A few years ago, I had a conversation with a water and wastewater engineer in Texas. We stayed loosely connected, but we had not spoken in about three years when he reached back out to me a couple of months ago. Apparently, I made a decent...
A couple of weeks ago, our entire family got together in Bethany Beach, Delaware, for our annual vacation. It is one of my favorite weeks of the year. While we were sitting on the beach one afternoon, we started laughing about my two youngest nephews. They are...
Yesterday, I was talking with a candidate who recently accepted an offer from one of our clients. During the conversation, he mentioned something that caught my attention. His company had brought in a new Regional Director for Water/Wastewater a few months earlier. This person had been in...
I talk to a lot of civil engineers who find themselves in this exact spot. Their title says Project Engineer. But in reality, they are already functioning much more like an Assistant Project Manager—or even a full Project Manager. They are coordinating with clients. They are managing large portions...
After recruiting in the civil engineering profession since 1997, I can tell you that loyalty is one of the biggest reasons good people stay stuck longer than they should. They are not lazy. They are not unmotivated. They are not lacking ambition. In many cases, they are loyal —...
Lionel Messi reminded the world why evaluating people on paper can be dangerous. At 38 years old, he scored a hat trick for Argentina in the World Cup, becoming the oldest player ever to accomplish that feat. If you looked only at his age, you might...
Did you know AECOM reportedly paid approximately $390 million to acquire Consigli, a Norwegian AI company focused on engineering and design automation? At first glance, $390 million for an AI company in the AEC industry sounds like a monster number. But when you consider AECOM’s size, global...
I recently spoke with a civil engineer who has been with the same company since graduating from college more than 20 years ago. By all accounts, he has built a good career there. It is a respected company with good people, solid projects, and a history that...
If you are trying to grow your civil engineering firm in a major metro but operating out of one office, you may be making hiring harder than it needs to be. I get it. Office space is not cheap. Build-outs are not cheap. Rent, furniture, technology,...
There is something interesting about the California civil engineering market that I have noticed for years. You can have 8, 10, or even 15+ years of experience, work on real projects, function at a high level, and still not have your PE license. In many...