Day in the Life as a Construction Project Engineer 

haha thank you Dason!

I'm a project engineer and my scope is a LOT different than this lol. If I had to hang signs I could do 100 in the time it took him to hang 1 lol but I don't hang signs because I get paid to solve problems. Like you should be able to be hands on 100% but you have to build a team you can trust to go pick up signs and yes, even hang them. Because that's what you pay them their wage for. This was probably a slow day where he could record, most days in that position are 10-12 hours or more 5 days a week and there are always problems on weekends you have to handle. Pays decent and I love what I do because like you see, some days might seem like your trying to make up work as you go but then you get hit with 2 months of 7 day weeks and you can't even think about making a RU-vid video lol

^^ totally correct I am a project engineer and we build drinking water plants and sometimes I have to troubleshoot both controls (code) and electrical and mechanical issues, make sure we have all the correct equipment and its alot of work this dude has it easy, although i will say there is a running side joke on how easy vertical construction is compared to water treatment as at my company we have both a water divsion and commerical, and the water division gets paid substantially more@@RealJPMcGrath

You mad bro?

Yo thanks for reaching out brother! How did that pan out for you? Hope you're doing well. Saw your RU-vid channel and I loved it! Subscribed =)

@@TreyTan Yeah of course! I went to UCI and they didn't have construction management so i tried going for civil engineering but, didn't get the grades i needed to transfer(undeclared to civil). I also didnt want to do an extra 2 years of school and get into debt so I switched my major into business economics. I think it was a good call as I've met other project engineers in the exact same boat. This summer I was interning for a Commercial Real Estate Company and it was actually pretty fun. I'll have to see how I go about my career the construction side or real estate underwriting side 🤔 ...also I appreciate it hahaa

@@financialsequence4252 That's awesome dude! Real estate is definitely a lucrative path if you stick to it. Regarding your commercial real estate company, is it a developer or is it an asset management company? If it's a developer, then you definitely get to see the Owner side of construction, which is really cool =)

I'm a PM and can tell you it varies on the company you work for and the project phase. Some P.E.'s work out of a job trailer on-site, assisting both the Superintendent and Project Manager. If it's a bigger company a P.E. might be working out of an office and doing job site visits working predominately under the PM's side of the project. As far as the guise of "sitting behind a desk", I started out as a laborer before I went back to school, and tell you that it's really not as boring as it looks. There are so many moving pieces and parts--meetings too, that you won't feel like you're "just at a desk". Do not fear losing your technical knowledge because it won't happen. I still surprise myself with the information I have learned over the years. You'll see something or be in a particular phase of a project and it'll jog your memory. Good luck, you got this!

@@Look_its_ahen this was super helpful thanks !

have you started yet? if so how has it been?

Great decision

That's awesome Bert! I feel like with 13 years of construction experience you could probably try to shoot for a Project Manager position! However, it also depends on which company. I know some bigger companies like Hensel Phelps, Mccarthy, Skanska have a structure where even if you have a lot of outside experience you would still have to start at a lower position. Honestly, Senior Engineer sounds like a good start, then shoot to become a PM.

@@TreyTan thank you! I have an interview Thursday, I’m nervous..the title seems so scary! Haha! I’ll put my best foot forward considering I actually applied for the IT position and they saw my resume and offered me an opportunity to interview for engineer and if I don’t make the cut I’ll apply for the latter. I appreciate your response!

@@bertmeza8673 That's great to hear Bert! Good luck for the interview! Hope you get it!

Thank you Zahid.

Usually building inspectors hired by the city would be stationed there to sign off on completed works. However, for private projects I haven't seen a QA/QC guy and I believe it's not required. Only required for public/government jobs.

Hello Chifung, wow I could see that you're pretty enthusiastic about this profession haha. So to answer your question, yes on rainy days we would just be in the trailer working on construction administration tasks such as submitting RFIs, submittals, reviewing plans and specs, etc. However, no we do not need to be exposed to the rain. But maybe occasionally when you have to leave the trailer to walk over to one of the buildings, just simply carry an umbrella and you're good to go haha. Hope that helps.

@@TreyTan Thank you, Brother, for the career advice. My point is: When we are young, of course, it is not a problem to work long hours. But if we the brothers get into a marriage and have children in the future, working long hours might cause the women to divorce our a$$. Thus, I concluded that if I want to get into the Construction Management Field, the best lifestyle will be: 1. DON'T GET MARRIED 2. DON' T HAVE CHILDREN (This one is a little hard because we humans love to reproduce) But I have concluded that I rather pay monthly child support or co-parenting in the future than get into a marriage (aka legal contract with the government). Especially if we work in the CM field where we are expected to work long hours

@@cwong1229 it doesn’t have to be that way. Enter the industry and slowly start changing the work culture. Don’t just accept work life balance abuse like that

@@destinyglitches9519 When you can't change the system, you change yourself. (Notes: In other Scandinavian countries like Denmark 🇩🇰, Sweden 🇸🇪, Norway 🇳🇴, and Finland 🇫🇮, they have work-life balance, but since US is NOT doing what those countries are doing & the politicians who wants USA to copy Scandinavian countries are NOT winning in the US Presidential Election 🙄 , the only option we normal average people- aka peasants have is to change ourselves. We change ourselves by NOT GETTING MARRIED and NOT HAVING CHILDREN, this way even if we need to work 50, 60, or 70 hours per week, at least we can be free and have the luxury when we get off work. )

@@cwong1229 no man, there are so many people living a good work life balance, married and with kids. It is possible, dont blame anyone but yourself and do your research

Sorry for the late reply. I am currently using Fujifilm xT-4

Depends. Do you want to be a civil engineer or project engineer? You certainly dont need a masters degree to do both (unless if you're looking to relocate to the US).

Thanks Sebri. Yes you will be able to. I majored in Construction Management just like you :)

I graduated in May but took summer off to travel. Got a job in October so that’s roughly 4 months.

Hello! Yes I do think this is a great career. However, there are pros and cons to it. I might make a video detailing what are the biggest advantage/disadvantage as a BIM Engineer. Stay tuned.

Construction management

Yes I did and I am with them for a year now.

I typically do 9 hours with 1 hour lunch break in between. Pretty standard in America I would say.

@@TreyTan 9 hours + 1 hour lunch break = 10 hours workday I want to cry 😢 😭 😞 😪 😫 😩 \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ \(ToT)/ FYI: I am also studying Construction Management right now in school

@@cwong1229 correction, it's 8 hours + 1 hour lunch break = 9 hours a day. Yup. Good luck with school man!

Yes to help out with close out. After next week I will be back to Preconstruction/Estimating/BIM.

Hey Zia, yeah man if you studied structural engineering you can also start off as a project engineer if you wanted. Just apply to the position and explain to them that you wanted some construction experience, they will surely take you in. Good luck =)

@@TreyTan thank you sir

What’s the main difference?

@@TreyTan project engineer has to work on site for 12hr atleast and for material like you were going for collecting signs. we have store person to that for us. main work of mine is deal with client and structures construction activity like steel and concrete.

did you have studied in usa and then working here?

Hi Anh, nope I am not Vietnamese. I did study in the US and then worked here.

As a PE, nope.

curious if he’s actually an “engineer” as in he knows theory and calculations