Mechanical To Civil

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Q. I am a mechanical and nuclear engineer. I have maintained my PE license for ten years now. I have not done any significant consulting. I am very interested in residential construction. I have thought of seeking a position at a firm whereby I'd sort of intern for a year and then, hopefully, move somewhat vertically up. The justification would be that my education, experience, and license probably offer a lot more than that of an engineer with either a fresh off the press diploma, EIT cert., or PE license. The reason I say "intern" is because I am not familiar with, say, BOCA or structural codes. I am a competent researcher, however. What I need (I think) is to see the codes applied. I very much want to be out in the field at least three days a week, workboots on. I have abundant programming experience. I am not wild about sitting at a computer everyday and working CAD programs. (I have no experience with CAD but admit I would enjoy taking a course in it.) Do such opportunities exist for a mech. eng. licensed as a P.E.? Do architectural firms have civil (or mechanical) engineers on their staffs?

A. - my previous boss was a PE with a mechanical background in charge of two civil enginers (I was one and my immediate super was the other) and various other project engineers. Can't say he had a clue as to what was going on, plus he was a crappy manager (hence he is no longer my boss and in control of my career). But he was the boss (Florida Dept of Transportation- Construction Department) and I tried to satisfy his desires. Anyway, my observation of him was that he lacked geotech, survey, structural, and general hydraulics knowledge to be effective in his position. As a pencil pushing pain in the back, he excelled. Please do not become one of those. Anyway, you may wish to pursue a position with a Department of Transportation, County, or City municipality in order to get into the swing of the civil field. -I have a BS and MS in mechanical engineering and have been doing structuiral engineering for about 10 years. While the math and concepts cross-over, the practical aspects of civil or structural engineering are what take a long time to learn. I am sure you could easily get an "intern" job at any firm, however, I wouldn't expect to get paid as much as a recent grad in cicil or structural.

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