In the past year I have had to quit as a Project Engineer from my previous employer due to policy and management changes resulting from the effects of COVID-19 on the company profit margins. I have since left to a better paying role as a Field Engineer.
Reasons for leaving my old company…
Although different from company to company, the typical path for a construction engineer in the industry is as follows: Engineer 1 -> Engineer 2 -> Assistant Manager/Superintendent -> Manager/Superintendent -> Operations Manager/General Superintendent -> Upper Management/Corporate Position. Around the two year mark working as an Engineer 1 you typically get promoted to Engineer 2. Unfortunately for me I had been with my previous company for a little over 2.5 years, but upper management announced a hiring freeze, promotion freeze, and bonus cancellations for the remainder of the year and half of 2021 due to the negative economic impact of COVID-19 on the company.
This was problematic for me because it hampers my future plans of being able to move out on my own and into my own house (the goal is to purchase a house rather than resort to renting). With my goals in mind I began searching for better opportunities with higher pay. Luckily for me I was able to land a great position as a Field Engineer.
What is a field engineer?
So I went from a Project Engineer to a Field Engineer, what’s the difference? To recap from a previous post, a Project Engineer tends to work half in the office side of the operation (RFIs, Submittals, other documentation) and half in the field side of the operation (the actual building of the structure). A Field Engineer on the other hand almost exclusively works in the field. My new role takes the building from drawing to top-out.
A 30,000 foot view of what I now do is as follows:
- Take the contract drawings, create a REVIT model with it (Structural elements only and not Architectural),
- Take your REVIT model and create your own drawings sheets with different views/sections/elevations/details that have dimensions and callouts that YOU as the builder will use to actually build the structure.
- You then survey and create control points around your structure (called “traversing“) which will be your guide in locating the building in actual space.
- Once you locate your building you begin the excavation process for your foundation.
- Then as the Field Engineer, you layout all your footings for the carpenters to form and concrete crew to pour.
- Once the foundation is done, then the slab on grade (first floor) goes, then level 2, 3, and so on. This cycle of layout (Field Engineer), form (carpenters), and pour (concrete crew) is done all the way up the structure until you reach the final level.
PHEW! That was a lot! No worries I will take the time in future posts to dive deeper into each step. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding as to the differences between a Project Engineer and a Field Engineer. The PE deals with paperwork while the FE drives the field and construction.
This post adds to my previous post explaining several other positions in construction and what their roles are. I have linked it in case you would like to learn more about the other roles.
Thank you for being here and reading!
Best,
– E J
