What is your proudest engineering moment?

Not the moment you passed the PE! Something like the moment something you designed all came together, or a citizen thanked you for improving something... you know, that moment you sat back and said to yourself, thank goodness I became an engineer and not an architect.

1) Resolved an issue with certain missiles failing to launch on certain aircraft's specific hard points

2) Designed and bought to market an industrial fan with contra-rotaing blades

3) Redesigned an industrial fan to double performance and reduce cost significantly. It went from generating profit in the thousands of dollar range to bringing in a very large portion of the company's profit

4) Had a student in my prison drafting class tell me that if he'd had teachers like me, he'd have stayed in school and graduated

Capt Worley PE said:

4) Had a student in my prison drafting class tell me that if he'd had teachers like me, he'd have stayed in school and graduated

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Awesome!!

As an environmental regulator, I don't get to design stuff. It's a very thankless job.

matt267 said:

As an environmental regulator, I don't get to design stuff. It's a very thankless job.

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beg to differ on that one buddy... standing next to a stream watching construction crews pulling bucket brigade due to a sediment release on a construction site can be a pretty proud moment if you had told the design engineer his BMP's wouldn't work before it happened... but yes, most people do hate the environmental people

Those I told you so moments are amazing!!!!! Especially being a regulator when the field guys think you are just a paper pusher and don't take you seriously. Was in the field for an installation of landfill cap for a project, the grading layer soil was not up to spec...I was finding chunks of rock and debris the size of my hand and large on the surface. I told the field guys you are going to have holes in the HDPE cover and they brushed it off as nothing...next morning when I showed up they were marking and starting the repair of all the holes from the debris. easily 50 + repairs

I work on many types of developments and represent them at the City Planning Commission and City Council. Most of them I could honestly care less if they pass. A lot are big companies with lots of resources who don't care about the surrounding neighbors.

I worked one job for a small private school which was relocating to an abandoned house on a very busy road. The house was in foreclosure, so a wealthy member on the schools board stepped up and purchased the house/land. There was no contract clause stating that if it was not rezoned then they could back out. The house had been around forever and was like a landmark in the city. The school planned on modifying the inside of the house, but were keeping the original house and garage. They are a very green school, so they didn't want to disturb any of the existing trees and wanted to keep as much green space as possible.

The school started working with an architect who's kid attended the school. He had a much grander vision than the school and convinced them to design for a future student population of almost 300 kids. The existing school had less than 10 kids. The first site plan was met with tons of opposition, as expected. The lot was not big enough to handle that many students and it was on a very busy street. They met many times with the neighbors, but decided to proceed to the Planning Commission and it was shot down unanimously.

The school continued to meet with the neighbors and modify the site plan. The reduced the students from around 300, to around 150, and then ultimately around 50. Each time the neighbors would say reduce the kids to x and we would be happy and support it. They did, yet they never supported the school. Each meeting was hostile and no matter how much they altered the site plan to appease the neighbors, they weren't happy. It was always the whole, "We love the school, but we don't want it in our backyard" bit.

I kept insisting to move forward with the much smaller plan and that they would never make the neighbors happy. After a year and a half after the original Planning Commission, they presented again and it passed. At City Council the neighborhood members bitched about this and that. They wore stickers and signs in protest. It was a very tight decision and in the end it passed 5-4. It was the first time that I felt a great sense of accomplishment and was truly excited for the client.

matt267 said:

As an environmental regulator, I don't get to design stuff. It's a very thankless job.

Click to expand...

engineergurl said:

matt267 said:

As an environmental regulator, I don't get to design stuff. It's a very thankless job.

Click to expand...

beg to differ on that one buddy... standing next to a stream watching construction crews pulling bucket brigade due to a sediment release on a construction site can be a pretty proud moment if you had told the design engineer his BMP's wouldn't work before it happened... but yes, most people do hate the environmental people

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YES, Most people DO hate the environmental people.



I won't say anymore.

^DIS-like.

Just for that, I will change my entry, to something I did while I was an ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATOR.

I got called up by the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands (whoo hooo....) to cut the ribbon, alongside all the "dignitaries", at the Mariana's first lined landfill. Although I did not oversee its construction or design, I had been originally hired to develop the regulations and permitting program that would allow for it to get done, and I had personally driven the process, including site selection, RFP development, selection of contractors, and then regulatory oversight of the whole thing. It was very satisfying.

Most depressing engineering moment:

3 years later, when the government administration changed, and kicked off the landfill operations contractor. The local government took over operations but no one had any idea what they were doing. Within 4 months the whole thing had failed, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of leachate were discharged to groundwater. The situation is still the same, now 8 years later.....

Before I left my last job I set the replacement of a 100 year old bridge in motion.

There was a National park on one side of the bridge and we negotiated an easement in exchange for a decorative bridge and we agreed to fix a drainage problem on their site. (NO Environmental Document was needed!) just a **** handshake basically. if you have a good relationship with the National Park Superintendent they have a lot more authority than they will let on. For those of you that do that kind of work you know how much of a PIA it is to deal with them.

I don't have the before pic but it was a nearly 10 year old 5 span structure. We used a 74" bulb t beam and single spammed this bad boy.

Turned out really nice...

I was in Denver when the ribbon cutting ceremony took place and got no credit. But this was one of those bridges no one wanted to touch because it had several issues and from design to construction completion was 7 months.... I do miss doing some real work....

No one likes the environmental people until it's their groundwater, air, soil, or surface water that is being polluted.

^Nah, even then. Process is waaaay too long and usually causes more problems than it is worth.

YMZ PE said:

Capt Worley PE said:

4) Had a student in my prison drafting class tell me that if he'd had teachers like me, he'd have stayed in school and graduated

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Awesome!!

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Thanks. It really was.

Capt Worley PE said:

YMZ PE said:

Capt Worley PE said:

4) Had a student in my prison drafting class tell me that if he'd had teachers like me, he'd have stayed in school and graduated

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Awesome!!

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Thanks. It really was.

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You're my hero, Worley.

^But I'm no role model

If I do my job right, no one notices. It's one of those behind-the-scenes things. However, if I do my job wrong and cause a blackout, then everyone gets all up in arms. So I guess my proudest moment is not causing any major blackouts.

mudpuppy said:

If I do my job right, no one notices. It's one of those behind-the-scenes things. However, if I do my job wrong and cause a blackout, then everyone gets all up in arms. So I guess my proudest moment is not causing any major blackouts.

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In research for a snarky comment ( a big to those of you who don't think I put any effort at all into my snark), I discovered a fact I was completely unaware of. Fermi 1 was a liquid sodium cooled reactor. It was also a fast breeder.

^ Fermi was not a fun plant to work at....

^I would imagine not.

Fermi is..........an interesting plant.