Now I don't want to insult anyone from a foreign country who is truly qualified. I know there are many engineers from other countries that are well qualified to do their work.
But what pisses me off; amazes me, really; is the number of "engineers" I have come across in my work from the Philippines and China, especially, who seem to have no engineering skills whatsoever.
I speak from experience. I have sat through numerous training sessions with these engineers, some official FHA training classes conducted by consultants from the mainland, and have seen these guys unable to even perform simple math with a calculator. I mean, actually leaning over to me to ask me what the square root symbol means.
Yesterday I gave a re-test for percolation testers who had failed my first test two weeks ago. These guys all call themselves "engineers". Not by licensing, but that's what their job descriptions say. Now we are not talking about rocket science. Or even soil evaluation - just measuring the rate of water level drop in a hole. Out of 14 test takers two weeks ago, only 7 passed, and that was only because I threw out a couple of questions that I deemed to be too difficult to understand, purely on an English-as-a-Second-Language basis. Anyway, only 4 guys returned to re-take the test yesterday, and I walked them through a "review" session that basicallly went over every question they would see. They couldn't fail.
Sure enough, most passed, but just barely. And not all. One guy got the same score as before - 20 points out of a hundred. I sat down to talk with him, because I was suspicious he couldn't read. I mean, this guy answered one question, which simply required him to measure the distance between two measurement lines using a ruler (no ****!), by circling one of the measurement lines, as if it was some sort of multiple choice question! WTF!
So after everyone was gone, he admitted to me that he can barely read, and is "not very well educated." He couldn't even figure out to use the division key on a calculator. Yet, his job title is "engineer", and I assume that he has some sort of diploma and transcript, because you can't get that job title through our labor and immigration departments without some proof. But it is well known around here, that you can buy any kind of diploma or credentials you want in the Philippines. Apparently that is happening with at least a few of these guys.
I **** you not when I tell you that 90% (or more) of the buildings here in the NMI are designed and built by these guys. I know, as does everyone else, that all they do is copy the structural details from some earlier plan (probably not engineered, either) and get them rubber-stamped by one or two unscrupulous PEs here that make their living off of this scheme. Nothing ever happens, even though everyone knows it. Why? The "good" engineers all tell me that they simply don't want to rock the boat - they make their living off federally funded projects, like airport work and highways, and they don't want to jeopardize their chances of being awarded that work, by offending the large-and-politically-connected families of these particular PEs and architects.
Nothing has collapsed here yet. But there are several negative consequences already apparent:
1 - there is no market for engineers, no jobs for young locals that graduate from college with an engineering degree. 90% of the engineering is being performed by these foreign "engineers" at minimum wage - currently $3.55 an hour - or just barely higher. Why pay $40k for a new graduate?
2 - 90 % of the engineering work is being performed by the construction contractors - the foreign "engineers" work for them, design their own projects in-house, and just get them stamped for the building permits. So, if problems are found with the plans during construction, what do you think happens? We'll never know ... is the answer.
3 - There are barely any PEs in the government overseeing these people. As far as I know, at the present time it is only me - and all I look at are environmental plans (erosion control, septic systems) and an ME who oversees HVAC and plumbing work on government projects only. The Building Safety department has no engineers or architects on board, let alone licensed. The Highways department is staffed entirely by engineers from the Philippines, none of them licensed ... thank heavens that FHA requires most major work to be farmed out to the good engineering firms. But many smaller roads are designed in-house, as well as most construction inspection...
The list could go on and on. I deal with it every day. I am tired of ranting now. This place is doomed, because I just don't see it changing. I have tried, for going on 10 years now, and every bit of progress I have made has been reversed in the past few years. Simply because the economic power of cheap engineering has won out over reason. I hate to say it, but this place needs a Minnesota bridge collapse if things are ever going to change. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm not sure what the worse alternative is.
I guess we'll see in the next big earthquake.
