CADD usage among site civil / land development types... 3

[proletariat]

I think my time is misused by my company by having me perform drafting-type work in cadd. I would estimate that 90% of my day is spent working with Land Development Desktop, only 20% of which is actually engineery design work.

The upside is that I'm a crackerjack at Autocad 2006. The downer is that I'm a PE doing drafting work most of the time.

Are there Land Development / Site Civil people out there that are free from the drafting work of plans presentation, bulk grading, etc? I'd love to find a job where I could do my design work in cadd and leave the mundane linework to a tech (who probably is completely satisfied doing straight drafting work).

 

[TerraSouth]

Being self employed, I do it all.

Drafting, design, engineering, phone calls, secretary work, sweep, mop, and take out the trash.

I enjoy drafting, I like all of it really.
My problem is phone calls, letter writing, and meetings cutting into my getting the plans complete and out the door. I'm often working late to get the job done, a 10-12 hour day is not uncommon.

I hoping next year to find a young engineer interested in putting up with me as I in this crazy circus of an engineering firm. 8^) I'm having fun !

 

[francesca]

Not only is your time being misused, but you're also probably being underpaid. If they were paying you a PE salary, they wouldn't be wanting you to spend time making drawings look pretty when they can employ a cad technician for about half what they should pay you.

Find another job. I'm sure you didn't spend years at university doing Calculus to sit using CAD. I know I didn't.

 

[semo]

I think a lot has to do with the size of the company you work for. Smaller companies will use the engineers to also do drafting and inspection. The same cannot always be said for larger companies who have substantial personnel and a lot of times higher overhead rates.

I personally believe that it is beneficial for a young engineer to learn the design through drafting and to also perform the inspection on their projects.

Along with plan reading, there is a lot that can be learned by doing the design and then seeing it built. What looks good on paper doesn't always go together well in the field. You can see firsthand what works and doesn't work so that on future projects you don't make the same mistakes. That might not be the case if you don't see the whole project through and visualize in your mind what happened the last time you put something similar on paper.

I do believe that the engineer should move up the ladder and become more of a manager than a work horse as they develop; but, being a workhorse can make a good engineer.

Your firm might have a policy that works in this manner and if you are concerned about your status, you probably need to discuss it with your supervisor.

 

[Ussuri]

Please someone correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't the greats like Thomas Telford and IK Brunel do their own drawing work. In my opinion a well drawn engineering drawing is a work of art.

That said, it's not really cost effective for a PE to be doing their own draughting. Think of the creative engineering time you could free up by transferring your draughting to someone else.

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Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
Archimedes

 

[LHA]

I am a site/civil PE, most of my work is in Land Development. I design in CADD, but the result is not pretty...or submittable.

As Francesca guessed, you are almost certainly being underpaid. In my previous job, I too did final CADD work. I discovered I was making about 60% of what the market commands for my skills, but when I asked my bosses for a raise, they came back 3% and said "that's what we can justify, but you are an integral part of the team." No wonder I was integral - they were ripping me off! I currently make at least 40% more, and I still use CADD for design, but I don't sit around messing with lineweights and xrefs.

You are correct in your outlook; you should be doing rough design only in CADD: provide spot elevations, grade rough to determine conflicts, list slope gradients, give a list of notes & details, profile underground structures only where you need to see a potential conflict for design calcs, etc. Then let someone who bills half the rate you do finalize and make it presentable.

Remember: The Chinese ideogram for “crisis” is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
-Steve

 

[proletariat]

There is the pay issue, but there is also the OJT issue. I came from construction and quasi-design since graduation a few years ago. This latest position has been a career jump to site civil. I feel like I need to climb the learning curve double-time to be competitive with others my age who have been in the design business from graduation. Drafting was fine for the first six months, but I've been here over a year and have yet to take stormwater design from start to finish on any project. The management is very guarded with doling out responsibility.

LHA, you're in central PA aren't you? You guys hiring?

 

[proletariat]

Terrasouth,
I'd be interested in knowing what type of projects you take on. Our projects are in the hundreds of acres, and take a legion of cadd designers to get underway. My ultimate goal is self employment, but it would be very difficult to go out on my own into sole proprietorship with the amount of cadd work my companies particular market niche requires.

 

[LHA]

Maybe...check here

http://www.bh-ba.com/landdevelopment_jobs.html#landdevengineer

Remember: The Chinese ideogram for “crisis” is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
-Steve

 

[TerraSouth]

proletariat,

I am engineering small subdivisions 40-100 acres in size, some commercial and industrial site planning. I also specialize in on-site wastewater design and engineering. My focus is on civil site work, drainage and wastewater, my wife does the environmental end of it, she is also a civil engineer but her primary role is mother and home maker.

We are planning to form an onsite wastewater managment company very soon. I am very exicted about that. (long story) I'm limited in what I can do of course, but I am hoping to add an employee or two next year. Business is very good, and I'm happy being my own boss and working hard to grow this company.

I have been out on my own now for about 8 months now. I have a silent partner that has me on a salary. He owns 55% and I own 45% of the company and we split the profits at the end of the year. My partner has alot of other small companies and he keeps me busy.

I work some long hours, like I said 10 to 12 hours days are not too uncommon. But I'm happy, and I love it. I'm working very hard on the managment, leadership and marketing aspects of engineering. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

I'm currently working on an 9,000 gpd onsite wastewater system for two condominium units, a 40 acres subdivision with 96 lots and a 77 acres subdivision with 62 lots.

I'm just a simple man trying to make a good living for my family while trying to have as much fun as possible doing engineering for this new, exiting young company. (I'm very lucky!) 8^)

The key to going out on your own is being DEBT FREE, with 4 to 6 months of living expenses in the bank. Live below your means. Start working on the side doing small projects, if possible, set the stage and get out on your own.

The sky is the limit! I am the roadblock, the hurdle, the limiting factor for this company.

God Bless!

 

[queque]

I am like TerraSouth. I have a one person company that I worked at part time. I now devote full time to it. I would love to have an engineer full time with extensive AutoCAD experience. I have limited proficiency in AutoCad and understand it from a different perspective.
When I meet a client, he immediately tells me the problems of low productivity from his existing contracted engineering firm. It seems that engineering firms overcommit to keep the staff busy, at the clients expense. I do not have that level of work but see the value of an experienced Autocad engineer to have onboard.
The way I get the job is is to explain the layed out solution in a great display, using ARC GIS. The next step is preparation and delivery of preliminary and final plans. This is where the engieering begins. A combination of GIS and Autocad talents is what I would like to assemble.