Can we train computers to “be” Structural Engineers? 🤔 In this episode, I chat with Nick Heim, a Structural Engineer working with parking structures, about the AI tools that can change the field forever. From machine learning teaching computers how to do the engineer’s calcs…all the way to using computer vision to “look for” potential structural issues in images and videos. 😲

Tune in to Learn:

• What's computer vision and how does it impact the Structural Engineer's work?

• Will AI put Structural Engineers out of business?

• Are SEs recognized as much as they should?

• Why flying drones is the first "tech tool" you need to master...immediately!

• Why he went for the maintenance and restoration niche of Structural Engineering

• 4 ways he uses to find parking structure restoration work

• 2 things young engineers should focus on (+ how to do the second right in today's world)

• What being part of professional organizations teaches you that school doesn't

• What is it like to be the president of an ASCE local chapter?

• The advice those getting started in their career should NOT take

Our Partner:

Built Bar

Resources Mentioned:

CEA Episode #216 (Drones in Civil Engineering)

AECTECH Podcast, host by Nick Heim

Nick Heim’s Articles on EM

New Jersey Institute of Technology

StructureCare

Connect With Nick:

LinkedIn

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

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[email protected]

Have you thought of doing the same engineering work you do at your workplace, but for yourself? 🤔 Then you’ll want to listen to this interview with Paige Brue about her own journey to start her consulting business! She dives into how her education allowed her to provide the type of services she provides, why having professional credentials is a must (and the easiest way to get them)...all the way to her best tips for aspiring firm owners. 😉 👇

Tune in to Learn:

• How a devastating flood in her hometown got her interested in Water Resources

• What led her to start her own engineering business

• How to know if starting your own engineering practice is really for you?

• 2 pieces of advice before you (cluelessly) go and start your own firm

• The number one thing you need to thrive professionally (and it's not only money)

• What the CFM credential is all about

• How her PE license and CFM credential are crucial for her independent work

• The biggest misconception about an engineer's work that we only learn after school

• What she did that made passing her PE a lot easier...and you should do too

• Is it difficult to take the PE Exam in a discipline that's not yours?

• Her experience with CA Seismic and Survey Exams (+ how difficult they are)

• Her #1 advice for women to succeed in the field...that works wonders for men too.

• Organizations for Water Resources folks and women engineers to join

Our Partner:

Built Bar

Resources Mentioned:

The Ultimate Floodplain Manager Review Course

Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

California Stormwater Quality Association

The 2008 Floods in Indiana

Purdue University

North Carolina State University

School of PE

Connect With Paige:

LinkedIn

Website

Surf City Hydraulic Engineering

[email protected]

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

Floodplain Manager Review Course

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

🚨 Disclaimer: 🚨

CFM® is a registered certification mark of The Association Of State Floodplain Managers, Inc. (ASFPM), which is not affiliated with and does not endorse or sponsor this course nor any other goods or services offered by CEA. Our course is based solely on publicly available materials and general industry principles. We do not use or distribute any proprietary or exam content from ASFPM. The author of our course took the exam more than four years ago and cannot (and will not), under any circumstances, answer questions related to the exam itself or its content. References to CFM® are for descriptive purposes only.

Do you know how our AEC industry is doing and what we can expect in the years to come? No?! 🤔 Then this episode is for you! Mark jumps back on to share his recent roundtable discussion with other leaders of AEC companies to discuss their challenges, problems, new technology…all the way to what the future looks like for the industry. Is it positive? Well, give this a listen and you’ll find out! 😉

Tune in to Learn:

• The biggest challenge in the AEC industry right now...plus 2 factors that can reduce it

• Positive or negative: What's the outlook for the industry a few years down the road?

• How the construction industry is still suffering from the impacts of COVID

• The current state of employment in the industry

• Why BIM modeling still hasn't been useful despite being talked about all the time

• What leaders of AEC companies have to say about the use of drones in projects

• The two sides of the AI implementation in civil engineering

• Why the design-bid-build model has to be buried (plus a better alternative)

Our Store for Civil Engineers:

Civil Engineer Gear

Resources Mentioned:

CEA #219 - Robert Otani on the Use of AI

Utah Business Magazine

Building, Construction & Design Roundtable

Connect With Mark:

LinkedIn

Our Freebies:

The Civil PE Startup Guide

The 5 Best FE Resources

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

Do you think you’ve made the wrong decision of going into engineering just because the “common” roles don’t align with the life you want? 🤔 Well, you’re looking at it the wrong way! In this interview with Rebecca Miller, she dives into her non-traditional journey into Structural Engineering and how she intentionally designed a career in the field that matched her life goals instead of getting siloed into pre-existing job positions.

