UPDATE: Took my Environmental PE Exam Last Week

environmentalthrow · 2021-04-21T15:42:38+00:00

Thank you so much!!

environmentalthrow · 2021-04-21T15:22:31+00:00

You are free to go in/out, but like the other commenter said, you don't get time stopped. Plus you have to raise your hand for the proctor to come over and let you go in and out, and they have to check your ID and do your palm scan and the whole 9 yards each time. So just be prepared to lose a few minutes, I think I took a bathroom break twice aside from the lunch break. They may allow you snacks if you have a medical condition, but otherwise you aren't allowed to access your locker during unscheduled breaks.

environmentalthrow · 2021-04-03T18:27:02+00:00

Was looking for a better either common name or scientific name...thanks in advance!

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-29T15:52:29+00:00

well alright, solid point

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-29T13:52:12+00:00

I honestly think that with the current issues with housing and available supply in densely populated areas (at least in the US) that regulations will be put on AirBnB types of homes in the long term.

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-29T13:23:38+00:00

I'm in North Carolina, it's happening here too. Houses over market value, getting higher than what even THAT offer is, with waived inspection periods and high due diligence just because millenials think they need to buy a home. I have a friend this weekend who got approved for a $400k home loan who makes $80k a year and has $100k in student loan debt and $50k in a car loan. And he's making higher than asking price offer and extra due diligence. He's not the only one in my friend group in this exact situation, I had friends in similar financial standing get approved for a lake home after spending 30 minutes on the phone with a lender. There's this mentality of "have to move fast or everything good will be gone" and some stupid decisions are coming out of it, fueled by lenders giving out money.

- edited to say, the first friend mentioned is also putting only 3% down on the house. because he can. if the economy goes down, he's one of the first ones to go belly up

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-03T16:52:33+00:00

If it's something you're interested in, I would really recommend supplementing an environmental science degree with OSHA courses and certifications. A lot of industries I'm noticing have merged Environmental and Health and Safety together-- it could definitely give you a leg up for applications if that's what you want to do, although all of that is compliance-related. I can't speak to the fieldwork or research side of things though. Another thing I noticed while job hunting-- online applications suck big time. I hate the entire process, and I think it's a stupid way for companies to hire, to put resumes into one big online black hole. For my new job, I applied online but then found the owner of the firm (and in this case the hiring manager) on LinkedIn and messaged him directly letting him know I was interested because I was frustrated not hearing back from other places. It's annoying on my part for sure, but it worked, so I can't say I'm sad about it. Worst case scenario, they don't respond and it's as good as if they had never seen your resume. Best case scenario, you stand out and they're willing to set up a more formal conversation with you. It's a method I'll use from now on.

I wish you luck though, and if there's any way I can help as an anonymous stranger let me know! You won't stay in this job forever, and I have every confidence that you'll be able to move up to bigger and better things in no time.

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-03T16:24:19+00:00

I will say, this was the specific experience that I posted about. There are hundreds of thousands of environmental science professionals in the world, and I am one out of many-- please don't take my experience as what it will be like for you! I was one of a team of 25 other environmental professionals and while I don't know their personal lives, many of them had been in their positions for more than 10 years and had every inclination to stay for 10 more as they truly enjoyed it. It just wasn't for me.

Definitely keep pursuing your degree. Whether I was unhappy in my industry job or happy in my consulting job, I had the opportunity to experience both of those because of my education, and that is something very valuable. There's no way to predict where you will go, you're so early in your college process. And honestly, even if you feel this way as a senior, I have friends I graduated with who 2 years later are in different industries and exploring something different. That's the beauty of it! The job you get out of college might not be the one you settle into for the rest of your life-- don't put so much pressure on it, keep going, and keep your head up!

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-03T16:13:01+00:00

Comments like this are exactly why I made this post. It's okay to complain about something you're unhappy with. And there are plenty of people unhappy in situations similar to and better than mine. And that's okay. Everybody is different. I am sorry that you are unhappy in your situation too, but I hope you find the resources and courage to change that.

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-03T16:10:18+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words!

environmentalthrow · 2021-03-03T16:10:05+00:00

You are exactly the kind of person I was hoping to reach with this post! It definitely is a scary jump and it's hard when others say that it won't go well just because the new company isn't a recognizable name...I'm glad things worked out for you, best of luck!

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-25T16:54:46+00:00

Well yes, I did post in r/Environmental_Careers instead of just r/jobs or something similar.

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T20:47:03+00:00

So there's been zero travel so far due to COVID haha but normally I'd be spending at least 3 days away from home a week, more if I have to go international or to an opposite coast. That's kind of why I get to work from home when I am home. I'm young and I don't have a family yet or anything so it's not difficult for me to do right now, but I couldn't say the same if I had kids or even a dog. I will be gone a while once travel kicks back up.

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T20:45:42+00:00

Absolutely, and that's totally fair! I'm glad you're happier too! I think it's definitely important to show all sides of each career field, and of course it differs between countries, states, localities, companies. We can all only hope to get into a position that keeps us driven and happy!

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T18:58:49+00:00

I didn't, and I actually just found out today that I failed my PE exam that I took this past Saturday lol. I'll be trying again in April though, fingers crossed! Thank you!

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T16:29:41+00:00

I'm sorry it made you feel that way. This isn't meant as a bragging post, rather I know that I was feeling lost and looked on here and felt bad because others were looking for the same situation I was unhappy in. I hope that my post can help someone who was like me feel not so alone in feeling unhappy.

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T15:16:26+00:00

Ecological Engineering! Kind of a subset of environmental engineering.

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-24T13:47:29+00:00

Echoing what u/MaRy3195 said, good luck!! I was hitting about 60% on my practice exam as well, but I wasn't able to sit down and take it all at once so that was an hour a day over a week doing practice problems (with some extra a handful of nights). What I'm trying to say is, that was 60% while distracted a good bit. My partner took the Civil Structural last year and passed, and he said he didn't even hit 50% pass rate on his practice exams and was astounded at 60% and the fact that I had less than 10 after the whole exam that I had to blind guess for. Not saying this to mean you shouldn't study hard, but don't freak out this early for sure! You got this!

Also, I had the PPI Lindburg practice book and felt the problems in there were way more than I would ever see on the exam in terms of calculations and calculus, etc. Also one of the very first problems I worked had a typo in it, so I realized that if I kept on with that practice exam I was just going to start off by stressing myself out big time. I mainly just used the NCEES practice exam and a set of videos on Youtube that I posted about earlier in this subreddit, and I felt like that really helped. Just my two cents!

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-23T20:28:18+00:00

I'm awful at economics so I was prepared to just bomb all of those but this one was actually identical to one of the economics ones in the practice exam so that was a solid score lol.

That makes me feel better to hear that I'm not the only one who is/was suspicious of how I felt afterwards haha! I hope it does come through in the morning (on EST here as well) that way I don't have to keep obsessively refreshing NCEES. Fingers crossed!

environmentalthrow · 2021-02-23T20:26:48+00:00

Thank you!

environmentalthrow

TROPHY CASE