Dabldo Talk: Civil Engineering, Business, Leadersh

This episode will discuss my being deemed qualified to sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and some of the steps I took to prepare myself including some of the resources that I recommend.  Backstory: My home state, Maryland, where I do most of my engineering work, does not require both the FE and Principals and Practices (P&P) exam to be licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE).  You can take the exam automatically if you desire with a ABET accredited engineering degree however if you are qualifying for the exam, as I am, with work experience, only the P&P is required. Pennsylvania on the other hand requires both the FE and P&P by law.  Similar to MD, PA has a work experience option for the P&P but unlike Maryland, they have a FE work experience option too.  Application Process: An application, work experience records, and references were required as part of the submittal to request to be deemed eligible to take the FE Exam.  While the application and the reference forms were easy, the work experience record was a daunting task.  I went back through time sheet records, drawings, and memory to write down and organize 12 years of experience (even though only 8 was required).  This took a lot of time and focus.  Organizing your thought and then writing them in a very descriptive fashion was time consuming.  It was challenging to be descriptive, avoiding vague phrases but being specific, such as “ I designed”, “I recommended”, etc. This NSPE article for articulating work experience was very beneficial. Once my paperwork was organized, I submitted in July of last year.  After several weeks I received notification that I needed to refine and update my work experience record.  It didn’t exactly follow the directions, therefore, it could not be reviewed.  So after a couple months (because I was preparing for another baby) I resubmitted the paperwork and after one more quick clarification I was notified in December that I was eligible to take the exam.   The email had specific directions for getting logged into NCEES’s website and submitting my information to them so that the PA Board could supplement my information and make it so I could schedule an exam date.  The Books and Guides: During the application process I purchased four books from Power2Pass.com all written by Mr. Lindeburg.  With these books came access to FEPrep.com which offers online and other purchasable items to better prepare you for the exam. FE Civil Review Manual FE Civil Practice Problems Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam Practice Problems for the Civil Engineering PE Exam I also immediately downloaded the NCEES Reference Handbook for the FE Exam.  I bound this book in a three ring binder and kept it with my FE Civil books because this is the only resource you can use on the exam!  Keep in mind you cannot take your book with you to the exam so I did not find much purpose in making notes or highlighting my book.  I preferred to use it as I would in the test with only information that was printed in it.  PE Prep Course: Leading up to my P&P exam that I intend to take this fall, I wanted to experience a PE Prep Course at least one semester before I took the P&P exam.  I took a course offered by the University of Maryland this past spring which finished up a couple weeks before the P&P test in April.  I figured that if I was really struggling I did not want to wait until two weeks before to figure out what I didn’t know.  This way I have the summer to improve on some of the things I struggled with in the class and on the FE exam. At the same time, the classroom was huge for improving my understanding of the parts of civil engineering that I do not do.  This includes structural and environmental (sewer treatment/sludge, etc.)  There are several PE and FE prep courses available online but for me, the classroom setting was better for me.  This also forced me to study and get my head into the game.

We discussed the process I used to be approved by the editor to provide an article and the steps I took from concept through submittal.  Article background.  Why I even submitted a website contact form. I have a theory about what happens to culverts during a dam failure. I believe they do not function as they would during a typical storm event because if on increase in sediment and potential other debris carried by a breach wave. In working on real live projects, reviewers have just arbitrarily designated what characteristics and clogging should be used but there is no standard way that I can find to determine this. As a result, I created a nomograph or chart to standardize the process but it is only based on an educated guess. No scientific backing. I submitted a contact form to the magazine to request information: Hello. I am working on a few concepts related to stormwater management and dam breach analysis which may be worth including in your magazine at some point in the future. While I am not 100% ready to publish my information, I am interested in learning how we may be able to support each other. Thank you for your time. Its appreciated. Nearly a month later, I received an email from the editor which read in part: You can submit article drafts or detailed abstracts to me via email… The majority of our readers work for municipal stormwater or public works programs, or for engineering consulting firms that work with those programs, so you can assume a good familiarity with stormwater-related topics and terminology, although not all readers have an engineering background. Articles are typically in the 3,500- to 4,000-word range. That's flexible depending on what you need to cover the topic, so if you send and abstract it's helpful to know roughly how long you expect the finished article to be so we can plan for it.  This correspondence took place in September, 2015.  I then began seriously brain storming how I could expand what I anticipated would be a potential opportunity for a one page article into something more substantial. The result was organizing my thoughts on the entire dam breach analysis process, start to finish and how I have streamlined it and incorporated it into the design process from the concept phase and consider the as-built conditions after construction to also verify the dam breach scenario. On October 6th I submitted an abstract along with a sample study I had performed, incorporating my culvert embedment chart.  I received an almost immediate response with a nice review by the editor and an approval to submit a complete article.  This came along with a deadline for November 9th to meet their needs for inclusion in the March/April 2016… Almost four full months! The game was on and I got busy organizing my thoughts and channeling my ideas.  I basically brain vomited into a Google doc every chance I had.  Once I worked through all of my outlined concepts, I was able to organize my notes into logical order and refine the information. I am not and English major by any means.  I continue to improve my writing abilities but I am no expert, but, my wife was amazing and basically dropped everything to review my paper. After I felt like I had a solid article and graphics, I passed it to a close friend who I work with and understood what I was doing along with a couple of professional engineers.  Each of them gave me high marks.  With that, November 4th I resubmitted the package to the editor of Stormwater magazine. Complete Article Information  StromCon 2016 Opportunity Through this process, I was also made aware of StormCon.   I will prepare and present a 30 minute presentation on Thursday, August 25th to other engineers and professionals from across North America. For the first time ever, StormCon 2016 will be co-located with WasteCon 2016 in Indianapolis this summer August 22 – 25. Inherently multi-disciplinary,