Tune in to Learn:

• Her path into Structural Engineering from an unrelated background to inspire you

• How her non-traditional background impacted her pursuit of the PE license

• Why engineers can explore other career paths other than the traditional route

• The best approach to studying for the PE exam that made her pass it

• Her thoughts on the pros and cons of the changes coming to the PE in April

• How she landed a job at a company that matched her life vision

• The key aspect of finding the job the suits what you want out of life

• Does working at an engineering tech company pay more?

• Advice for women engineers to thrive

• The right way to go about taking the PE Exam to avoid test anxiety and nervousness

• 2 ways to grasp engineering concepts for the PE Exam you probably never heard of

• What's behind a really successful career...in one word

Our Store for Civil Engineers:

Civil Engineer Gear

Resources Mentioned:

CEA Quick Tip Video: April Changes to the PE Civil Exam

CEA #123 - Stephanie Slocum

She Engineers, by Stephanie Slocum

The Gap and The Gain, by Dan Sullivan

RISA Tech, Inc

RISA-3D Software

PLS-CADD Software

Buckingham Avenue, Rebecca's Online Shop

Amber Freund, RISA CEO

Concordia College

North Dakota State University

University of Minnesota

Connect With Rebecca:

LinkedIn

CEA Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

CA Seismic and Survey Courses (Waiting List)

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

Who said you can only do civil engineering as a civil engineer? 🤔 If you think that’s the only way to go, this week’s guest will prove you wrong! Ayo Sokale is a Chartered Engineer in the UK who managed to build a successful career in Water Resources as a woman engineer and also pursue other passions…like becoming a BBC presenter! 😲 In this episode, she dives into the multi-dimensional aspect of people, and how you can leverage it as a civil engineer to build a life that works for you. 😉

Tune in to Learn:

• What a Chartered Engineer is in the UK...and how it compares to the PE in the US

• Her experience being left out of the technical things just for being a woman engineer

• 5 pieces of advice that she learned the hard way to all the women engineers

• Why engineers can do more than engineering in life

• How she became a BBC presenter as a civil engineer

• How she balances work with BBC shows, coaching services, tech company, etc

• A framework you can use to reach your vision for your future self

• Her top 2 tips to improve your life, professionally and personally

Our Store for Civil Engineers:

Civil Engineer Gear

Our Partners:

Built Bar

Resources Mentioned:

University of Plymouth

Jacobs

Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

Get Set Galactic Game Show

Melissa Hogenboom, BBC Commissioner

The Environment Agency UK

Connect With Ayo:

LinkedIn

Website

Linktree

Instagram - @officialayosokale

Instagram - @ayosokalelabour

Facebook - @ayosokale

Facebook - @storieswithayo

Twitter - @ayosokale

Twitter - @ayoCaversham

TikTok - @officialayosokale

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

CA Seismic and Survey Courses (Waiting List)

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free NewsletterYouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

Who said your PE license is the final act? 🤔 Getting your license and the higher salary that comes with it is a stepping stone for you to achieve something even bigger. In this episode, I chat with Lane Kawaoka about how he used his PE and high-paying engineering job to fuel his real estate investments and make extra cash for his family every month…passively! 😲 He then went on to build a platform to help other licensed engineers (like you) do the same. 😉

Tune in to Learn:

• The easiest way to trick the system and get your PE license…totally legal!

• What separates engineers from highly paid engineers — and it’s not technical stuff

• How he used his high-paying job as a PE job to build passive income with real estate

• From buying to development: his path in the real estate industry as an engineer

• Why civil engineers are well-suited for the development side of real estate investing

• Why traditional investments don’t work for engineers — plus how to find better ones

• The Wealth Elevator analogy: Which floor are you on?

• A sneak peek into his soon-to-be-released resource to help engineers scale financially

Our Partners:

Civil Engineer Gear

Audible

Resources Mentioned:

CEA #90 With Lane Kawaoka

The Wealth Elevator Book Waitlist

The Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow, by Lane Kawaoka

The Wealth Elevator Club

Connect With Lane:

The Wealth Elevator

Website

LinkedIn

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

CA Seismic and Survey Courses (Waiting List)

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

Will machine learning replace civil engineers? 😟 The answer is not what you think, whether you answered “yes” or “no.” Today’s guest is Robert Otani, a civil engineer and the Chief Technology Officer at Thornton Tomasetti. In this episode, he talks about how machine learning and AI will impact engineering jobs, as well as how he’s already using AI at his firm’s projects and overall business development so you can use it in yours too. 😉

Tune in to Learn:

• How the introduction of BIM got Robert into the tech side of civil engineering
• His experience building tools to connect different software in construction management
• The software tools he's launched for the industry and where to get them
• Should civil engineers learn how to code?
• What machine learning will change in the future of the civil engineering profession?
• Will civil engineers still have jobs with the rise of AI?
• A positive impact of AI on civil engineering that gets overlooked
• How he's already using AI at Thornton Tomasetti's projects and business development

Our Partner:

Built Bar

Freebie:

CEA Newsletter

Resources Mentioned:

Thornton Tomasetti

Revit

PLS-CADD

Konstru Software

Skipper Software

Thread Software

TT Toolbox

Thornton Tomasetti & Autodesk Webinar

Computers & Structures, IncRutgers University

Penn State University

JFK Terminal 1

WSPArup

Barclays Arena

Connect With Robert:

LinkedIn

TwitterThreads

[email protected]

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

CA Seismic and Survey Courses (Waiting List)

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

From a Mechanical Engineer in Colombia to a graduate student in the US to unemployed driving Uber with two kids…all the way to passing the PE Civil Structural Exam! 😲 Impressed? Well, this is the exact life journey of Esteban Valderrama, our guest for this week’s episode.

He got his PE on his third try, and this journey can teach you a lot if you find yourself either taking the Structural PE Exam or considering taking the Civil PE as a mechanical engineer with very little background education on civil engineering topics.

Tune in to Learn:

• How his structural background in mechanical engineering led him to civil engineering

• How he went from unemployed and driving Uber to passing the Civil PE Structural Exam

• What he does today in the 5G telecommunications industry

• How the PE license gave him and his opinion more weight in the workplace

• His top tip for other mechanicals who may be thinking of going for the PE Civil Exam

• What made The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course stand out from the other prep courses

• What motivated him to keep at it after failing the PE three times...and how you can, too

• What his weekly study calendar looked like balancing work, family, and exam prep

• A study trick he used to get familiar with every chapter of the codes and standards

• Two topics that caught him (extremely) off guard on the exam

• How many Alternative Item Type questions were on his exam

• Does he recommend The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course?

Our Partner:

Audible

Freebie:

CEA Newsletter

Resources Mentioned:

The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course

PE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

RISA 3D

SAP 200

University of Texas at San antonio

Connect With Esteban:

LinkedIn

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]

If you think Geotech Engineers only “play in the dirt,” think again! The field has many paths you can choose, from field work to office work…all the way to sales and software! 😲. In this episode, I chat with Hannah Thomas, who’s done it all in the field, to help you find out whether the Geotech route is right for you and what you can do if you go into it, but also how to find the career that’s a good fit….based on how she found out hers. 😉

Tune in to Learn:

• The many career routes within the Geotech field, from field work to software to sales

• The most rewarding and challenging aspects of Geotech

• Common misconceptions about what geotechnical engineers do ( +  what they really do)

• Why the PE matters for geotech engineers...as Hannah learned firsthand at work

• The reason the Geotechnical PE Civil Exam has the lowest volume of test-takers

• Why the geotechnical knowledge is also important for your personal, day-to-day life

• The field-tested way to find a career path that makes you wake up excited every day.

• Why she started sharing her journey on LinkedIn (and the benefits it brought to her)

Our Partners:

Civil Engineer Gear

Audible

Resources Mentioned:

Colorado School of Mines

Kiewit

Stantec

Braun Intertec Corporation

Connect With Hannah:

LinkedIn

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free NewsletterYouTube Channel

InstagramLinked

In[email protected]

Technology is changing everything, and believe me, drones are already changing how you do your work on the job site as a civil engineer — and you’ll have to adapt! 👷 So in this episode, Mark and I chat about how we’re using drones in the utility and construction arenas. From project design to construction to inspection to post-construction promotion with some cool images for advertising, drones can help you do it all…and a lot more efficiently! 😲

Tune in to Learn:

• Top two drones being used in civil engineering (+ the favorite one…and why)

• The uses of drones in the construction industry, from project design to post-completion

• How drones are being used in the utility world for visualization and inspection tasks

• How the newer drones differ from older versions and make controlling a lot easier

• Guidelines to set up, execute, and manage drone programs at your workplace

• The challenges that come with the mass adoption of drones

• How do you become a drone pilot? (Hint: it's not simply buying and using one!)

Our Partner:

Built Bar

Resources Mentioned

Skydio Drones

DJI Drones

CEA #110 (Construction Engineering Degree)

Part 107 FAA Exam

Our Exam Prep Resources:

Main Website

Civil FE Review Course

Civil PE Review Course

Civil PE Depth Review Courses

FE Practice Exams

FE CBT Exam Simulator

PE Breadth Practice Exams

PE Depth Practice Exams

PE CBT Exam Simulator

Connect With Us:

Free CEA Community

Free Newsletter

YouTube Channel

Instagram

LinkedIn

[email protected]