The TRUTH: Construction Engineering and Construction Management Career | Expectations vs Reality

Wondering what a construction engineering career or construction management career is really like? I'll go over 5 expectations vs reality that can help you know the truth behind this career. My instagram: @kikoga

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So for my background I am a construction project engineer with a bachelors and masters degree in civil engineering working for a big general contractor in Hawaii.

Expectation 1: You will need to remember the material from your construction engineering degree or construction management degree to succeed.

Reality: Not necessarily and not really. The most basic functions I use are trig and adding and subtracting fractional inches. It does help to have a civil engineering degree to I can speak somewhat intelligently with the structural design engineers, but other than that I don't really use my degree that much in my day to day operations. In construction you can learn almost everything on the job, so don't worry too much about it.

Expectation 2: The bigger the construction project, the better it will be for your career.

Reality: Not necessarily. On the bigger construction projects, you can get exposure internally on a district and corporate level, however bigger projects tend to have larger teams so you are more focused on the scopes you are in charge of and get to learn. On smaller jobs you will have less support so you will need to oversee a lot of scopes which is beneficial when building to see how all the different trades come together. Bigger jobs can lead to you getting pigeon holed so it may not be the best for your career.

Expectation 3: Construction is Hard

Reality: Yes, construction & construction management is not for the faint of heart. Especially as a new project engineer or field engineer in construction you will need to spend the time to work as it is an experienced based industry. If you expect to work 40 hour work weeks with a stress free lifestyle you will be very disappointed from day 1. Construction schedules are tight, budgets are tight and it is a fast paced industry; the expectation is that you keep up.

Expectation 4: As a new employee, you may not make a difference

Reality: You can and likely will get thrown into the fire. But honestly this is the best way to start out your construction management career or construction engineering career. Get in the mix and start learning.

Expectation 5: Your problems will be less ridiculous as you move up.

Reality: Ridiculousness and ridiculous people exist at every part of the totem pole. Even high ranking people have their issues and it is your job to work with all types of different people in construction. Base your decision making on what is best for the project, and you will be okay.

0:00 Intro
0:44 Expectation #1 Will You Use Your Degree?
2:30 Expectation #2 Big Job or Small Job?
4:45 Expectation #3 Is Construction Hard?
6:21 Expectation #4 Can A New Engineer Make a Difference?
9:05 Expectation #5 Problems Change as You Move Up?
12:30 THANKS FOR STAYING TIL THE END!

Song: MBB - Hawaii
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Creative Commons - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Kienen Koga is a project engineer working for a corporate company. This video and this channel does not necessarily reflect the opinion nor beliefs of the company and are for entertainment purposes only. All thoughts expressed are purely his own observations and experiences.

[KienenKoga]

What other sort of expectations do you have? I’ll try answer them in future videos!

[kelinakay]

Glad I found this page. I'm watching videos in my spare time. These were excellent. Im journeyman 6 years, decided on taking cm class Aloha❤

[bruhhh]

I love the content that you put out, it’s so thorough and to the point. I also like the jokes and humour you incorporate into it all !

[savyk]

Awesome, this gave me a good idea of what to expect. Thanks for the insight, it was really helpful!

[Dat]

These videos are keeping me motivated in Construction Engineering school Kienen. Thank you 🙏🏿

[ParthVijayvergiya]

I am currently working for a GC. This is spot on!!

[dwellison]

Thanks bud! You're insight is crucial to us seniors :)

[absolution]

Mate great video, please keep these up.

[aqsariaz]

I'm glad that i stumbled upon your channel. Currently studying Civil engineering. The video was.... Reassuring in a way. Thanks ✌🏻💜

[larrykambala]

So insightful man! I am one of the super lucky ones who gets to work things out by suffering, yay! So i felt that deep in my core

[jasono.]

Love your videos! I work in Construction and so can totally relate 😂.

[TheCaroline]

I'm still working on my civil engineering degree and started working in construction like 8 months ago, but I already had to deal with a guy flushing his gloves down the toilet wtf it's like a trend or something. Anyway 100% agree with everything you said, well done.

[liamquigley]

This video helped me a lot thanks man, gonna do this program at school

[lucadinho]

considering doing construction management in uni. this vid helped me out alot man

[priscillalopez]

Omg this was informational and also entertaining considering the shenanigans that go on at the jobs😊👍

[coyang]

so interesting to hear your perspective about juggling family life. thank goodness i have this growing youtube family!

[Koo]

This was awesome bro. As a new field engineer for a large GC in the US I really appreciated this honest insight to how it is working in the industry... especially as an asian american. thanks for the video man!

[Justin-xdzj]

I'm a Realtor and Carpenter and I'm looking at going to school for construction management this was really helpful thanks!

[chike_speaks]

I’m glad I found your channel, there’s not a lot of Channels that talk about the day to day life in construction: I absolutely felt it when you said you can learn from mentorship or you can learn from suffering. I started off with a big GC and I had a lot of peers coming in, but I switched to a small company with no peers that I could bounce ideas off of and very little mentorship since everyone is so busy, I have learned from suffering over and over again and honestly I think it’s the worst way to learn. Your absolutely right constrution is not for the faint of heart.

[zac]

Your channel is helping a lot. I’m in the military and I’m struggling with what degree I want when I get out. The fact that you say these things bluntly honest is gonna save a lot of people from joining a field that isn’t meant for them. Good shit!