full image - Repost: Road block in career (from Reddit.com, Road block in career)
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Hi everyone. Not sure where else to go for this. Needing some advice on my career path in the engineering work. Im (30F), started with a bachelor's in civil and loved being in school, entered the transportation world upon graduation, after having an intership in government, I was eager to learn so I stepped into private and found that my expectations of a career in civil were different than what I had learned in school. Being young and naive, I didn't know what to expect.I didn't pass my EIT first time around as I took it during finals and had planned to study abd retake it the following year. Except on my first corporate job,I had a boss who would work long hours and we had to follow those hours. I'm talking about starting at noon and ending at 2-3am. He had to review our work and always did so right before deadlines, 11pm when it was due at 8am, if you were sleeping or busy, too bad get up. Or hed write us uo next day at work. He brought in crazy revenue so upper management didn't bat an eye on his management. He had poor time management skills. Made you always feel something was wrong with you if you messed up. I thought if this is what it is to be here, I can't raise a family, I can't have a life. Not to mention they moved me to a different office and I drove 2 hours each way to work to deal with all this. After 2 years I was burnt out and they dropped all the entry level teams to project hire only to deal with economic downturn,, meaning you'd only be in for an hour and send home if need be. I asked for 30 hours min a week and they said they couldn't guarantee it. I ended up quitting on the spot, felt more like a failure for giving up and sadly ran back home to refigure out my life. At that time I was dealing with mental issues from a pet dying of a heart attack and witnessing it, plus that job gave me a combo of panic attacks, insomnia, and stress. I had to go into therapy.I found a random customer service type job for a contracting company to get by until I figured it out, moved up to management operations as they knew my background, 3 years there the men in the field were harrassing a lot just for me being a woman. Seeing what they could get. Touching your shoulder, your hair. Was told I was a mean manager for being so strict, but I was uncomfortable there. HR didnt help much, jsut warnings. Covid hit and I got stuck longer than planned but knew I wanted to get back in my field. I also got sick with a rare disease that took 2 years to get through, in and out of hospitals, that is now thankfully under control and has been since 2021. I ended up finding a subcontractor, been here 3 years now, and worked up from a project engineer to now a "glorified" PM. I think they just gave me the title to make me feel better. They moved me to a division where many up and quit. I worked hard to help build it up and thought I would be recognized better. Saying yes to the many hats they had me wear, estimating, PM, field engineer, presentations, business development, travelling, etc. Being in a sub, I only know that specific line of work, and not much else, apart from all the office work and project completions/budget/contract negotiations etc. I still have a lot to learn but I do not feel this is the place for me. I am the only female engineer on my team. I get paid less than an entry level project engineer at other gc firms, those I train get paid more than me I found out through one. Many have left, I'm constantly retraining interns, love being rhere for my interns, they hardly want to stay in our work aince they have big dreams and i dont blame them. On top of training plus continuing all of my work, and I'm starting to hate this career, thinking maybe it's not cut out for me. Maybe it really is this exhausting and not cut out for women. How do you have a family like this, or a life?. I've reached out to other colleagues peers from college and they all agree it's toxic and I should move on, a bad job doesn't define your career. Feeling less than appreciated, I started applying to other jobs. And it's the same story in interviews, we love your skills, but you're too overqualified for entry level(even though it pays way more), but you don't know enough for an assistant PM. I decided to go back to school for my masters in civil, focus in construction/structural to improve my skills/networking, etc. I have signed up for the EIT again as I feel I'm on the right path. I do part time school and full time work.But again I feel stuck, I feel burnt out going to work at this place. Ppl keep leaving and more gets added onto my plate instead of them hiring, again upper management get the credit for the good work. And now doing my masters on top is getting exhausting, I know my choice, but I felt it needed it when doors weren't opening.I've thought about quitting again and focusing 100% on school, I can afford a year off from savings plus school loans, but I know work skills will get you further in civil than a masters will, and having no job is worse than a bad one when trying to make a switch. Is it always this bad in any workplace? Or do I have the worst luck? Any advice on what I should do moving forward? How did you all manage things when life keeps breaking you down? If you switched from civil, what field/career would you recommend? Any women out there with similar experiences?
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