The Civil Engineering Academy Podcast

On today’s show, we hear from two international engineers, Noah and Mostafa, about how they got into the field, their journeys, the paths they needed to go through in order to become licensed professionals in their respective countries (and how it differs from the US), as well as their experiences in the civil engineering arena, and their favorite projects they have worked on themselves. Mostafa is a Ph.D. with over 15 years of experience in the profession, who has worked on high-level projects in countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Canada. Just after getting his Bachelor’s degree in Egypt, he had the opportunity to work in Dubai, which provided him with the first-hand experience of what goes into the construction of huge and massive buildings. Noah is a professional engineer in Manitoba, Canada, with over 8 years of experience working in many different projects within the structural engineering discipline, from renovations and structural design to condition assessments and additions to existing buildings. Noah and Mostafa are the founders of Structural Engineering Basics, an online platform that focuses on teaching the basics of structural engineering to those who are not structural engineers but deals with the subject almost on a daily basis, such as students about to graduate, contractors, project managers, architects, and building owners. Check the link below and start learning structural engineering today! Resources Mentioned (some links are affiliate links) Structural Engineering Basics - structuralengineeringbasics.com/cea Structural Engineering Basics (Contact) - info@structuralengineeringbasics.com Civil Engineering Academy - civilengineeringacademy.com CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community?  What’s wrong with you?  J/K.  Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! ceacommunity.com CEA Newsletter - Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE.  We even have a free resource for you! - civilengineeringacademy.com/newsletter Isaac Oakeson - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

Since COVID-19 hit earlier this year, we haven’t really been able to discuss other topics. And even if we do, COVID-related procedures and measures are always part of the debate. It has disrupted all kinds of markets and has changed all different aspects of social and professional life. The civil engineering arena, which relies heavily on workers performing tasks on-site and meeting deadlines, was also considerably disrupted by COVID. On today’s show, Mark Oakeson, who has been experiencing this ‘new normal’ by himself, sits down to discuss with Isaac how the novel coronavirus has impacted construction sites, from safety protocols to disease-testing procedures. When the virus first hit back in early March 2020, we had no clue about how bad this pandemic would be, or even if it would, in fact, achieve the frightening high records we’ve seen so far. As the disease started developing from March on, many engineering projects were put on hold not only in the USA but all around the world. This brought the field to a nearly complete halt. As we’ve gone through the summer, this fear started to slowly mitigate with all the safety procedures and standard operations provided by OSHA and the CDC. Therefore, even though things don’t yet feel under control, they are certainly more manageable now, which provides a favorable ground for engineers to safely start their projects back up, with all these new procedures in mind. Isaac and Mark dive deep into the nuances of the disruption in the civil engineering field caused by the novel coronavirus, what the new standard procedures look like and how they play out in the field, how they handle social distancing and other COVID-related safety measures on construction sites, what happens whenever someone contracts the virus, the many different responses to the virus, and many more. Tune in to know more about how the construction arena is handling this ‘new normal’. Resources Mentioned Mark Oakeson - mark@civilengineeringacademy.com Isaac Oakeson - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com Engineering News-Record - ENR Duke University study - Low-Cost Measurement of Face Mask Efficacy for Filtering Expelled Droplets During Speech ENR’s article about the study - Study Claims Popular Face Covering Could Worsen Virus Spread CDC - Website OSHA - Website Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! CEA Newsletter - Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you!

Powered by social movements all over the world, women are getting more and more space, visibility, and respect within areas of expertise that were mainly dominated by men some time ago, such as natural sciences and engineering. Today Melissa dives a bit into women in the engineering field and some things she's had to deal with.  Melissa and Isaac also dive into the details of her life as a mother and an engineer, how she deals with her work-life balance, especially now with COVID and the work-from-home culture, her experiences as a woman in the field, her workload in her transportation industry, and many tips for the aspiring engineer of the future. Listen to the full episode and enjoy this inspirational story.    Melissa is a senior consultant engineer for the roadway-highway team, and a local project operations manager at WSP in Orange County, California. This means she is the project manager for the majority of the large projects they handle, and she also helps other PMs manage the business side of projects. Resources Mentioned Melissa Brady - LinkedIn WSP - Website UDOT - Website/ Mountainview Corridor WTS - Website NSCE - Website Melissa’s Book Recommendations - PMBOK / Working Towards The PMP Chloe, The Engineer - @chloetheengineer Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! CEA Newsletter - Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

