r/ConstructionMNGT

How do I get into construction / become a Field Engineer with a CS degree?

I’m trying to get into construction and work as a Field Engineer and work my way up in the industry preferably with any large GC like Kiewit, Turner, DPR, Hensel Phelps, etc.

My background:

AI engineer

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

No traditional construction experience

Procore certified

OSHA 30 Construction

Primavera P6 certified

Strong computer/technical background

Looking for entry-level opportunities

I’m trying to figure out the best way to make myself competitive for Field Engineer positions.

For people already working in construction:

What experience would make my resume stand out the most?

Should I target project controls, scheduling, estimating, QA/QC, construction coordinator, or field technician roles first?

How valuable is Primavera P6 for getting into Field Engineering?

Is Procore actually useful for getting hired, or is hands-on project experience much more important?

With a CS degree, is there a way I can leverage the technical background instead of starting completely from zero and going back to school?

What would you recommend I do over the next 3–6 months to realistically get into a Field Engineer position?

I’m trying to figure out the best legitimate path to getting actual project experience and becoming someone a major GC would want to hire.

Thanks!!!

If you accepted an offer with a reputable firm and your start date is in 1 week. But, you get a better offer a few days before your start date with another reputable firm, would you take it?

What’s going on y’all, I was just curious about the massive Hut 8 Beacon Point AI data center out near Robstown/Highway 44. Are any of you out there doing site prep, dirt work, or construction right now?
If you’re working on the site or know what's actually happening on the ground drop a comment or shoot me a message. I would love to know what stage they're really at, and where they’re getting the water that is needed for construction for this Hyper Scale AI data center, because a facility of this size will need around 15 to 25 million gallons of water for the construction alone.

I’m 21 years old and have about 3 years of experience in construction. I’ve been working on multi-million-dollar wood-framed apartment and townhome projects and have gotten experience with a lot of the day-to-day operations involved in building large projects. I’ve recently been laid off (ran outta work and I was the lowest guy on totem pole). I have no kids and small responsibilities. I’m fully aware I have a ton more to learn. I’m a committed young motivated man with no quit.

Lately I’ve been seriously considering starting my own general contracting company, primarily focusing on residential construction, additions, renovations, and potentially smaller commercial projects.

I know being 21 is young to start a GC, and I’m not under the impression that I know everything. That’s actually why I’m making this post. I’d rather learn from people who have already done it than make expensive mistakes figuring everything out myself.

For those of you who started your own GC/construction company:

- What do you wish you knew before starting?
- How much experience would you recommend having before going out on your own?
- What were the biggest mistakes you made during your first couple years?
- How did you get your first few customers?
- Did you start with your own projects or subcontract for other builders/GCs?
- How much money would you realistically want saved before starting?
-What should I prioritize first: licensing, insurance, estimating, accounting, marketing, tools/equipment, etc.?
- How did you handle cash flow when you were just getting started?
-Would you recommend starting small with renovations/additions before taking on full home builds?
- What systems/software do you use for estimating, scheduling, contracts, invoicing, and project management?
-How did you build relationships with reliable subcontractors?
- At what point did you hire employees versus continuing to subcontract everything?
-Is there anything you would absolutely NOT do if you were starting over?

I’m not looking for someone to tell me “you’re too young.” I’m more interested in hearing what you would do differently if you were 21 again and had a few years of solid construction experience.
Any advice, criticism, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

What can I expect to make out of school from a top 50 GC?

I’m 28 and considering a fairly significant career switch into general contracting, and I’d really appreciate advice from people who have actually worked their way up in the industry.

My background is in investment banking/finance. I spent about two years working in M&A. Over the past year I’ve become increasingly interested in construction and eventually owning a GC business.
The more I look into it, the more I realize that I don’t want to jump straight into owning a construction company without actually understanding how construction works.

One option I’m seriously considering is an MS in Construction Management, potentially followed by getting into a small/boutique GC as an assistant PM, project engineer, or similar role. My thinking is that a smaller GC might give me significantly more exposure to the actual construction process than starting at a huge company in a narrowly defined role.

