[shotgun]

Having just passed my P.E. in Civil (April exam, Washinton State), I must agree with your statements. I worked my way from low man on the survey crew through being an engineering assistant, civil designer (while finishing up the last 2 yrs at O.I.T. full time and designing and building airports the other 30 hours left in the week)to now being able to hang a PE shingle at my desk. All told this has taken me 12 years.

I actually graduated this past June and was notifed 1 week later that I had passed the PE. Now I am considering going into private practice myself. I have worked both public (city employee) and private, and have yet to get a decent design or project from any consultant. A typical consultant will take the least amount of time to design and deliver a project, so they can maximize their profit, and deliver the sorriest work I have ever seen. It never fails that I end up reworking the project after construction has started. Yet the powers that be continue to throw gobs of money at the "Suits". The have a mentality that because they are in the Consulting Engineering business, that they know more then their own people.

[Chemist_Geek]

The have a mentality that because they are in the Consulting Engineering business, that they know more then their own people.

It's not just civil engineering, guy, where that occurs. (wry laugh) It's sad when the staff develops an idea, gets shot down over and over by management (even after we snuck the experiments in on weekends), only to hear our idea issued from management as the "Latest & Greatest" after the consultants visit...