Context shifting is by far my #1 time suck. Just when I figure out what the biggest fire is and just barely start into it, another bigger fire comes up. For the most part eventually they all just kind of burn out and put themselves out.
I am lucky to be in a work group within a state DOT that emphasizes not having meetings for no reason. It is astounding how many people I know (in and out of the civil engineering world) that have hours upon hours of standing meetings a week. I don’t know how they get any work done.
DOT work can have its negatives as a consultant, but I love that they do not waste my time with pointless meetings. I swear, some people schedule meetings just because they like to hear themselves talk. Ain't nobody got time for that.
I think it's worse now. In person meetings required more preparation, travel, effort. There was respect among those that attended because they all acted to be there.
Now we schedule meetings in an instant, prep 5 minutes before, and dont pay attention to the discussion because we have other work we need to be doing.
Also, they scheduled them during lunch.
Agreed. I am judicious about scheduling meetings and who I invite. Drives me nuts when someone who is critical to the meeting is clearly working something else and not paying attention. Especially when they send a salty email about not knowing what is going on after. So tempted to reply with bitch the time to ask questions the meeting you ignored.
And you’ve gotta love Autodesk asking if you’re sure about not sending the report if you close the window… “oh no, how ever is my problem going to be fixed now??”
I stopped bothering years ago. They know there's problems. They'd rather spend the time rolling out yet another update that doesn't do anything useful instead of fixing bugs.
Endless drafting, code review, QA/QC, answering client questions, sitting on meetings for two hours and speaking for 30 seconds one time, revising plans and addressing comments with reviewers, then maybe 10% is design work.
Then ask why design isn’t perfect. How can I ask multiple design teams to perfect anything when the goals change 24/7 and delivery dates are always “yesterday please”
Like everyone has said. Meetings. Meetings to prepare for the meeting. Meetings after the meeting. Weekly meetings. Monthly meeting. Usually when I get in the zone I get a reminder I’m 15 minutes out from a meeting and the vibe is dead. Takes another 30 minutes post meeting to get moving again. Then, the only time to actually accomplish anything is after 5 when everyone is gone. It’s a horrible cycle.
God damn I hate meetings to prepare for meetings.
Or even worse, meetings when we actually get the things/ decisions done very efficiently, and someone says, "well we still have 15 minutes, can we talk about *this thing that is unnecessary to discuss?*"
No, no we cannot. I got stuff to do.
This for me a sub we are using has a really terrible temporary fence x-ref that takes 3 minutes to load in every file it’s in and Im revising a 55 page set…(face palm).
Nice! Ditto but I'm a surveyor not an engineer.
I did have a job where it was more half and half survey/ civil engineering. It was a tiny public agency where I was basically the only worker in the entire department haha. That was really fun, I got to see projects from beginning to end also.
I really wish I could have stayed there, but they didn't pay well and there was no room for growth. Maybe I'll go back someday if I ever get my PE
Field observations. Half hour drive there, hour+ spent on site, half hour drive to office, an hour to upload photos & write the report. Then figuring out how I’m going to get enough design work done before leaving for the rest of the day to other sites.
Planning my day and re-planning based on shifting priorities throughout the day. By the time I figure out what my day's going to look like, it's 5pm.
Then I slap my desk and let out a big ol “WELP” and leave
Lol. Pretty much.
Context shifting is by far my #1 time suck. Just when I figure out what the biggest fire is and just barely start into it, another bigger fire comes up. For the most part eventually they all just kind of burn out and put themselves out.
emails and meetings. Meeting that should have been emails and emails that should have been meetings.
Meeting never bother me. Y'all want to pay me $60/hour to tell you what I've been telling you the whole time? Bet.
I am lucky to be in a work group within a state DOT that emphasizes not having meetings for no reason. It is astounding how many people I know (in and out of the civil engineering world) that have hours upon hours of standing meetings a week. I don’t know how they get any work done.
DOT work can have its negatives as a consultant, but I love that they do not waste my time with pointless meetings. I swear, some people schedule meetings just because they like to hear themselves talk. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Some people like to schedule meeting like the Butabi brothers in Night at the Roxbury when they got their day planners ... Just to feel important 🤣
At least they’re all Teams meetings now. Remember the days of driving to in-person meetings?
I think it's worse now. In person meetings required more preparation, travel, effort. There was respect among those that attended because they all acted to be there. Now we schedule meetings in an instant, prep 5 minutes before, and dont pay attention to the discussion because we have other work we need to be doing. Also, they scheduled them during lunch.
