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Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

  • 1.  Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-13-2020 09:20 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-05-2020 07:15 PM
    Hello,

    Welcome to the first Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything! Featuring @David Odeh and @Cherylyn Henry. (Review their bios).

    One of the staple events at SEI's Structures Congress is the Meet the Leaders breakfast where students and young professionals get the chance to sit down with leaders in small groups and pick their brains in an informal mentoring session and gain career insights. Since the Congress was canceled this year we decided to bring it Virtual!

    Both leaders have agreed to answer your questions on this thread. We have asked the leaders to keep their answers concise. This thread will be open for questions until 4:00 p.m EST Friday, April 17. The leaders will reply to all questions by Monday, April 20. Please skim the thread before posting to avoid duplicate questions. Please make sure to direct your question to a specific leader or both if you would like them both to respond.  Moderators reserve the right to remove or consolidate duplicate questions.

    Just a reminder – questions must comply with the ASCE Collaborate Code of Conduct.

    See you in the thread!


    ------------------------------
    Brittany Boyce Aff.M.ASCE
    Senior Coordinator, SEI Communications & Operations
    bboyce@...
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    ​​


  • 2.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 11:30 AM
    Thank you @Brittany Boyce for starting this thread and giving us this awesome opportunity virtually!

    As a young professional going on 3 years into my career, my question for @David Odeh and @Cherylyn Henry is the following: What is one thing you wish you knew when you were just starting out your career in structural engineering? ​​

    I am looking forward to your answers as well as seeing all the other great questions asked throughout this week.

    ------------------------------
    Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
    Associate Engineer
    Pennoni Associates
    Philadelphia PA
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 05:30 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 04-14-2020 05:30 PM
    Hello Dani,

    Thanks for partaking in the AMA, and thanks for the question, a great one at that! My answer isn't something that I didn't know when I was just starting my career, but rather something on which I wish I had focused more strongly. And that is, being your own advocate. Really communicate with your boss and colleagues about the kind of projects you would like to work on, and what more you would like to learn. Taking the initiative to learn on your own is great, but ensuring that those who have an influence over your work load should know your goals too. In my early years, it felt like the senior engineers in my office saw the younger engineers as a commodity who were cheap labor to crunch numbers. It was an intimidating setting for someone just starting out and I felt apprehensive about sharing my goals. That was quite some time ago, but the sentiment is still applicable, and something you should continue throughout your career. Thanks again for the question!

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    Cherylyn Henry, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE
    Structural Engineer | Project Manager
    ZAPATA, Inc.
    Charlotte, NC
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 06:04 PM
    Welcome Danielle and thanks for getting us started.

    One thing that I wish I knew when I started my career was how important it was to ask questions when I was uncertain about my career path or my work.  I was lucky in my first job to work for a firm with incredible technical training opportunities and many leading structural engineers - but like many I think I became intimidated by my own fear of asking something that might sound like a "dumb question".  I've learned over the years that there is no such thing!

    As an example, I recall struggling with an excel spreadsheet for several hours - it was complex and had been developed by a more senior engineer in my office and I just couldn't make the numbers work.  I assumed that I was missing something and just needed to work harder to figure it out.  Later, I asked that engineer a couple of questions (after wasting most of a day working on it), and we found out that there was a bug in the calculations...if I had just asked early on and had confidence in my work I would have saved alot of time.  Nothing bad happens when you ask questions - sometimes you might be dead wrong in your assumptions, but at least you can learn quickly why that is the case and move on to solve problems more effectively.

    The same goes with your career.  I think it's important to find one or more mentors (I still have them today - and could not do my job as a firm leader without them), and make time to regularly check in with questions about your professional development.  A good mentor will listen, but it's a two-way street - you need to listen and respect advice.  Only you can make the decisions about your career that need to be made, but a good mentor can help you think through and frame your decisions properly.

    Hope this helps!

