Since I started my first internship I’ve gotten a lot of advice on how to get ready to apply for my Professional Engineer (PE) License.  I’ve listed below a lot of the advice that I’ve gotten.  It’s all from Engineers that are licensed in Texas, but will probably apply to most states.

Check Your State’s Professional Engineer Licensure Requirements
Find out the specific list of what is required.  That way you know ahead of time what’s expected and you aren’t scrambling at the last minute.  Your states board of professional engineers or other PE governing organization will have the list.

Create a Log
Log what you do each day or at least each week.  Keep track of the projects that you worked on and what you were responsible for on that project.  Most states will have you document the engineering work you’ve done since you graduated.  That’s a lot easier to do if you have a log of all of your work.

Keep a Copy of Your Projects
You don’t have to keep every sheet.  I was told to keep the following sheets from a plan set: project title sheet, quantity sheet, cost estimate.

In addition to those sheets, also keep a list of specific things you were responsible for on the project, the client name and contact info, design fee, dates you worked on the project and anything else that you think is important.

Go After Challenging Work
You generally will need to show an increase in responsibility and quality of your work between the time that you graduate and the time that you apply for your PE license.  A great way to do that is to go after work that is increasingly more difficult.  Don’t over extend yourself, but look for opportunities to learn more and take on more responsibility when you’re ready.

Try Out Several Fields Then Pick One
This is one I also hear contradicted sometimes.  The afternoon PE exam is specific to one area of civil engineering.  When you get your PE License you are probably working your way to becoming an expert in one of those fields.  It’s good to specialize.  The civil engineering industry is way too broad to become an expert in everything.  However, when you become a project manager you will need to have at least a basic understanding of how the other fields of civil engineering work and interact.

This is some of the advice I’ve heard most often.   Since I don’t have my PE yet I can’t add much of my own to the list.  What sort of advice have you been given or what sort of advice to you have to offer?

Deadlines are interesting things.  They are both written in stone and constantly changed.  Especially if you work with government organizations.  In the past few weeks I’ve had deadlines moved up, moved back, eliminated and switched from don’t work on it to due tomorrow.

Through all of this I’ve learned a few things about deadlines.

If you are working for a private sector client then the schedule and deadlines are pretty well set.  They expect the product when you agree to provide it.

When you work for a government organization deadlines and schedules seem to be more of a target than a law.  The organizations will want to review plans at different stages and offer comments.  Sometimes it can take a long time to get comments back.  Sometimes you have the comments right away.

The schedule will change
Things always come up.  Any number of things can move the schedule back or forward.  Be ready for it.

90 percent of the work is in the last 10 percent of design
That last little bit of time is where you clean things up and make sure everything is perfect.  It’s also the time you find any mistakes.  Plan for changes.

Don’t wait until the last minute
The last minute is already full of final corrections, clean up, enhancement, etcetera.  Make sure that you aren’t doing any design at this point.

Work ahead
Just because a project isn’t due for a while or you are waiting for specific information doesn’t mean the project shouldn’t be touched.  Work as far ahead as you can with what you have.  That way you are ready when the next step comes.  Cramming doesn’t work any better in civil engineering design than it does before finals.

Always be ready for the deadline to be moved up
This is especially true if you are told that the next due date is now unknown.

Don’t relax on projects that aren’t due right away
Just because a project isn’t due soon doesn’t mean you can let it go.  The due date could get moved up or other projects could come along and demand your attention.  Be ready for them

Be ready for some overtime
If you are able to work ahead and are prepared early, then you shouldn’t have to worry about overtime or working weekends.  But sometimes it still happens.  When projects are due you want them to be as perfect as they can be.  That may mean some overtime just before the due date.

Those are a few of the things I’ve learned since I started doing civil engineering design.  To sum it up; do the work right and do it right now because something will happen.  It’s a lot easier to be ahead on a project than behind.  And the day before it’s due is not the time to be fixing major problems.

After dealing with a lot of different projects, deadlines and a few other things that helped inspire this post, I’ll be back on track.  I’ll be posting more on internships soon.

