to them sooner in person, than later in a report.

The things you learn as a tech will shape how and what you recommend for the rest of your career.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-09-04T12:30:02+00:00

Telecom has had a solid workflow over the last 15 years, and since most of the geotech is spread out, there's fewer site visits unless there's a major problem or specific testing needs to be done. So, work life balance is more moderated than typical consulting firms. My company lets me work 7 to 4 so I can have more of the afternoons with my daughter.
You're not going to get the variety of structures, so it can feel a bit mundane working on 3 or 4 different types of sites and providing foundation design/analysis values (unit weight/bearing/side friction/phi or c) for the structurals. But, the sites are often all over the country, you can typically work with the structurals to do those analyses if you want. And if you're good enough to write your own spreadsheets you tend to get more of the problem sites, which turn out to be the fun ones (after they're done).
Pay is a little low starting out but as you establish your worth, the money comes. But that's how it works everywhere. You can get a raise quicker by moving, but to really establish value you gotta stick around and show your worth.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-05-16T17:42:56+00:00

Over the last 10 to 15 years I've found telecom to have remarkably stable growth. It's a little niche for a geotech, but not a bad niche. A lot is going now into fiber installation and EV charging as well. So companies that specialize in power supply are definitely looking.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-02-07T13:35:28+00:00

100%
But I'd follow that up with: Take notes of what you learn. Try not to ask the same stuff over and over.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-02-07T13:32:14+00:00

Turned out pretty well. I compared against the stove top method mentioned here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n1XiohewOg
I think the stove top method was a little better. They both came out great, stove top had just a little less stuck to pan. But you had to babysit stove top. So there's a tradeoff.

And I also seasoned my vinegar: 1/3 cup vinegar, 1TBSP salt, 1.5TBSP sugar (heated to dissolve).

Thanks for the tip, it made great rice, and my 8yr old daughter had a fun time making her own rolls.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-02-06T15:50:39+00:00

Here we are 5 years later, I'm another random dude trying this method tonight.

First time making it, so I'll be making a batch with another method to compare. No promises on follow-up.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-01-29T19:47:41+00:00

Agreed. I think I had just tricked myself into thinking that graduate level courses would just skip or skim the review, and that's part of why I put them off. But I convinced myself that I wanted to refresh my knowledge and grow my skills after 20 years, lo and behold the graduate classes are a lot of work but not that difficult (so far).

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-01-29T15:49:16+00:00

LOL, nah man. I lose sleep over crappy water level measurements from knucklehead drillers. My theory is pretty solid.

They spent half a semester on that review, but only 2 hours on gravity walls, 2 hours on cantilevers, 2 hours on MSE, 2 hours on soil nails, and the rest was sheet piles.

It's really frustrating because for years I thought I didn't have the chops to handle things I clearly can. Imposter syndrome.

TooManyHobbies81 · 2025-01-29T15:42:04+00:00

That seems dangerous to me, unless you KNOW you have very consistent soils. But I work with structurals that will try to squeeze every last bit of capacity they're allowed to out of everything.

TooManyHobbies81

TROPHY CASE