    DJO


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    David J. Odeh
    SE, PE, F. SEI, F. ASCE
    Principal, Odeh Engineers, Inc.
    Technical Region Director, ASCE
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 12:14 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-05-2020 07:14 PM
    Brittany,

    Thanks for starting this thread! This is one of my favorite events at the Structures Congress. My questions for @David Odeh and @Cherylyn Henry is - With the current situation and with many college senior looking ahead to start their career in Structural Engineering, what advice you have for them in terms of adjusting to the new norm, entering the profession, and preparing to be successful in the first 90 days of work?​​

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    Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
    Structural Engineer
    Broomfield CO
    luis.duque674@...
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 05:38 PM
    Hello Luis,

    Thanks for the question! My advice to newly minted engineering graduates is the same that I give to my team at work, which is communication. While beginning one's career during a pandemic is far from ideal, communicating with your co-workers on a consistent basis will help ease the transition. If the graduate has little to no office experience, he or she may find that starting work remotely isn't far off from being in school - you have assignments and deadlines, and you still need to submit your work for review. If you have questions during the work day, reach out when you feel that you need help. Don't wait. You'll feel (and will be) more productive when you can collaborate with your co-workers. Everyone has to start somewhere, if your questions will be appreciated.

    If there's a slow down in office work, ask your boss what else you can do to help and be productive. You could get your feet wet in proposal writing and putting together cost estimates, start learning about project specifications, or take webinars that cover topics you perhaps didn't learn in school. Overall, your transition into the profession will be far more successful if you communicate well from the beginning. Thanks again for the question!

    ------------------------------
    Cherylyn Henry, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE
    Structural Engineer | Project Manager
    ZAPATA, Inc.
    Charlotte, NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 09:40 PM
    Hi Luis,
    Thanks for your question and for participating - I also really enjoy this event every year at the Congress and I'm happy we can do it virtually!

    I'll start by saying that all of the things that are important in starting your career during normal times will still be important today.  Making connections with your peers, learning all of the skills you need to master, and developing relationships with a good mentor will be critical.  Without a doubt, it's going to be a challenge in this environment of social distancing and economic uncertainty.

    I'd advise graduating seniors who have an offer in place to engage with their new company early to find out what they can do to prepare for the new work environment.  Many firms have well established remote work systems using laptops and networking software that you'll want to test out as early as possible.  An advantage that younger engineers have is that they are familiar and comfortable with online collaboration and communications - but keep in mind that many more senior engineers are still getting used to the idea of video chats and Zoom meetings for daily work interaction.  Nonetheless, these are the tools engineers are using today to connect and collaborate, and much of the training and skill building you need to do in your first 90 days can be accomplished successfully without being in the office.

    I started my own career during a severe recession in the early 1990s, and found that with patience and a little luck there are still many great opportunities to be successful in structural engineering.  Today's crisis is putting many projects on hold, but remember that new areas of growth are already emerging that could lead us out of the downturn.  Potential stimulus programs for infrastructure are on the table, and there is a growing urgency to build and expand our public health system.  All of this will require young engineers to be flexible in their plans and diligent in exploring potential jobs in different markets.

    Lastly, ASCE has a great site on Collaborate called "Career by Design" (https://collaborate.asce.org/careerbydesign/home) with a host of different resources for young engineers as they navigate this new environment.  Be sure to stay engaged and use these tools - they are more important than ever at this time and ASCE is determined to help out our younger members in launching their careers successfully into our vital profession.

    DJO


    ------------------------------
    David J. Odeh
    SE, PE, F. SEI, F. ASCE
    Principal, Odeh Engineers, Inc.
    Technical Region Director, ASCE
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 02:15 PM
    Hi @David Odeh @Cherylyn Henry - Would you please share your recommendations on how civil and structural engineers who are currently working for private sectors can help give students work experience ​​while some employers are not able to offer paid positions during this pandemic period?