My long-term goal would potentially be to own a GC, so I’m less concerned about maximizing my starting salary and more concerned about learning the business and becoming competent enough to eventually operate one myself.

For those of you who are GCs, PMs, supers, or owners:

- Is going back to school for Construction Management at 28 a reasonable way to make this transition, or would you recommend simply getting an entry-level construction job and learning on the job?

- Would a small/boutique GC actually be a good place to learn the entire construction process, or would a larger GC provide better training?

- Is my concern about being overly dependent on subcontractors without having enough technical knowledge justified, or am I overestimating how technical an owner/GC needs to be?

- What would you do if you were 28 again and wanted to eventually own a GC but had no construction background?

They have 5 star Google reviews and seem like a decent outfit and they quoted us a decent price for some estimating support but there is little on LinkedIn about them.

Anyone used them before or heard of them?

One of the easiest ways to lose days on shop drawings is bad field information.

I've dealt with this more times than I can count. You ask the field for dimensions, and a few days later the measurements and pictures come back, but you're still missing that one width, depth, thickness, or location you actually need.

Now the drawing stops again.

And if the part has to fit existing conditions, guessing isn't really an option.

One thing that's helped me is making a simple field measurement drawing before anyone goes out. I mark exactly what I need measured, and every unknown dimension gets a blank.

That way, the person in the field doesn't have to figure out what I'm trying to design. They just fill in the missing information.

The pictures below are a good example. The first version left too much room for interpretation. The second and third made it much clearer what needed to come back from the field.

It's a small change, but it makes the handoff between the field and drafting a lot cleaner.

How does your team usually send field dimensions back to drafting? Marked-up drawings, photos, Bluebeam, something else?

https://preview.redd.it/0cnihgmrm0jh1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6da924bacf1ce98857b1a7dbd6c650f6ea9ebf9

https://preview.redd.it/wtic0hmrm0jh1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e54e39c58a19224b85126dfa41c6cf9031d71ad

https://preview.redd.it/vj7i7gmrm0jh1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f33b8b98f0046962e61ba735f779b6ff0775511d

TL;DR: I’m building BuildEye, a field-first construction management platform designed around how construction sites actually operate.

I come from the construction side. I’m looking for a technical/product co-founder who wants to turn what started as an internal solution into a real product for construction companies.

The problem
A huge amount of site management still happens through:
phone calls
WhatsApp/Viber messages
Excel sheets
handwritten notes
photos
verbal instructions
An engineer walks the site, notices that something is unfinished, calls a subcontractor, writes something down, requests materials from procurement, checks manpower and tries to remember what changed yesterday.
The information exists — but it is fragmented.
And most construction software I’ve seen adds more administration instead of reducing it.

What I’m building
BuildEye is designed as a simple operational layer between the construction site and the office.
The goal is not to create another generic task manager.
The goal is to let a site engineer quickly understand:
what is finished
what is late
where each subcontractor is working
how many workers are on site
what problems are open
what materials have been requested
what needs attention today
how the project is progressing by building, floor, apartment and trade
The product is currently being developed as an AppSheet-based MVP so that workflows can be tested quickly against real construction operations.

What I bring
I bring the construction side.
I’ve worked directly on construction sites and I understand the workflows, the people, the problems and the gap between what software designers think happens on site and what actually happens.
I’m defining the product and testing the workflows from that perspective.

Who I’m looking for
Not an employee and not an AppSheet freelancer.
I’m looking for someone who wants to potentially build BuildEye as a company with me.
Ideally someone with experience in:
AppSheet / Google ecosystem
workflow automation
databases and integrations
product development
eventually moving from low-code MVP to a scalable SaaS architecture if the market requires it
You don’t need to be a construction expert.
That’s the part I bring.
But you should be interested in understanding construction operations deeply enough to build software that people on site will actually use.

Why I think there’s something here
Construction has plenty of software.
What it still lacks is software that a site engineer can actually use while walking the site, without turning every action into administration.
That’s the problem I want BuildEye to solve.
If this sounds interesting, DM me.

