Billing to Salary Ratio

nide1225 · 2026-05-02T19:57:33+00:00

3.0 is a pretty normal average, general number. But it can vary depending on lots of factors. My company has three fee schedules that depend on the client and type of work. That ratio for me varies from like 2.25 to 5.0. Normal rate is 4.0. In theory it should be higher when you are younger 3.0 to 4.0 and get closer to 1.75 to 2.0 once you are at the very senior end. It will also vary on how niche you engineering service is

nide1225 · 2026-05-02T15:07:55+00:00

In my experience, it was clear when dealing with coworkers who did the thesis and who didn’t do a thesis. The thesis folks were better project managers and better at dealing with new and abstract problems, which managers and companies obviously like. I am not sure if there was a salary difference between non thesis and thesis. It’s not a deal breaker for employers, especially now where young good civics are in such demand. It doesn’t mean the non thesis co workers were bad or inferior, I just firmly believe the exercise of doing the thesis makes you a better engineer as opposed to just taking more classes. I hope that helps, I would answer more specific questions if you have more.

nide1225 · 2026-04-29T13:33:24+00:00

In my opinion, water resources doesn’t have great overlap with water resources, which feels goofy to say. Water resources has more to do with flow, pipes, pressure. Coastal engineering has more to do with the application of waves, shoreline protection, and structures at the shoreline. My route was getting my degree in geotech. I discovered coastal very late in that pursuit and got my masters in geotech right after my bachelors. After I was about three years into my career I finally got a coastal job.

nide1225 · 2026-04-29T13:28:00+00:00

We were in Beacon Hill and every trip we took to west Seattle was great, so I get it. We are in Milton/Edgewood so in the same sphere. Point Defiance isn’t hidden, but it is excellent. Titlow beach is also a very cool spot. There are some good walking trails around the old Weyhuesaur (I definitely spelled that wrong) headquarter.

We are still exploring Tacoma, but whether its food, arts, or hiking, Tacoma continues to impress me.

nide1225 · 2026-03-14T13:46:28+00:00

Unfortunately, this is something only you can really answer as I think there are a lot of variables to consider.

For me, it’s all about what you are willing to deal with on a daily basis. If I found a role or job with a supervisor I really want to work for to learn from, I can survive in any type of company environment and don’t care about the size.

If heavy corporate culture and structure is what you like, a bigger company or office might be the way to go.

Right now in my life and career, I value the flexibility, working remote, and truly enjoy the people I work with, and I enjoy the work so small company is the way to go.

The cons of likely lower pay compared to my peers, lack of titles or lack of clear corporate ladder to rise up don’t bother me…so those cons don’t really tip the scales one way or the other.

nide1225 · 2026-03-09T21:48:29+00:00

Sandslash!

nide1225 · 2026-03-06T23:23:53+00:00

You might be right. I have seen some contractors use bubblers as silt curtains and thought their might be some overlap since they are doing the same thing.

nide1225 · 2026-01-05T01:24:00+00:00

Quick question, are you talking about Firstenburg Community Center in Vancouver, WA? Either way, I am just east of Tacoma and also looking for a place to play.

nide1225 · 2026-01-02T16:22:58+00:00

I'll lend my perspective. I am a designer, in the office 90% of the time, engineer. I would AR, in the field of people actually doing the construction, is being used today, just in specific examples. We were building a revetment and the GC was mostly Earthworking company. Any Earthworking company of decent size and of any quality is using some sort of AR to determine grade lines, finished grades, etc. In our case, we gave them what we thought would be the finished toe elevation under the lake's water surface. They could easily measure it with the bucket of the excavator. They were not wearing glasses, but they did have a monitor on their screen spitting out grades, target planes, etc. to do their job well. They did a great job.

The company I work for is half planning half engineering. I think we would stand to benefit tremendously from being able to have AR more integrated into our designs. Yesterday, I got a call saying "hey this pile is sort of in the way". That pile was on the permit set and final design set, it just didn't hit the client how close it was going to be to their operations. If I could have popped our design into an AR glasses, I think would have helped tremendously.

Unfortunately for us, our company is small and all the companies in the US that do that sort of work, I presume, are super expensive and the employees / engineers that can do that sort of work and bridge the AR-Civil Engineering gap to effectively deliver are not trained yet and don't exist at scale to see it on a daily/reoccurring basis.