In this episode we discussed an item that affects the approach and stance of every business and each owner should embrace.  Before we can get into my approach to business mentality, lets address how each business should have a mission and vision statement.  It may not be posted on the wall, even though I believe that is a good idea, but I believe every employee should understand the firm’s approach and stance. Recap Mission and Vision: Vision – Where do we aim to be or How...  Who do you benefit and how do you work toward the vision. Mission – Answers the question... What you want to be or ultimately accomplish. Examples: Vision – Dabldo: An industry where everyone shares knowledge. Feeding America’s Vision: A hunger-free America. San Diego Zoo: To become a world leader at connecting people to wildlife and conservation Mission – Dabldo: To inspire and provide leadership and advancement skills to improve communication. American Heart Association: To build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. March of Dimes:  We help moms have full-term pregnancies and research the problems that threaten the health of babies. But I am talking about something beyond just a Vision and Mission.  A mentality -- a state of mind. I think a business owner, who is the central leader, and guide toward success, should have one of two business mentalities. To understand these mentalities, we first must consider the life cycle of a business. A business is founded or established. The business grows and becomes successful. The business transfers leadership repetitively. Eventually, at the discretion of the leadership, the business is closed. So let’s address the first business mentality.  This one is to build the absolute best firm or company so that you appeal to other firms.  Take your niche to the highest level employing the best employees to make you prosperous but also interesting.  Build your company and strive to be the company that everyone wants to acquire! Now you may never choose to sell your business, but build that intent every day.  The leadership transfer must happen somehow or the business will close.  If there is no one to take over, there is no longevity for the company. This transfer can occur internally by promotions and purchasing of stock or ownership shares. This transfer can be hiring a specific person to take over a role and gain ownership or this transfer can be through a total buy out or acquisition. Before I mentioned that the employees should embrace the business's mentality.  Perhaps you lose good employees from time to time who are not comfortable with the word acquire.  On the other hand you may gain a staff who welcome the opportunities that a firms transition would bring. The flip side to this there is other business mentality, to be the purchaser.  Building your business to a point where you can rapidly grow and meet the needs of your clients by absorbing competition and adding expertise. The federal government changes the rules for firms over 50 employees.  These rules at 51 employees are difficult to swallow, but I think that once you get to 150 or 200 employees the rules protect the company and also the employee. By acquiring other firms, a business can rapidly grow and overcome the additional regulations and rules. A business at anytime can change from one mentality to the other.  This is not a change week to week or month to month but over a period of time. If you do not know where your employer lands between these two thought processes, I encourage you to ask your manager and find out.  Understanding the mentality of your leadership team, will help you as an employee also understand why they do what they do when they make those unique decisions. Building on this, I suggest you review your employee manual to understand what your company’s vision and mission are.

Hello and welcome to the introductory episode of Dabldo Talk (DT) where we will discuss a variety of civil engineering and business related topics. Topics will generally focus on the engineering industry including technical design aspects and some of my personal experiences but also include other topics such as project management, business networking, and marketing. These topics will likely evolve with time and change depending on your feedback. Your Host I am your host, Brian Wagner. I am 34 years old, married with two wonderful young children. I have found that other than spending time with my family, sharing my knowledge and experiences with others is one om the most pleasureful things I do. That is the primary driving force to this podcast, hoping that someone else can learn from me and advance their personal or professional lives. I am currently an associate at a civil engineering firm in central Maryland, USA. I began working or this firm in 1998 as part of a high school vocational education internship. After graduation I became a full time employee and even though I left temporarily to challenge myself with 911 dispatch I have moved up the chain from working on the board hand drafting to CAD manager and ultimately Project Manager. My CAD (computer aided drafting) experience is generally MicroStation but I have some experience with AutoCAD. I am familiar with the MicroStation InRoads and also EaglePoint design software used for roadway design and coordinate geometry. Due to the size of the firm, I am often involved in the hard core design work and generally focused on stormwater management, storm drainage, and commercial site design. For the past two years I have been heavily focused on stormwater management retrofits of regional facilities to meet the requirements of NPDES and MS4 regulations. I am was approved to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and recently passed, certifying me as an Engineer in Training or E.I.T.  I plan to take the principals and practices exam in October so that I can become licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE). Recently, I was published in Stormwater magazine with an article detailing dam failure analysis to determine hazard classifications of designed dams and will be speaking at the North American conference of surface water professionals, StormCon in August. Beyond my work life, I retired my search and rescue K9 last year. My career focus took away my ability to commit fully to the training required but I am happy to note that I did find two missing people in my about 9 years of volunteering for a search and rescue organization. The Show Structure This show will not be scripted word for word. I will use various bullet points to stay on topic and establish talking points, but in general a lot of the information shared will be spontaneous.  After the first few episodes, we will lock into a fairly consistent length.  My initial assumptions will be that most episodes will be 20-25 minutes long.  I would love to see guests, especially listeners, join the show from time to time.  If you would like to be a guest, please contact me through my contact page on this website. Each episode will be accompanied by show notes with links and a review of the information discussed.  New episodes will be posted about once every 2-3 weeks. The biggest thing about the structure and types of topics covered will move in the any number of directions based on your reactions so I encourage your feed back through my contact page or by commenting below. Show Format Each show will begin with a brief note about the host.  This may be a learning point skipped in a previous episode, something you didn’t know about me, a reflection on something that recently happened to me, or an answer to a question I receive.  Once we get a little better aquanted we will move into the main topic!  Following the discussion, we will recap the episode and preview the next episode's topic. So,