I’d be happy to show you what I’ve built so far, the workflow behind it and where I think this could go

I’m an APM in a relatively small GC, got hired because they needed someone with a finance background.
Started handling regular residential turns, then submittals, then managing individually every worker.

Reading drawings and identifying scope gaps, submittals, estimating, quality control, pre construction, scheduling, making sure everything gets to the site, handling 3 residential projects, weekend work.

Learned to read drawings and everything I know right now basically on my own and honestly I feel underpaid getting only 55000 a year.

I’m honestly getting burned, I’ve been one year not being able to get vacations due to the workload and I don’t know how to handle it anymore.

New York is very competitive with this? I’m honestly getting super burned on this industry and I wanted to do IB.

Edit: I am the only one taking care of the submittals, RFI’s, estimating, scheduling subs and ordering materials.

Hi everyone,

I am currently an accounting student looking to transition out of my current situation and into the construction sector early. I have some minor accounting experience, but not enough to land a standard public accounting role yet.

For those in the industry: Do local construction sites, general contractors, or subcontractors typically hire and train people for roles like AP/AR, construction clerk, or assistant project accounting?
What specific software (like Sage, QuickBooks) or concepts (AIA billing, lien waivers) should I study on my own to make myself hirable right now without my degree finished?

Thanks for any advice in the comments!

I’m 28 and have been in construction for about 6 years. I started in the field and have spent the last 3.5 years estimating, including some pretty good-sized projects and experience on the subcontractor side.

I’m currently interviewing with a couple ENR Top 100 GCs for Preconstruction Manager roles, and I’m really excited about the opportunity. I feel good about my estimating background and I think one of my biggest strengths is communication. I’m easy to talk to, enjoy building relationships with owners, architects, subs, etc., and I’m comfortable being in front of clients.

That being said, I also realize I may be a little green for the role and probably a tad underqualified on paper. I’m sure there will be times early on where I’m in over my head. I’m not worried about putting in the work or hours, but I want to get out in front of the learning curve and build good habits from day one instead of learning everything the hard way.
I’ve always heard that you’re never actually going to feel completely ready for the next step. At some point you just have to take a chance on yourself, put the work in, and grow into it. That’s pretty much where I’m at.
For the experienced Precon Managers/Directors in here, what are some things you wish you knew when you first stepped into the role?

I’m especially curious about how you stay organized across multiple projects, manage design changes and estimate progression, keep good documentation, run scope reviews and leveling, communicate budgets back to owners/design teams, and just make sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

Also interested in any tools, spreadsheets, templates, checklists, AI tools, software, or systems you’ve built over the years that make your life easier or help you be more detailed.

My goal is just to be the best Preconstruction Manager I can be and make sure I’m servicing both the client and my company the right way. I’m willing to learn, ask questions, and put the hours in, so I know I’ll figure it out.
Any advice from the vets is appreciated!

I’m a rising senior studying Environmental Science. I’ve done two summer internships at a large West Coast utility company where I was in construction services last summer, gas project management this summer. I was planning to add a Construction Management minor,but it’d tack on another full year of school, which isn’t an option for me.

I still want to get into construction after graduation. Has anyone gotten in without the formal coursework? What actually mattered for getting hired: internship experience, certifications, networking, something else? Any advice appreciated.

Se me complica algunas cosas organizarme y no acumularme las cosas, busco optimizar actividades

Good morning Reddit building surveyors, i am after a spot of advice regarding a potential career change from construction management in to building surveying.

I studied construction management at university and bagged a trainee engineer role with a tier 1. Fast forward 8 years and i am currently a senior engineer which is a fairly varied role entailing site management, design management and a lot of QA and technical checking.

I am growing tired of the day to day delivery of construction projects but believe that building surveying would offer me that aspects of the industry that i enjoy without the day to day grind of construction.

What route in to the building surveying industry would be the most suitable way in given my previous experience? in terms of salary, i am currently on ￡62k plus package(which i am very comfortable with), how much of a hit will i take initially and how long would it be until i am earning somewhere similar?

Any advice would be welcome.

Many Thanks