Thinking about a career change from MEP to Civil... thoughts??

[tzframpton]

If I said that I was interested in giving up MEP drafting to go over to Civil, would this be looked down upon? Honestly I know nothing about it, but I'm willing to give it a shot due to a friend of mine and me talking about our future and possibly partnering up.

 

He works for an excavation company who he just received 1% ownership. This is only a first step, and he will be sole owner one day. He is my best friend. We are completely opposites in almost every way... I'm the computer guru, he's the mechanic. I work in the office, he works hard in the field. But we are both smart and extremely motivated to do well in life for ourselves financially. This is kinda where this idea popped up.

 

We were having a beer the other night and this is about the 3rd time we've talked about it.

 

Me: "Hey man wouldn't it be great if your company adopted a design department?"

 

Him: "Yeah that would be great. I would want you over there with us though. You awesome at CAD."

 

Me: "Yeah I can run the show doing all the design and bid work, and you could manage the field and equipment."

 

And so that's how it basically goes... with a lot more detailed talk anyways. But this company is seriously growing. and this really seems almost like a very good chance for me to take and become a person who can have a say so in a company, and help build a company almost from scratch and work my way up in the world.

 

Then again I might be dreaming. Any thoughts on this idea of mine, or what it would take for me to change trades in the CAD world??

[NBC]

My take on it would be that you have a lof of skills in the MEP field; why shouldn't some (if not most) of them be eminently transferrable to Civil ?

I would get some training, however, just to brush up on some of the more detailed tasks potentially involved with Civil.

 

The thing I always ask myself when making any potential life-changing decision is would I regret not doing in x number of years time ?

If the answer is yes to the above, then you gotta do it now !

If the answer is no, keep thinking some more about what you want from life; as a lot of the time, the conclusion you reach from the above thinking will invariably lead to taking positive action of some sort.

[tzframpton]

What I would honestly like to do if I do decide something like this, is to work in the field for a good year if not more 1st. There is absolutely no better experience than hands on experience. I know personally because I worked in the field doing MEP work for 3.5 years before I ever stepped foot into an office doing Drafting.

[BOB'27T]

I would definitely recommend getting some field experience. I went into civil with basically zero knowledge of it. I wish I would've gotten some time in the field as it would've made my job easier. Fortunately my boss is very willing to teach & answer any stupid questions I have. If you have an opportunity to work with an engineer or surveyor, that will help tremendously. As far as learning the civil software, you shouldn't have a problem at all learning it.

[tzframpton]

I would definitely recommend getting some field experience. I went into civil with basically zero knowledge of it. I wish I would've gotten some time in the field as it would've made my job easier. Fortunately my boss is very willing to teach & answer any stupid questions I have. If you have an opportunity to work with an engineer or surveyor' date=' that will help tremendously. As far as learning the civil software, you shouldn't have a problem at all learning it.[/quote']

That's the kinda answer I was looking for. That's pretty much what I expected. I really need to think about this thoroughly and talk with my friend about what he thinks. What's good is that I'm already so good at what I do, that in a couple of years I can always go back. Granted, leaving my company now is going to be REALLY hard because it really is just that great working here.

 

Choices in life.... whew. Gotta love 'em.

[ReMark]

A young guy such as yourself could easily make two or three more career changes before he is ready to hang it up for the easy life.

 

Civil? What kinds of projects are we talking?

 

Would you have to take a pay cut? Work longer hours than you already do? Weekends? Holidays?

 

Any "bennies" at this new company?

 

Where is it located? What would the commute be like?

 

How many other "owners" would there be down the road?

 

You have to put up any "front" money to get into this deal? Mortgage your house? Sell your truck? Motorcyle? Soul??

 

Ah, never mind. Just grab the bull by the proverbial hours and go for the ride of your life. How much more dangerous could it be than riding a motorcycle doing stunts? It ain't like you're gonna fall off and crack your noggin open. LOL

[tzframpton]

How much more dangerous could it be than riding a motorcycle doing stunts? It ain't like you're gonna fall off and crack your noggin open. LOL

haha Good point, and point taken.

 

 

I would definitely take a pay cut, and definitely work harder and longer hours. The commute would be much easier to the shop, once I get to start designing. The owners are already in place. A father and son, and my friend now owning 1%. He really is just THAT good at his job, that the original owner (who is about to retire) trusts him that he will take over and run that company better than his own 40 yr old son. I don't have a lot of debt (only my truck) which I can pay off in a year if I wanted to, so I'm in a good position to move around job to job right now anyways.

 

But yeah I'm gonna talk about it with him more and it might take me 6 months before I decide to do anything or not do anything. Just a thought, really.

[ReMark]

How many times does an opportunity like this present itself? Ten years from now are you going to look back and say, "I wish I had taken the chance."

 

Don't jump ship because we encourage you. Do it because you want to. A decision like this takes some careful thought.

[zars]

Well, hope my experience helps.

 

I'm a Computer Systems Engineer who got this job when I graduated 2.5 years ago, this is not entirely my field but since we're prepared for working on almost everything well here I am.

 

The payment is good, the working hours are the same, since it's an small company permissions and al that stuff can be obtained easily and if the project is put to exploitation, well let's say I'll be in a very good position (since I started with the project and I know every little detail about it).

 

While I was working here, I've received some offers to work in other places which of course I decided not to take. Mostly because I believed in this project and all of the benefits I would get from it.

 

Now about the offers I had 2 differents, one of them, the payment was really good, working hours good too, a lot of holidays the problem, I would do anything related to my career nor I would learn something new. I decided I wanted to do something I like and that's why I turned down this offer, no regrets so far.

 

The other one, was less money, more working hours but work security for life, this offer still stands and it is probably the one I'm going to take in few months.

 

Alex.