We’re all familiar with the fact that every single person has a distinctly moving and interesting story of how they got into Civil Engineering and the various obstacles each of them had to face while pursuing that path, ranging from family responsibilities to personal difficulties in learning a specific subject. Today, Isaac brings another one of these incredible stories by talking to Jeff Castillo, a fascinating guy with an arduous past, including being homeless for about a year (that’s right) and getting arrested (that’s right, again) a couple of times.

He got his first construction job when he was 17 years old and he literally knew nothing about it. As a result, most of the people involved in the job wanted him fired. So, he had to start learning the construction aspects by himself. This necessity motivated Jeff to pick up a habit that remained throughout his college days and is still present today, and this habit is to be proactive enough to teach yourself the basics of the subjects and things that you want to know. According to one of his college professors: “How teachable are you to yourself?”

Jeff is a true warrior, given all the setbacks and adversities he has already encountered early in his life and is the living example of one of his mantras, which he learned with his construction boss: “You can have anything you want in the world as long as you're willing to work for it”. Check out the full episode for more details and insights and don’t forget to check out our home base for everything civil engineering.

Resources Mentioned (some links are affiliate links)

Brigham Young University, Idaho - BYUI

The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey - Jeff’s book recommendation

AutoCAD Course - The Source CAD

Teaching yourself - Udemy / LinkedIn Learning

CEA’s episode on PDH’s - Top Tips and Advice Regarding Professional Development Hours

Civil Engineering Academy - If you need exams, solved problems or courses, make sure to check out our home base

CEA Community – Haven’t joined up on our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers!

CEA Newsletter - join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE.  We even have a free resource for you!

Reach out to Isaac - [email protected]