The term Licensure refers to a restricted practice that requires individuals to have an official license granted by a licensing board before performing a certain profession or activity. The practice of this activity without a valid license may incur civil and criminal penalties. However, it’s more than common for lawmakers to categorize highly educated PEs with other professionals in totally different areas of expertise as an attempt to simplify the bureaucracy over occupational licenses. This is what the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) defines as threats to your PE License, and today’s main topic: The deregulation of your occupation as a professional engineer. Given that the majority of engineers are not aware of these legislations, and the consequences and implications that come with them, the NSPE created an interactive map in which individuals can check out both the states that currently have active threats being discussed, as well as those states that have no threats reported, in addition to providing several articles for anyone to get to know this legal aspect a bit more. Even though civil engineers are way more interested in solving problems by making use of their technical and detailed thinking, the legislation aspect cannot be totally neglected. The value of the PE license is huge and protecting it is, as NSPE puts it, of utmost importance. Resources Mentioned News on the PE exam for future test dates and registration - NCEES National Society of Professional Engineers - NSPE NSPE’s Interactive Map - Here Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! CEA Newsletter - Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

We’re all familiar with the fact that every single person has a distinctly moving and interesting story of how they got into Civil Engineering and the various obstacles each of them had to face while pursuing that path, ranging from family responsibilities to personal difficulties in learning a specific subject. Today, Isaac brings another one of these incredible stories by talking to Jeff Castillo, a fascinating guy with an arduous past, including being homeless for about a year (that’s right) and getting arrested (that’s right, again) a couple of times. He got his first construction job when he was 17 years old and he literally knew nothing about it. As a result, most of the people involved in the job wanted him fired. So, he had to start learning the construction aspects by himself. This necessity motivated Jeff to pick up a habit that remained throughout his college days and is still present today, and this habit is to be proactive enough to teach yourself the basics of the subjects and things that you want to know. According to one of his college professors: “How teachable are you to yourself?” Jeff is a true warrior, given all the setbacks and adversities he has already encountered early in his life and is the living example of one of his mantras, which he learned with his construction boss: “You can have anything you want in the world as long as you're willing to work for it”. Check out the full episode for more details and insights and don’t forget to check out our home base for everything civil engineering. Resources Mentioned (some links are affiliate links) Brigham Young University, Idaho - BYUI The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey - Jeff’s book recommendation AutoCAD Course - The Source CAD Teaching yourself - Udemy / LinkedIn Learning CEA’s episode on PDH’s - Top Tips and Advice Regarding Professional Development Hours Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! CEA Newsletter - join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE.  We even have a free resource for you! Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

It’s not new to anyone that the depth portion of the PE exam, as the whole exam itself, can be pretty challenging. Given that our mission at Civil Engineering Academy’s mission to help you on your journey to becoming a professionally licensed engineer, Isaac, and the CEA crew have teamed up with Andy Richardson to provide test-takers with the best coursework and materials related to the depth portion of the PE Exam. Andy is the owner of a structural engineering company called 29E6 in South Carolina. They do a lot of work with architects and contractors, helping them with their engineering needs. One of the aspects he likes the most about being the owner of a company is that he gets to help young professionals with their needs and curiosity by serving as a mentor to them. This reflects the lack of mentorship he had while at his first job, and now he’s trying to give others the help he didn’t receive. Combining Andy’s drive and CEA’s mission, Isaac and Andy bundled all five depth review courses into one awesome course,  The Ultimate Civil PE Depth Courses. This is the one resource you’ll ever need in order to organize, prepare, study, and pass your PE Depth Exam, and you can get one-year access to it with a 50% discount by using the code COUPON50 until August 21st, 2020. Just click on the link below and you’ll be on your way to become a professional civil engineer. Resources Mentioned *some of these links are affiliate links.  At no cost to you, I get a small commission for referring you. Andy Richardson - LinkedIn/ 29E6 How To Win Friends And Influence People, by Dale Carnegie - Andy’s book recommendation The Ultimate Civil PE Depth Courses - Become an early adopter and save 50% with coupon code COUPON50. It ends Aug 21st, 2020, so HURRY! Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! PPI- PPI is our partner to help you ace your FE and PE exams. Use our discount code of CIVAC and our link to get 15% off any book you order, including the Civil Engineering Reference Manual Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/civilengineeringacademy/message

There are plenty of civil engineering schools today, located in all different parts of the country, ranging from the world-renowned and relatively expensive ones to the small- and mid-sized schools, with more affordable tuition fees. Even though the range of options can be pretty huge and diversified, everyone will have a unique university experience that includes their own needs and capabilities, both financially, academically, and socially. Taking into account how overwhelming the process of choosing a specific university can be, today’s episode is a dissection of a list compiled by the U.S. News, in which they rank the best civil engineering schools for graduate programs available in the US. Isaac dives deeper into the particularities of each one of them, such as enrollment numbers, tuition fees, student-to-staff ratio, and more. This is a great episode to get to know a bit more about the civil engineering schools available out there. If you’re in the process of choosing a school for your graduate studies, or not, this episode will provide you with the basics you should know about the top 12 schools, and some notable ones you must also take into consideration when making your decision. Resources Mentioned U.S. News - Best Civil Engineering Programs / Research Methodology Top 12 Schools - the University of California, Berkeley / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign / Georgia Institute of Technology / Stanford University / University of Texas, Austin / Purdue University, West Lafayette / Massachusetts Institute of Technology / University of Michigan, Ann Arbor / Virginia Tech / Carnegie Mellon University / Northwestern University / Cornell University/ University of California, Davis Notable Schools - University of Utah/ Arizona State University / Auburn University / Brigham Young University / Clarkson University / Clemson University/ Colorado School of Mines / Duke University / Florida A&M Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