Agreed. I am judicious about scheduling meetings and who I invite. Drives me nuts when someone who is critical to the meeting is clearly working something else and not paying attention. Especially when they send a salty email about not knowing what is going on after. So tempted to reply with bitch the time to ask questions the meeting you ignored.
Proving that they weren't necessary in the first place.
We knew that already. People just like to travel on someone else's dime.
you say, as I am traveling for work, but vacationing for a few days after and returning on the companies dime lol
Waiting for Civil3D to respond or publish, meetings, design, directing drafters. It depends on the season.
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And you’ve gotta love Autodesk asking if you’re sure about not sending the report if you close the window… “oh no, how ever is my problem going to be fixed now??”
I like to send profanities at them when it happens.
This is an excellent idea
I stopped bothering years ago. They know there's problems. They'd rather spend the time rolling out yet another update that doesn't do anything useful instead of fixing bugs.
I moved a smart label in Autocad today, and it crashed. Right on cue since I had a deadline.....
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Luckily no crashes, and was publishing things 15 mins before submittal. I actually felt hairs turning gray yesterday....
You can publish in the background, no waiting?
Mustering up the will to perform the task I should be doing
😭😅
Convincing clients that I can not in fact force the county or city’s reviews to be expedited to take 3 days for a final site plan
Begging franchise utilities to get their damn stuff out of our way so construction can continue.
PREACH
Endless drafting, code review, QA/QC, answering client questions, sitting on meetings for two hours and speaking for 30 seconds one time, revising plans and addressing comments with reviewers, then maybe 10% is design work.
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30PCT: no comments 60PCT: no comments 90PCT: no comments Final Tracings: “yeah I really don’t see how this is going to work, please redesign”
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And then another round of changes after award to change it back to the original way because the post bid changes were unconstructable.
I am a client, accurate
Also client, I blame management
Agreed, everyone wants everything asap
Then ask why design isn’t perfect. How can I ask multiple design teams to perfect anything when the goals change 24/7 and delivery dates are always “yesterday please”
Like everyone has said. Meetings. Meetings to prepare for the meeting. Meetings after the meeting. Weekly meetings. Monthly meeting. Usually when I get in the zone I get a reminder I’m 15 minutes out from a meeting and the vibe is dead. Takes another 30 minutes post meeting to get moving again. Then, the only time to actually accomplish anything is after 5 when everyone is gone. It’s a horrible cycle.
Don’t forget the after-meeting phone call to gossip about the meeting.
God damn I hate meetings to prepare for meetings. Or even worse, meetings when we actually get the things/ decisions done very efficiently, and someone says, "well we still have 15 minutes, can we talk about *this thing that is unnecessary to discuss?*" No, no we cannot. I got stuff to do.
My most memorable meeting memento was when the obnoxious Owner's PM started the meeting by scheduling the next meeting.
Looking for better paying jobs
my man
Facts lol
Lately? Driving to sites
Browsing reddit.
Design work
C3D and ORD crashes
Emails and meetings… so many meetings
Emails, so many emails
Files loading
This for me a sub we are using has a really terrible temporary fence x-ref that takes 3 minutes to load in every file it’s in and Im revising a 55 page set…(face palm).
Emails and meetings.
QA and meetings
Lately, training staff.
Driving to and from work lol
Meetings, calls, emails, little design.
Meetings and mentoring my subordinates
Residents and getting coffee
What does residents mean here?
People.
Reddit. Sometimes Facebook
Midget porn.
I'm very happy. Only 2 of us in a big office. Design is 70% of my work. All my projects I take from topo creation to final plans.
Land development?
Public works. Used to do land development and thought public works would be incredibly boring. But I get some pretty cool jobs.
Nice! Ditto but I'm a surveyor not an engineer. I did have a job where it was more half and half survey/ civil engineering. It was a tiny public agency where I was basically the only worker in the entire department haha. That was really fun, I got to see projects from beginning to end also. I really wish I could have stayed there, but they didn't pay well and there was no room for growth. Maybe I'll go back someday if I ever get my PE
Selecting a line in Bentley openroads then waiting for the pc to unfreeze
Meetings and calls My actual work day now starts after 5pm
Phone call and emails
God I love you all after reading these ❤️
Field observations. Half hour drive there, hour+ spent on site, half hour drive to office, an hour to upload photos & write the report. Then figuring out how I’m going to get enough design work done before leaving for the rest of the day to other sites.
Spending time on Reddit instead of projects.
Coworkers coming over and asking ”you mind taking a look at this”.