    Here are some specific areas that might prevent professional engineers from offering time to help on building up students' resumes:
    - Project work from the company is confidential that I am not able to assign project tasks to those who are not employed by my company through HR.
    - Students might not have the structural analysis software even I am willing to create a task that is valuable for them to learn - for example, designing a HSS moment connection after obtaining the analysis results from Staad, RISA, Etabs, SAP2000, etc.
    - If the mentoring experience is unofficial, and when a student state his/her experience on their resumes (for example, summer externship with Silky Wong from Dow, Inc - Civil Department), there is no way for the future employers to verify via HR systems (unless these employers can successfully contact me).
    - Lastly, for civil and structural engineers working for corporations with at least 5,000+ employees worldwide, it is extremely difficult to obtain HR agreement on offering unpaid externship to students as a company wide initiative, what are your thoughts on getting my direct reports' buy-in in order to provide externship experience to students? These managers might want to follow the company rules just to be safe so that they won't be getting into trouble of information security problems.

    I look forward from hearing from you both

    Many thanks in advance.

    Silky

    ------------------------------
    Silky S. K. Wong, Ph.D., S.E., P.E., CEng MICE, LEED AP
    ______________________
    The Dow Chemical Company
    Civil Engineering Department
    Lead Civil/Structural Engineer TES
    Central Engineering – Houston
    HDC Phone : 281-966-2077
    SSWong@...
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Meet the Leaders: Ask Me Anything

    Posted 04-14-2020 07:07 PM
    Hello Silky,

    Thanks for posting the question, and it's great to see that our profession is trying to help students and those new to our profession gain experience, even if companies aren't hiring right now. I've listed my thoughts below on the challenges you mentioned in your post.

    - Project work from the company is confidential that I am not able to assign project tasks to those who are not employed by my company through HR.
    I understand the company perspective and the hesitation with leaving HR out of the solution. The confidential work may also include proprietary information or tools. To overcome this, and if you have the time, put together example problems that are representative of what someone working for your company might see. It could be a boilerplate calculation that would be applicable to any number of projects. Simple pipe supports, framing calculations, and shallow foundation designs come to mind. You could also ask the student or recent graduate to run the numbers in different parts of the country so that he or she becomes more familiar with designing for both wind and seismic loads, and he or she starts to get a feel for what a completed design should look like - something they won't achieve by purely running computer models.

    - Students might not have the structural analysis software even I am willing to create a task that is valuable for them to learn - for example, designing a HSS moment connection after obtaining the analysis results from Staad, RISA, Etabs, SAP2000, etc.
    Most software companies have demo versions free for download, sometimes with a caveat of number of member and node limitations, or with saving restrictions. A student could download a few different programs and start to learn them through the demo versions. This would open more opportunities for design work, and comparing hand calcs with software output.

    - If the mentoring experience is unofficial, and when a student state his/her experience on their resumes (for example, summer externship with Silky Wong from Dow, Inc - Civil Department), there is no way for the future employers to verify via HR systems (unless these employers can successfully contact me).
    A cover letter is a great way for the student to explain the mentoring relationship and could describe in more detail the work experience that you provided. I think cover letters are underutilized, and when well written, can really make an impact. In the last five years, I think I've seen just one cover letter. As for contact information, the student could list you as a reference with your work contact information, if you're comfortable.

    - Lastly, for civil and structural engineers working for corporations with at least 5,000+ employees worldwide, it is extremely difficult to obtain HR agreement on offering unpaid externship to students as a company wide initiative, what are your thoughts on getting my direct reports' buy-in in order to provide externship experience to students? These managers might want to follow the company rules just to be safe so that they won't be getting into trouble of information security problems.
    I think I would take a different approach. To avoid breaking any company rules and policies, what about setting up a mentorship network? It could start small, with a handful of co-workers who like the idea behind your mission. The mentors could also provide real-world industry design examples, direct students to example problems (i.e. the AISC Steel Construction Manual Design Examples), or simply provide an ear for questions. Mentor-mentee relationships don't necessarily have to be rigid and structured, and I'm sure students would appreciate being able to jump into a zoom meeting for a chat with his or her new mentor.

    Thanks again for the questions, and I hope to see you in Reston soon!

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    Cherylyn Henry, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE
    Structural Engineer | Project Manager
    ZAPATA, Inc.
    Charlotte, NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message