{"id":104012,"date":"2023-10-18T03:18:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T07:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?p=104012"},"modified":"2024-04-09T07:21:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T11:21:13","slug":"your-construction-career-path-90-is-your-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/your-construction-career-path-90-is-your-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Construction Career Path \u2013 90% is Your Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Executive Summary. <\/strong>\u00a0The career path in construction (for a construction professional, versus in the trades) is fairly standard across the board.\u00a0 Here\u2019s where you can expect your career to go if you stick it out for twenty years.\u00a0 Or more.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/3jxuwdeojFiYHnfPgj42AE?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The first step \u2013 college or no college?\u00a0 <\/strong>It seems there\u2019s a lot of chatter out there in social media about the value of college.\u00a0 Should I go and get a construction management or engineering degree, or should I just enter the work force?\u00a0 The answer\u2019s simple.\u00a0 If you can afford to go, go!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most important reasons being (1) it\u2019ll show an employer you can take on a challenge and finish it (that being the degree) and (2) you have the opportunity to dip your toe in industry and see if you like it and where you fit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>So, what\u2019s the career path?\u00a0 <\/strong>It depends on who you work for and it depends on the opportunities presented.\u00a0 You could almost say, it depends on luck.\u00a0 One thing is for sure it\u2019s all fed with drive.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104016 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/268-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/268-1.png 728w, https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/268-1-480x266.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 728px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>A quickie on what each step does. \u00a0<\/strong>Here is a quick description of each step and what it takes to be there.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><u>Co-op Student<\/u> \u2013 co-op, short for cooperative education, is a paid internship program.\u00a0 If you go to a school which has a formal co-op program it\u2019s easier to find work. \u00a0You\u2019ll do anything from clerical work to field and office engineering.<\/li>\n<li><u>Field Engineer<\/u> \u2013 you\u2019re out in the field doing layout, interpreting the plans, collecting concrete tickets, and directing deliveries.\u00a0 This also gives you the training necessary to work in the office, and in the field with the guys and gals swinging the hammers and pulling the equipment levers.<\/li>\n<li><u>Office Engineer<\/u> \u2013 this may involve concrete lift drawings, submittal\/RFI writing and tracking, material procurement and coordination with vendors, and support of the field crew by interpretation\/research of the specifications and drawings.<\/li>\n<li><u>Project Engineer<\/u> \u2013 on a large job, this likely involves supervision of staff.\u00a0 It will also requires invoice approving, sorting through heavier engineering issues that need resolution, scheduling, and production optimization of your crews.<\/li>\n<li><u>Superintendent<\/u> \u2013 this is primarily a field supervision role wherein you don\u2019t get anybody hurt and you meet or beat schedule.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 You are the ringleader in assuring that material is on time and delivered to the right location on the job, the crews work at the correct pace (and safely), and that estimated productivity is achieved. The office staff and field engineers will support you in achieving these goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104015 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/268-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"96\" \/><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><u>Estimator\/Project Manager<\/u> \u2013 the predecessor for this role is an understanding of how things are built and the resources needed to build them.\u00a0 An estimator is an office role and is someone who has been in the field and, for example, seen why it takes two guys to run a sawcut machine (one on the machine and one on the shop vac sucking up slurry).\u00a0 A project manager is in a similar role, except he\/she is closer to the field and has the ability to relate all of the lessons learned in the previous roles to project costs.\u00a0 An estimator projects costs while a project manager manages them in real time.<\/li>\n<li><u>Project Executive<\/u> \u2013 this person has performed in all the roles above and sits on one job, or more than likely, more than one job.\u00a0 He or she is a resource to upper management on the project and can help with larger issues that may be distracting the project personnel from the \u201cday-to-day\u201d.\u00a0 This person also serves as a liaison to the corporate office.<\/li>\n<li><u>Division Manager<\/u> \u2013 once you\u2019ve been in the roles above, you\u2019re ready to handle an entire division.\u00a0 You may be in charge of a geographical area or of a discipline of work, but you have the safety, schedule, and profit and loss responsibility of a large group of people and dollars.<\/li>\n<li><u>President\/CEO<\/u> \u2013 I think most people know this role.\u00a0 You are the chief executive for the entire company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104014 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2668-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"344\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2668-3.png 344w, https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2668-3-300x198.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 344px) 100vw, 344px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>My story.\u00a0 <\/strong>The sequence described above was very similar to what I went through.\u00a0 I co-oped for three, 6-month stints at Drexel University and held field and office engineering roles.\u00a0 I came out of college as a field engineer in Philadelphia with Tony DePaul &amp; Son and then moved into an estimator role at Balfour Beatty Construction in Austin, Texas.\u00a0 From Texas I went to Seattle and was a project engineer-turned-project manager.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in Hawaii for 22 years and here I\u2019ve held roles of divisional manager and then sole owner of a construction company.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019ve had a great career.\u00a0 I highly recommend this industry.\u00a0 You\u2019ll learn a lot, be given a lot of responsibility, and most of the time it\u2019s exhilarating.\u00a0 Work safe!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The title of this article says \u201c90% is Your Drive\u201d, so what is the other 10%? It\u2019s opportunity (some may say luck).\u00a0 Sometimes it just comes down to being in the right place at the right time.\u00a0 I benefitted from that too.\u00a0 However, I wouldn\u2019t have been thrown into the deep end and given the chance if I hadn\u2019t shown that I had the drive and the work ethic (and the intelligence!).<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-button-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2023.10.07-Roles-in-Construction.pdf\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-flat\" style=\"color:#FFFFFF;background-color:#293a57;border-color:#212f46;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color:#FFFFFF;padding:0px 30px;font-size:22px;line-height:44px;border-color:#6a768a;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px;text-shadow:none;-moz-text-shadow:none;-webkit-text-shadow:none\"> Download The PDF<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Executive Summary. \u00a0The career path in construction (for a construction professional, versus in the trades) is fairly standard across the board.\u00a0 Here\u2019s where you can expect your career to go if you stick it out for twenty years.\u00a0 Or more. The first step \u2013 college or no college?\u00a0 It seems there\u2019s a lot of chatter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":38,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Your Construction Career Path \u2013 90% is Your Drive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The career path in construction (for a construction professional, versus in the trades) is fairly standard across the board.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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