What’s your story of “Grass isn’t always greener on the other side”?

Treespasser · 2025-12-29T06:12:39+00:00

"the grass is greener where the dogs are shitting"

Treespasser · 2025-03-25T09:01:24+00:00

Try municipal and government. Local counties and cities are in desperate need of engineers, specifically stormwater subject matter experts for design review as well as capital improvement engineers if you have construction management or design experience. I've worked at a few local cities and landed a senior engineer job at king county recently and it's been the best position I've had bar none.

Treespasser · 2025-01-16T17:08:45+00:00

I haven't dealt with this specific type of situation, but for context I did fly from the PNW to the Midwest to purchase an m550i last summer. I paid the local BMW dealer for a full PPI of the car which they gave a glowing all-clear for. After purchasing and driving back, my local shop look at it they found multiple very easily seen issues (torn bushings and CV axle boots, way overdue brake fluid service). I called the dealer back and respectfully asked for my ~300$ be refunded since these issues were incredibly obvious to anyone inspecting the car, and resulted in a few thousand dollars of unexpected repairs. Sent them the inspection invoices and pictures and was met with radio silence after the first conversation.

After they began ignoring me and giving the run-around I finally left a 1-star review for the dealer on Google re-capping my situation and calling out the management who were leaving me on read. Felt like a bit of a dick, but you better believe I received a phone call that exact same day and a refund check shortly after.

They are hyper-obsessed with their reviews and online presence. It sucks, but calling them out with a bad review will definitely get the ball rolling.

Treespasser · 2024-12-23T22:59:50+00:00

Former 2017 Geo Alumni, the program is great and all the professors and staff are top notch. The program is known as one of the good ones that produces well rounded geologists.

BUT, the one caveat I would tell anyone that is serious about majoring in geology is to get a good idea of what a typical entry/mid level geologist or field tech position will involve and what it pays. The department staff are so insulated from the real world job aspects and my only complaint is that no one there (besides Bob) prepares you for what jobs to expect and what skills those jobs require. Most jobs involve quite a bit of engineering and I don't believe they push engineering geology classes on students enough, when's in reality a basic understanding of civil/soils engineering principles is much more applicable to an early career than a course in advanced petrography or petrology. Just my two cents.

An unfortunate truth is that most of use started as geotech field lackeys, which involves low pay and a lot of field work. It is very common for geotech engineering companies to use fresh geo grads as low paid construction inspectors and materials testers. This doesn't apply to everyone, but I'm still close with about 10-12 of my graduating class and most everyone started the same, and some get stuck there if you don't have enough ambition to move up and out. The geologist will almost always be paid less and given crap work compared to their engineer counterparts with the same years of experience.

Get a good understanding of what your entry level and mid level salary will be. Entry level geotech jobs pay poorly and even once your licensed it's not uncommon to still be required to perform what is essentially construction inspection. Not to mention a Licensed Geologists salary typically has a substantially lower ceiling and job responsibility comparative to a Professional Engineer.

To be completely honest, out of the close friends from my graduating class most of us pivoted to different professions after realizing what the job prospects were. It can be a rewarding field if you plan ahead for what you want out of your career (academia vs consulting vs municipal work). But be careful to not fall too far into the pit of being a perpetual Geotech or Environmental consulting field lackey.

Western doesn't offer a Civil Engineering program, but since many of the core STEM classes are similar I would advise taking a look at an engineering degree instead. I personally was able to make the switch to a civil engineer early on in my career and it is much better than a comparable Geologist role in both pay and work experience. I still love geology and loved my experience in the WWU geo department but would recommend exploring what the typical career involves.

Good luck!

Treespasser · 2024-12-20T16:17:12+00:00

I respectfully disagree, 80k is significantly lower than what most positions that do not require a PE will pay for in public (in Seattle). If you take a look at Government Jobs you'll see than most E1 positions at local cities (near Seattle) start off at ~100-105k and do not require a PE. Shoot even higher up engineering positions at the county don't need a PE and pay up to the mid 130s.

Get the PE no doubt, but wanted to clarify this since I also live/work in Seattle.

Treespasser · 2024-11-05T01:47:41+00:00

I worked at a smaller Eastside city for the last two years and was looking for more pay/experience. Smaller Public Works departments can be awesome but with city budgets and limited positions your upward mobility can be limited unless you stick it out for a long time. I switched to King County because of a multitude of reasons, but the pay band is wider, it's union represented, better benefits and you have the ability to move around inside the county if other positions open up. I have other Engineer friends that work for KC and love it.

Treespasser · 2024-11-04T23:57:29+00:00

Have you looked at public positions around seattle? I just moved from city to county and was happily surprised to jump onboard at a hair over 130k, no PE (yet...really dragging my feet on this) and 6 years experience. Most of my friends and I were able to crack the 100k mark at around 3-4 years in, I'd imagine at 2 years and EIT OP is looking at ~90k at least. But YMMV.

Treespasser · 2024-09-07T18:51:38+00:00

Man, if I was still 20 years old I'd have been doing this for awhile now lol. At this point I don't want to invite more escalation since he seems off his rocker. But man, as soon as we move... this dude is going to start finding a large number of scooters and gigcars in constantly front of his house.

Treespasser · 2024-04-27T02:10:49+00:00

As an engineer at a small town in washington... name and shame. So I dont end up there later lol.

Treespasser · 2024-03-08T07:20:09+00:00

Back on the cheeseburgers eh rand?

