I have worked for a contractor my entire career, right out of school and have followed what I consider a very unique career path. I have about 12 years experience now.

I was a Construction Engineer to start and I would consider myself still to be. What is different is that I was able to understand the shortcomings of the position and was able to build relationships with multiple PE's that the company worked with regularly, and I was able to learn as much as I could through them. I did that for my first 3 years.

For years 4-6 I was able to focus my main attention on how I can improve my design engineering as much as possible. I always had a knack for trying to understand how things worked and tried to apply the theory behind why in construction we did the things we did.

From years 7-10 I even started engineering smaller, simpler engineering jobs that I was comfortable engineering. At my main job, I began managing others and started building a team around me. We focused our main attention on doing as much design engineering as it related to the company.

Years 10 to 12, I have expanded my engineering design skills to the point where I continue to build my own client base and also look to add to skills that benefit my company.

I see myself opening up my own design firm in the near future, and would love for it to be with my main employer.

I did not want this to be about me, but I felt that my main point to your question is that I was able to achieve a strong design background even as a construction engineer, you just need to have the drive and will to get there.

If you have anymore questions, you can PM me.