# Job Posting Laughers



## pelaw (Aug 17, 2010)

I've been looking for MEP jobs lately. These are some recent laughers I keep running across.

Looking for a PE. "Latest version of AutoCAD required."  As if R14 is any different than 2011. I swear some of these employers never spent a day of their life designing.

Recently, there has been a lot of emphasis on healthcare facilities and mission critical facilities in MEP. Majority of postings requires experience in these specialties. But hold on, that's not enough. You have to be an "expert" in critical facilities, as if these are built like tenant improvements every day. So maybe the idea is to bring in a renowned expert to boost business.

But being such an expert is not enough either. "Extensive experience with latest REVIT is required." As if expert have time to d ik around with REVIT.

When I see postings like this, I know I am not dealing with experts but half ars managers.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 17, 2010)

> Looking for a PE. "Latest version of AutoCAD required."  As if R14 is any different than 2011. I swear some of these employers never spent a day of their life designing.


Whatever you say there, chief.


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## wilheldp_PE (Aug 17, 2010)

If you only have experience with R14, you'd be just shy of completely lost in 2010 or above. The ribbons and whatnot that they put in 2006+ screwed everything up. If you are good with LISP routines, you might be able to get it usable again, but that's a big "might."

Designing critical systems for health care facilities is leagues different than plopping some lights in a community center. Some of those life support systems have to have redundant backup power that can be down no longer than a few seconds. I've worked on data centers that couldn't afford an interruption in their power supply for more than 1 cycle (1/60th of a second). Again, if you've never done it, you aren't going to be useful to the company.

Revit (or any BIM software package, for that matter) is a pain in the ass to use unless you know what you're doing. I worked on Revit models for about a year, and I still wasn't nearly as good at design work in it than I was in AutoCAD...and I was never an AutoCAD wizard.


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## pelaw (Aug 17, 2010)

C'mon man. I've been using ACAD since R10. They just keep adding lisps to it that they should've put in 20 years ago. It's the same program in different package and lisps keep growing. I still use it the same way I've always been using it, with shortcuts, draw, modify, delete, insert block, switch between viewports. And that's all you need.

As far as Healthcare, any PE from MEP field can design any critical facility. We are not inventing the wheel here. Everything is already written in book specs when the job hits your desk. Second, for electrical there is whole section in NEC on healthcare facilities. NFPA 99 also tells you a bit about it. Finally, vendors like Siemens and Schneider have packages ready for delivery. Same goes for fire protection and mechanical. All you have to do is spec it. Design here is not rocket science.

There is no doubt that designing a hospital is more demanding than TI work, but it's all about looking up information, which is what every PE in MEP field does every day.

I doubt there is a single MEP firm anywhere that would refuse hospital work because they've never done it. C'mon on. Let's be real.


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## IlPadrino (Aug 17, 2010)

pelaw said:


> I doubt there is a single MEP firm anywhere that would refuse hospital work because they've never done it. C'mon on. Let's be real.


I doubt most MEP firms would have to worry about refusing hospital work. Firms like HKS, HOK, Perkins, HDR, etc. are going to get healthcare work because they have... wait for it... EXPERIENCE!


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## Clown Shoe (Aug 19, 2010)

The POWERDYNE high side changeover switch!


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## Road Guy (Aug 19, 2010)

i havent used autocad since 1997, but microstation seems to change every 2 years and my thoughts is that if always just have to find what they changed the old button to, i hate when folks think they need a week long class just because of a new software update...


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 19, 2010)

IlPadrino said:


> pelaw said:
> 
> 
> > I doubt there is a single MEP firm anywhere that would refuse hospital work because they've never done it. C'mon on. Let's be real.
> ...


We're a sub on a hospital addition project where HDR is the architect, go figure...


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## willsee (Aug 19, 2010)

Last hospital job I worked on HOK performed work up to DD then my firm took over from there. Both Architecture as well as MEP.

Really good experience for a young engineer like me.


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## pelaw (Aug 23, 2010)

> I doubt most MEP firms would have to worry about refusing hospital work. Firms like HKS, HOK, Perkins, HDR, etc. are going to get healthcare work because they have... wait for it... EXPERIENCE!


It's about human resources to do big projects and not necessarily about specific healthcare requirements. Those jobs are carefully monitored. There are several levels of review. (team leader, engg in charge, architect, hospital construction manager, hospital lead engineer, peer review, commissioning engineer, plan reviewer.) All the info is readily available and it's all aobut project management.



> The POWERDYNE high side changeover switch!


lol NoDoubt



> i havent used autocad since 1997, but microstation seems to change every 2 years and my thoughts is that if always just have to find what they changed the old button to, i hate when folks think they need a week long class just because of a new software update


The biggest problem is transfering existing data and way of doing things to new console. That takes about a week to two weeks. From there it's easy. BTW AutoCAD is dead imo.



> Last hospital job I worked on HOK performed work up to DD then my firm took over from there. Both Architecture as well as MEP. Really good experience for a young engineer like me.


I worked with HOK on one of the NFL Stadiums. Now, that's no hospital. There is nothing standard about it.


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