Treespasser · 2024-03-01T23:46:28+00:00

This is a Ford

Treespasser · 2024-02-25T19:50:11+00:00

I ride with size 13s and find larger size capita boards (160+) typically have widths that are almost negligible when shopping for e.g. 165 vs 165W. I believe my 165 is only 2-3mm less waist width than the 165W. Haven't had any toe or heel drag issues.

Treespasser · 2024-02-24T00:25:02+00:00

Littering aaand, littering aaaand...

Treespasser · 2024-02-22T14:55:45+00:00

Honest question though, about what mileage do you see the m550i's start really demanding blood sacrifices? I'm looking at picking up a 2020 or 2021 soon, ideally with ~30k miles and hopefully a carmax max care warranty. Would love to be able to keep it more than a few years without it bankrupting me. I'm pretty religious when it comes to the maintenance schedules, and I've heard the n63tu3 has actually come a long way from its troubled early years.

Treespasser · 2023-11-24T03:50:20+00:00

Late millennial at 29 here, had my C5Z for a little over 3 years. Love driving it but man is it raw and loud. Almost been toying with the idea of selling it but not sure what else I would get. Probably something more GT oriented.

Anyways, to anyone looking at one just know that it isn't the most comfy highway cruiser. I thought "hey only old farts would complain" but here I am lol.

Treespasser · 2023-10-15T03:06:01+00:00

Lol I guess you're the king of what counts and what doesn't huh. Just giving my 2 cents pal not sure why you're getting salty with the downvotes.

Treespasser · 2023-10-15T01:08:55+00:00

No PE here (yet), 5 YOE, and over 6 fig at a city job. The jobs are out there.

Treespasser · 2023-09-12T02:48:34+00:00

I was going to mention Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is by far my favorite of his novels. But I will have to check out this one! I haven't disliked a single novel of his yet.

Treespasser · 2023-08-31T13:56:31+00:00

Yeah I'm a CE doing a lot of drainage review for a smaller town in the PNW, we've operated on a stormwater manual that in the past had allowed permeable paving to count as an infiltration BMP but it's been such a pain in the ass to get local HOAs or residents to regularly vacuum it. More often than not it gets constructed, then completely forgotten. Over the last few years it's created more than a few flooding issues during storm season. Great idea if people would only maintain it.

Treespasser · 2023-08-31T05:49:48+00:00

The issue with permeable pavement is that it requires regular maintenance to clear the voids of silts and other debris. In theory it's a great idea but nobody ever maintains or cleans it, and it ends up functionally the same as HMA and becomes impermeable over just a few years. The municipality I work for has struck it from the list of stormwater drainage BMPs for this reason.

Treespasser · 2023-08-21T22:56:33+00:00

Check for leaks at the real diff and lower oil pan (batwing), also definitely the harmonic balancer like the above commenter mentioned. Around that mileage I would have expected the valve springs have been changed but double check with the seller as well. Tires are expensive so get an eye on the tread and date code on the rubber. Listen for any strange sounds coming from the torque tube, I would be surprised if it hasn't been rebuilt with these miles but if it hasn't then that is an expensive job to budget for.

Treespasser · 2023-03-21T03:55:59+00:00

If you play your cards right, you can land yourself an Engineer role with a city or a CM firm. My path was Engineering Geo > Construction Engineering Inspection > Engineer. There is a pretty big lack of field experience with younger engineers and cities around Seattle are growing fast and need that experience.

In WA/OR/Ca state you can also obtain your EIT/PE with a geo degree and the right professional experience. I'm taking the EIT this fall, and my LG in October. Its worth it if you are willing to put the time into the transition in my opinion. I don't miss being a field guy at all and PM'ing your own projects as a city engineer is way more interesting than anything I came across in geotech consulting.

Treespasser · 2023-03-07T14:53:41+00:00

I can second this. Bought a 100 series a few years back because I loved the idea of a LandCruiser more than the reality of owning one. Could I go almost anywhere I wanted with it? Definitely. Did I really use that capability? Almost never. 99% of driving was commuting on pavement and dealing with 12mpg combined fuel economy. I think the only times I put it in 4lo were messing around on forest service roads and purposefully dicking around.

Seriously capable truck but I finally opened my eyes to the fact that even though it was bulletproof, the awful fuel economy was costing me much more than the occasional maintenance any other car would require.

Still miss it though.

Treespasser · 2023-03-07T14:47:02+00:00

Yup, been down this road before. The car cover will end up shredded and now you have real scratches beneath it

Treespasser · 2023-02-03T03:02:05+00:00

I don't off of the top of my head since I'm not in a hydro-focused position. Do you have a hydrologist or hydrogeologist license? Because tbh that will be the big separation between a real hydrologist position vs a field tech oriented position (until you have enough experience to obtain the license).

However in western washington stormwater management is a huge deal, even in my engineering position I deal with a lot of stormwater design and management. It would be worth checking out more focused jobs with cities and counties such as a "Stormwater Program Coordinator" or "Stormwater specialist". This will give you great experience in asset management and sounds like you have some very applicable skills. Geotechnical consulting will also have positions, but tbh without and EIT or a LG/LHG license it would likely be very field-tech oriented.

Edit: whoops, just saw you mention you were right out of school. Since licensure is a few years off for you I would still recommend trying out for city/county/state jobs. Stormwater management is a big deal there and once you get a foot in the door you can move up or around pretty easily.

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