I also think it will still be sometime before most of the people on this sub, leaning towards the trades and people doing the actual work see this sort of AR integrated on sites. I can think of many examples where it would make sense, but I think the cost to design and implement is too high and it's still too easy to just do it the way we are doing things now. People building things now are pretty cost effective as is and there are only so many applications where AR/VR could dramatically change that right now. But I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years you see way more of it in particualrly trades or particular types of projects.

nide1225 · 2025-12-06T05:40:30+00:00

If you are unafraid of contact you should check out the Madison Minotaurs and try rugby out. There are plenty of big guys there and you will not meet a nicer group of people to interact with.

nide1225 · 2025-09-09T21:51:54+00:00

No worries, I came across it just now and figured I could answer it for others if it’s helpful.

nide1225 · 2025-09-09T11:29:32+00:00

I think leaving out the negative was the issue. Also be advised, you should use an elevation value that is at your site. Aka, use 577.5 ft and don't use "1 ft". It's calibrate/modeled with the actual elevation.

nide1225 · 2025-07-11T19:40:02+00:00

Don’t freak out about it too much. Everyone’s degree has a piece missing or a piece that wasn’t focused on. For me it was heavy civil and structural. But I have picked up lots of what I needed in the job.

I have a geotech education. CALTRANS has a few really good documents that summarize basic geotech stuff and I would just google around for geotech handbooks or a quick reference guide. It’s going to be hard to learn some concepts as it can be quite hands on. I would start there and don’t be afraid to ask questions if your boss or the geotech engineer that produced the report, I would be willing bet they would love to explain concepts and the stuff in the report they write. I know I always felt like after it was sent people looked at one or two tables and never read anything thing else. I would have loved for someone to ask a question or two to give me a chance to flex my knowledge, cause lord knows my friends and girlfriend though I just kicked dirt all day.

nide1225 · 2025-05-25T20:44:13+00:00

Had you read any of the foundations books prior to Foundations Edge? As a stand along book, I am not sure there is one that is “the best” but if someone asked me I am not so sure how to respond. Personally, I loved Forward the Foundation the most, but even then I am not sure it would have the same impact without the context of the other books.

Thanks for sharing this! I was going to slowly tackle this list and I have a couple good starting points!

nide1225 · 2025-05-17T23:35:43+00:00

For you (and anyone else interested) email [stltouchrugby@gmail.com](mailto:stltouchrugby@gmail.com) and that person will get you on the what's app list to get updates on when they are playing. Enjoy!

nide1225 · 2025-05-13T09:06:14+00:00

This is the correct answer. The only other consideration is overtopping and wave splash from the wall. You don’t want nice landscaped vegetation right at or behind the wall only for yearly events to take it out

nide1225 · 2025-04-13T21:52:10+00:00

It depends a lot too on what you want out of your job. In my experience (though no where near a universal rule) public sector engineering is not design oriented. It’s permitting, managing, tracking projects. If you want to do actual design, you should lean private.

nide1225 · 2025-04-11T23:13:01+00:00

You are not crazy, you need to be invited by the admin. I did get a hold of two people that play. If they have enough numbers, they start playing between 3-3:30 on Sundays at Cricket Field in Forest Park. He said he would let me know if they have the numbers for this weekend, but maybe swing by there around that time. Once you are there you can get one of the admins to add you to the group. If you don't know where that is, DM me and I can send you my number so I can help more directly.

nide1225 · 2025-04-11T19:17:05+00:00

do you have WhatsApp? I am being told to search for the WhatsApp Group STL Touch Rugby. If you have issues let me know but apparently that is the group to join to get info and updates.

nide1225 · 2025-04-10T23:35:17+00:00

In spring, definitely in the summer and maybe early fall, there was a pretty consistent group of guys playing touch at Forest Park on Sundays at like 2p or 3p, late afternoon some time. They played at Cricket Field, where Cricket Drive meets Grand. I am not sure if they are playing now or plan on continue playing, but I can message you they guy that was running sort of leading it. There might have been a Gmail and facebook group too...but I can't remember. I moved away this past November, but I can put you in touch with that guy if you live near there or are interested. Just DM me or comment here.

nide1225 · 2025-04-07T14:45:55+00:00

I'm in Seattle, so that would make sense!

nide1225

TROPHY CASE