1500 words/ report

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I went to work for and oil field company immediately after graduation. They sent me to their Lake Charles training office in Louisiana. After several months of training, they assigned me to their Liberty, TX office (45 minutes east of Houston, TX). The entire time I was with the company I never had a day off, and I was on call 24/7. In the meantime, I was planning on getting married that September. I felt constant pressure from the company to be present and to perform. I felt so much pressure that when my stepfather passed away a month or two into my training, I felt I had to choose between attending the funeral or missing/rescheduling my wedding, or risk being fired. I chose life over death, but to this day, missing my stepfather's funeral is one of my biggest regrets. The 24/7 schedule continued. My new wife often found herself alone in a small, far away town. The constant working took a negative toll on our marriage. She threatened to move back to Oklahoma City, with or without me. Thankfully, it wasn't long before ODOT called me to see if I was willing to come back to Oklahoma. She never admitted it, but I'm sure she had something to do with it. I turned in my two weeks notice and moved back to OKC, and I've been with ODOT ever since. Not a single day of regret.

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ODOT is a family Work/Life "Harmony"

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For many consultant firms and heavy highway contractors, having contracts with ODOT is a significant part of their business.

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There are no engineers at the maintenance yards. Work, schedules, and staffing for the maintenance yards are coordinated by engineers.

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EIT Level 1 thru 4 are eligible for overtime pay. EITs who have passed the FE exam begin at Level 2. As an EIT career progression occurs annually. The difference between Professional Engineers and Engineering Managers is supervision. Professional Engineers are "specialist": specifications, pavement design, hydraulics, geotech, geometrics, etc. Most Professional Engineers work in the Central Office. Central Office Engineering Managers oversee a squad of Professional Engineers and CADD Technicians. They also administer consultant contracts. Field Engineering Managers oversee a team of inspectors, lab technicians, and other engineers.

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There are 8 Field Division Engineers across the state. The Construction Engineer serves as the assistant Division Engineer as well as provides oversight over the Field Division's construction program. The Maintenance Engineer, Bridge Engineer, and Traffic Engineer serve under the Division and Construction Engineer, and as their titles suggest, they have responsible charge of their respective disciplines within the Field Division. Construction inspection, contract administration, design, project estimating (cost and time), and survey are all activities that field engineers get involved in.

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Out of all of the Senior Staff positions, only the Chief Engineer is required to be an engineer. The Director of Engineering and Director of Operations have always been filled by engineers as long as I've been at ODOT. Chief Engineer - Approves best practices - All engineering positions serve under the Chief, including contract inspection firms Director of Engineering - Oversight over most preconstruction activities - Establishes contractual requirements for consulting firms Director of Operations - Oversight over all construction activities, including project close out/finalization - Oversight over some preconstruction activities (e.g. bidding, project scheduling, emergency response)

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The overall responsibility of a Central Office Engineer is to develop a plan. This is achieved by running calculations, operating software programs and interpreting the data, looking up design factors in reference manuals, etc. Site visits are taken as necessary. There are usually three plan-in-hand meetings scheduled during the design of each project.

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The overall responsibility of a Field Engineer is to ensure everything is going according to plan. This is achieved by testing materials on site, taking lots of measurements, visually inspecting the contractor's work, maintaining diaries of each day's operations, collecting receipts, invoices, and other documentation as necessary, amongst a plethora of other tasks and odd jobs. Depending on the nature of the project, some night work is required. This is most often done in order to reduce disruptions to traffic during the day.

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The Engineer Development Council is comprised of current ODOT Engineers, representing different Divisions, different areas of the state, and different career paths. The Council serves at the pleasure of the Chief Engineer. Unless the new engineer was directly hired by a Division, all engineers are hired by ODOT and enter into the training program (i.e. EIT Rotation). Approximately the first year of a new engineer's ODOT career is spent "rotating" through the major Division's of ODOT (see slides 8 and 9). The rotation is intended to expose the new engineer to all facets of ODOT, and and to help them gain an understanding of how everything and everyone works together. At the completion of the rotation, the engineer is allowed to select the Division where they would like to work. Engineers who are hired directly into a Division have the option of experiencing a shortened rotation with the approval of the hiring Division.

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Engineers coming out of college are hired as an EIT Level 1 or Level 2, depending on whether or not they have passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam. Today, the total annual compensation for a starting EIT (with the FE) ranges from $64,259 to $76,467, depending on the amount of benefit allowance that the EIT qualifies for. In an engineer's fifth year, their annual compensation can range between $82,681 and $103,276, depending on the amount of benefit allowance the engineer receives, and which career path the engineer chooses (Professional Engineer or Engineering Manager). The State Employee Benefit Allowance varies depending on whether or not the employee is married, and the number of children in the family.

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ODOT prides itself on having never had to lay off or furlough its employees. In tough financial times ODOT manages its financial resources by delaying projects rather than reducing its workforce. This allows for excellent job security for ODOT employees, but the reduction in projects can result in lay offs and furloughs for engineering firms and heavy highway contractors who rely on ODOT contracts. During President Obama's term in office, he initiated two programs to stimulate the U.S. economy and create jobs. Both of them focused on transportation. During the 2016 Presidential election I remember Donald Trump being asked how he was going to reduce unemployment and stimulate the economy. I specifically remember him saying that he wasn't going to focus on infrastructure and transportation. I thought to myself, "That's not possible. Every President focuses on transportation." Sure enough, before his campaign was over he was promising to "make America great again" by investing $1 trillion in transportation if/when elected.

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Unlike private firms, State agencies have a more difficult time adopting new technologies. Before new technologies can be used, research must be done to prove and/or measure its value to the agency. Licensing and contracts with existing providers must be taken into consideration. The current Governor (Stitt) has tasked State agencies with making use of technology to become more effective and more efficient. I believe this makes today's engineers coming into the public sector more desirable than ever before.