But what pisses me off; amazes me, really; is the number of "engineers" I have come across in my work from the Philippines and China, especially, who seem to have no engineering skills whatsoever.
I speak from experience. I have sat through numerous training sessions with these engineers, some official FHA training classes conducted by consultants from the mainland, and have seen these guys unable to even perform simple math with a calculator. I mean, actually leaning over to me to ask me what the square root symbol means.
Yesterday I gave a re-test for percolation testers who had failed my first test two weeks ago. These guys all call themselves "engineers". Not by licensing, but that's what their job descriptions say. Now we are not talking about rocket science. Or even soil evaluation - just measuring the rate of water level drop in a hole. Out of 14 test takers two weeks ago, only 7 passed, and that was only because I threw out a couple of questions that I deemed to be too difficult to understand, purely on an English-as-a-Second-Language basis. Anyway, only 4 guys returned to re-take the test yesterday, and I walked them through a "review" session that basicallly went over every question they would see. They couldn't fail.
Sure enough, most passed, but just barely. And not all. One guy got the same score as before - 20 points out of a hundred. I sat down to talk with him, because I was suspicious he couldn't read. I mean, this guy answered one question, which simply required him to measure the distance between two measurement lines using a ruler (no ****!), by circling one of the measurement lines, as if it was some sort of multiple choice question! WTF!
So after everyone was gone, he admitted to me that he can barely read, and is "not very well educated." He couldn't even figure out to use the division key on a calculator. Yet, his job title is "engineer", and I assume that he has some sort of diploma and transcript, because you can't get that job title through our labor and immigration departments without some proof. But it is well known around here, that you can buy any kind of diploma or credentials you want in the Philippines. Apparently that is happening with at least a few of these guys.
I **** you not when I tell you that 90% (or more) of the buildings here in the NMI are designed and built by these guys. I know, as does everyone else, that all they do is copy the structural details from some earlier plan (probably not engineered, either) and get them rubber-stamped by one or two unscrupulous PEs here that make their living off of this scheme. Nothing ever happens, even though everyone knows it. Why? The "good" engineers all tell me that they simply don't want to rock the boat - they make their living off federally funded projects, like airport work and highways, and they don't want to jeopardize their chances of being awarded that work, by offending the large-and-politically-connected families of these particular PEs and architects.
Nothing has collapsed here yet. But there are several negative consequences already apparent:
1 - there is no market for engineers, no jobs for young locals that graduate from college with an engineering degree. 90% of the engineering is being performed by these foreign "engineers" at minimum wage - currently $3.55 an hour - or just barely higher. Why pay $40k for a new graduate?
2 - 90 % of the engineering work is being performed by the construction contractors - the foreign "engineers" work for them, design their own projects in-house, and just get them stamped for the building permits. So, if problems are found with the plans during construction, what do you think happens? We'll never know ... is the answer.
3 - There are barely any PEs in the government overseeing these people. As far as I know, at the present time it is only me - and all I look at are environmental plans (erosion control, septic systems) and an ME who oversees HVAC and plumbing work on government projects only. The Building Safety department has no engineers or architects on board, let alone licensed. The Highways department is staffed entirely by engineers from the Philippines, none of them licensed ... thank heavens that FHA requires most major work to be farmed out to the good engineering firms. But many smaller roads are designed in-house, as well as most construction inspection...
The list could go on and on. I deal with it every day. I am tired of ranting now. This place is doomed, because I just don't see it changing. I have tried, for going on 10 years now, and every bit of progress I have made has been reversed in the past few years. Simply because the economic power of cheap engineering has won out over reason. I hate to say it, but this place needs a Minnesota bridge collapse if things are ever going to change. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm not sure what the worse alternative is.
I guess we'll see in the next big earthquake.
I had them replace bad structrual members, and beef up other areas too. My builder pulled out of Oklahoma shortly after building my house, and moved back to their home state of Colorado.
