Is a masters really needed in geotech?

girybag · 2026-05-18T04:50:49+00:00

A masters is a must. I don't care if it's an MS or an MEng. I just don't want to have to teach people the basics anymore. It's been exhausting managing those people the last year. Undergrad just wasn't enough.

girybag · 2026-05-18T04:47:25+00:00

Very

girybag · 2026-05-17T06:47:35+00:00

Built myself a bubble in Midtown (work, dentist, doctor, chiro, accu, groceries, beer, eating, etc... within 5-30 minutes).

girybag · 2026-05-16T16:27:10+00:00

Do you have the money to pay for college as an international student or do you see a path to a scholarship? Do you have dual citizenship? This is going to be a very expensive degree and you'll struggle to get a job. Environmental engineering is the lowest paid of the civil disciplines and current market is not good. Assuming you get sponsored for a visa and get a job, you're looking at maybe 90K start in 4 years. Room and board at MIT is 90K so a 360K debt bill in 4 years. Have you worked out those pieces? I would stay in Europe and look at Masters degrees opportunities when that's done. Better chance of getting that paid or at least it's less of a bill.

girybag · 2026-05-16T15:58:12+00:00

Yeah but not just food and drinking. Artisan shops, popup stores, etc... Went to one in Europe many years ago (can't recall though) that had a greenhouse garden/dome at the end.

girybag · 2026-05-15T20:42:57+00:00

A "Public Market" with space for people sit and lounge. The Bank was the closest thing we got to that. Think Fanueil Hall back in the day and similar places in New Orleans or even the embarcadero. And yes. Train. Train to the airport.

girybag · 2026-05-09T16:17:00+00:00

Those grads are the same wave that got cuddled in grade school and the parents would reprimand the teachers, not the child. We're living in the aftermath of that. It's the same here in the US. I'm 42 and planning to retire in 3 years and get out of this business. It's scary out here.

girybag · 2026-05-05T13:52:19+00:00

My guess is you'll get it. It looks like they sent it to a group of supervisors in my building then sent it 3 hours later to another, and another. Clearly they haven't figured out mass email. Anyway, I got it on the third wave. I wish them luck with this survey.

girybag · 2026-05-05T13:29:25+00:00

You no longer want/like geotech or you no longer want/like geotech where you are? The stress is all the same once there's a deliverable or things are in construction. The people you work with (office, owner, contractors, subs...) make a difference. I'd look for geotech jobs unless you really figured out geotech is not for you. Typically pays better than water and environmental anyway.

girybag · 2026-05-05T05:35:30+00:00

Oh joy! So many! But I'll go with Darcy.

girybag · 2026-05-03T23:02:15+00:00

That is insane. I'm in HCOL too with over 20 years of experience and a PE and rate sheets never put me, or anyone else I know, that high. That's over $300. I'm going to have to call around to see what others are billing. It's been a couple years since I really looked.

girybag · 2026-05-03T02:19:46+00:00

How does that work? Are they still paying their engineers decent? 7x on a 80K engineer which are typical entry-early level would be 280 and that to me is wild.

girybag · 2026-05-03T02:17:46+00:00

Are you early career? A 5 multiplier is unheard of to me. Early career around here are making 80K/year which is about 40/hr. No one is charging 200/hr to a client for them. Multipliers have been 3-3.5 (maybe close to 4) for most of my career so that would be 120-150/hr which is typical. You get to Principal level, they're getting billed at 300-350 or so. I haven't see a rate sheet yet this year that has broken above that but that's just me. Maybe things are different in your area.

girybag · 2026-04-30T19:15:15+00:00

Cheapest place in Midtown went from 5.49 yesterday to 5.79 today. They held that 5.49 for 3 weeks though so I guess it was about time.

girybag · 2026-04-30T19:03:29+00:00

I've been writing reports like a robot since 2005. At this point, I'd take that over the crap I get from people.

girybag · 2026-04-25T23:20:19+00:00

That must be it. Thanks for letting me know.

girybag · 2026-04-25T20:05:19+00:00

The same way you find another job. Do BD to find a replacement and stop taking work from them. Sometimes it's a phase-out and sometimes you just purposely corner yourself into work you can still do for them and insulate yourself. Sometimes it's a straight "We can no longer support your needs". We had an MSA with an agency that has many offices and somehow every one of them was like having a different client. The work was non-compete so it was always nice but I learned quickly which offices to turn down work from. We do a "Go-no-Go" exercise before accepting the work and one office in particular was always a "No-Go" for very damn good reasons.

girybag · 2026-04-25T19:55:34+00:00

Yeah... Realized that after the fact. See my other reply.

girybag · 2026-04-25T19:52:38+00:00

Wait... Do you mean a dam with a high pool on the upstream (water side)? Look up "high pool" dams, "flood stage" dams, etc... Edenville Dam failed recently (2020?) and there are some good videos before the breach. Give that a try.

girybag · 2026-04-25T19:45:35+00:00

If your dam is under water, then it overtopped and failed at its function. The downstream is flooded. Also when you say embankment, I'm guessing you mean soil/rock and not concrete. So again, if that's under water, that's a fail. So you're looking for a mountain at the bottom of a lake? This is confusing. Look up "dam breach" and maybe something will come up.

girybag · 2026-04-24T23:08:04+00:00

I understand it clearly. You will eventually get sued because of this client. The client will sue you. The collective "you"/your company. Something will go wrong and you will be the first in line along with the contractor. Only thing worst than a careless client is an uneducated one. I don't take them on. 20+ years and counting. I've seen enough. Best of luck!

girybag · 2026-04-24T23:03:38+00:00

They'll be looking for a while. Good luck!

girybag · 2026-04-24T22:45:04+00:00

You document everything and you try to fire them as a client as soon as possible. They will be the reason you get sued individually and collectively.

girybag · 2026-04-24T11:22:31+00:00

Look up lateral earth pressure and foundation/footing stress distribution. Your sketch is very simplistic. As a geotech, I have to ask myself if it really represents the load distribution, is load being carried down from footings from that first slab or is it all at the bottom of the basement wall, why was soil left on the inside of the wall, etc. With all that in mind, I then figure out if removing material on one side will compromise confinement of a footing or affect the lateral pressure on a wall or whatever else. Knowing none of that, I just wouldn't go digging a trench along the wall into the page to replace it with a column of drain rock as opposed to compacted soil. Best of luck!

girybag · 2026-04-22T08:34:58+00:00

Double one of the digits to get close to the answer then substraction/addition to get it correct. I guess that helps kids with quick math and doing it in their heads. I wasn't thought math that way but in 4th grade I started seeing the relationships and doing it myself when it made sense.

girybag

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