Today, Mark Oakeson jumps back on the show to discuss Professional Development Hours, aka PDHs. Given today’s world, the interplay between science and technology has allowed groundbreaking methods and processes to constantly disrupt “old-fashioned” ways of building, doing, and creating things. Within civil engineering, this wouldn’t be different. As an applied science in itself, civil engineering is constantly changing and going through innovative transformations that enhance specific aspects of the field. Therefore, professionals need to keep up with these changes, and PDHs play a big role in this day-to-day update on industry news and trends. This episode touches on a variety of topics regarding PDHs, including the existing differences between states, the resources available in order to get your credit hours, how to pace yourself so that they do not pile up, as well as the vital importance of keeping your certificates or any record stating that you’ve completed a specific course. This is a great episode for both the rising engineers of the future, who will need to get their required credit hours in order to renew their licenses and the professionals already practicing in the field. Check this out and don’t forget to visit our home base for all things civil engineering, whether it’s related to the FE, PE, or practice materials. Resources Mentioned ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers ACI - American Concrete Institute NCEES - National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying PMI - Project Management Institute AISC - American Institute of Steel Construction PDH Online Resources - PDHDirect/ RedVector/ PDH Library/ Civil PDH Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base civilengineeringacademy.com CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

Today’s guest is Jed-Jason Ramos, who has recently received the position of project engineer with the Walsh Group, one of the largest builders in North America, after being an intern at this very same company twice, in 2018 and 2019. Born in Hawaii, raised in Southern California, he earned his degree from Brigham Young University-Idaho.  Jed has some good insights to share with both those who are still in civil engineering school and those who are already practicing it. This interview features insights about how he uses Simon Sinek’s theory of “The Why” to approach any task he encounters in life, big and small, how a book written by the curator of TED, Chris Anderson, helps him to better connect with people, and how the Rubber Duck Method can help people solve problems. This is a great episode for literally anyone. Check this out and don’t forget to visit our home base for all things civil engineering, whether it’s related to the FE, PE, or practice materials. Resources Mentioned Connect with Jed-Jason Ramos - jed.jason.ramos@gmail.com / LinkedIn TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, by Chris Anderson - Jed’s book recommendation How Great Leaders Inspire Action, TED by Simon Sinek - Jed’s method to approach tasks in life Rubber Duck Debugging - Jed’s method to solve the problems he faces. CEA’s FE On-Demand Training Program - civilfereviewcourse.com/freetraining The Ultimate Civil FE Review Course - If you are preparing for the civil FE exam then we have the course to help you get it done.  Check it out! Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community?  What’s wrong with you?  J/K.  Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! Reach out to Isaac- isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

Today I have a special guest come on - Maithili Dey.  She recently passed the FE exam last year and has some great tips and advice she's picked up along the way.  Come learn more from her in this episode! Although the majority of PE/FE test takers may be from the US itself, international professionals who have had their academic careers outside of the country also need to go through the same process in order to be able to work in the US. And in today’s episode, Maithili Dey (from Bangladesh) elaborates on her journey as a trained civil engineer and gives some tips, as well as critical habits that helped her pass the FE exam. She is an extremely experienced professional who has had the opportunity to build a strong network of professionals, in addition, to add a lot to her knowledge along the way. She was part of the Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery in Bangladesh, helping build shelters for people during natural calamities. If you are a FE/PE future test taker from the US, this episode will give you a kick start on your journey to prepare for these exams by providing you with the best advice on how to practice your problem-solving skills using time management and other tools. And, if you are an international professional who wants to come to the US and work here as an engineer, Maithili’s story will definitely serve as a model and a guide for you. Resources Mentioned (*some affiliate links are below) Connect with Maithili Dey - maithili.dey@gmail.com / LinkedIn Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown - Maithili’s book recommendation* CollabSuite - Maithili’s Facebook Group recommendation KUET - Khulna University Of Engineering & Technology Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project - Project from the World Bank; CEA’s FE On-Demand Training Program - civilfereviewcourse.com/freetraining. CEA’s Youtube tutorials and practice problems - Here. Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community?  What’s wrong with you?  J/K.  Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! Reach out to Isaac- isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com