Right of Way is something that civil engineers work with a lot.  It’s on virtually all of the surveys that we use.  It’s a key point that must be known if you’re working on a project where private property meets public property.  This is especially important when working on transportation projects for local governments.  There are a lot of aspects to Right of Way and Right of Way Acquisition.  I’m going to talk about it mainly from the transportation side.

What is Right of Way

Here’s an example of what Right of Way (ROW) is.  A city owns a public street that goes through a residential neighborhood.  They also own a few feet past the pavement on both sides of the street.  If a residential street is 30-36 feet wide the city may own a total of 46-50+ feet wide area.  So, yes they own part of your front yard.  Virtually all public streets are like this, from local residential streets on up to interstate highways which may have ROWs that are hundreds of feet wide.

Why Right of Way

The government holds a right of way wider than the actual street for several reasons.  They use the extra land for things like public sidewalks, utilities, or to widen the road in the future.  Also, street lights, traffic signals and street parking are all in the ROW.

Right of Way is something that we have to know where is, but civil engineers don’t typically worry about why it’s where it is or how to get more.  That sort of thing is typically handled by the government agency itself.  Or was figured out when the property was first developed.  Civil engineers don’t generally get more once an area is already developed.

However, I’ve had the privilege recently to work on a ROW acquisition project recently.  That’s a service that our company offers, and my background in roadway design helped get me involved in a roadway ROW project.

The project

Here are the basics of the project.  A two lane county road needed to be widened because of all of the development nearby.  Plans were drawn up and the road was designed, but the county didn’t actually own enough land to make the road wider.  That’s where we came in on the project.  The county hired us to acquire the land for them.

What you have to do

There are several steps involved in ROW acquisition.  I’m going to go over the broad steps.  Perhaps at a later date I’ll write a more detailed article, or ask our resident expert to put one together for me.

Survey

It seems that everything in civil engineering begins with a survey.  The same applies here.  With the survey and the plans we can see exactly how much land is needed from each land owner.  The surveyor provides documents showing exactly how much land is needed.  They generally will also mark the area with flags or other markers.

Initial Letter

An initial letter is sent to the current land owner to let them know about the surveyors and appraisers coming onto their property.  The letter also lets the owner know what’s going on with the project; the whys, the whos, etc.

Appraisals

Next the appraisers go to work.  They appraise each plot of land that the government needs to buy.  The appraisers generally will take into account mailboxes, fences, trees and anything else that may be in the proposed right of way area that current land owner would have to move or lose value if it’s removed.

Title Search

Just like when you buy any piece of property, you do a title search to find out who actually owns the land.  This will also tell you about any liens on the property such as a mortgage, tax lien or unpaid debt.  Any lien will affect the sale.

Offer Letters

Send the initial offer letter.  Basically the offer is for what the appraiser valued the land at.

Negotiation

This can be real long or real short depending on what the land owner wants.  I’ve seen some just sign the paperwork and send it back.  Some think their land is worth more, some will want fences or custom mailboxes replaced, trees paid for, or many other things.  Some just flat out refuse to sell.  In most cases something can be worked out to the benefit of both the land owner and the municipality.

Partial Release of Lien

We do have to deal with any liens that are on the property.  If there is a mortgage, for example, we have to get a partial release of lien.  Basically the bank has to give up that part of the land on their deed.  Lien holders may have the right to the money first.  That varies some by location.  Banks sometimes require a percentage of the money based on a percentage of the property sold.

Acceptance or Condemnation

Eventually, after the negotiations, the land owner accepts or they don’t.  If they accept, then the paperwork is signed, they get their money and the government gets the land.  If they are unwilling to sign, then it goes to condemnation.  That means that it goes before a third party to decide the case.  Generally when this happens the government gets the land and the land owner gets fair market value for their property.  Because of the expense it really doesn’t do anybody any good to go to condemnation.  As long as we follow the laws and our engineering ethics guidelines we are fine.

There is a lot more to it, but that covers the basic process.  It is certainly a good thing to know, even if you never do ROW acquisition yourself.  Having the knowledge gives you a better understanding of the process and what the municipality has to do on some projects.  However, having the expertise can give your company another product to offer municipal clients.