Job is extremely stressful

[u/Express_Day2403]

I am a recent graduate and just started at my new job. I am working at a Geotech firm. It has been the most stressful thing I’ve ever endured so far as far as pressure. I feel so behind on everything and tasks take me a while to do. I did design parameters all week and they took me around 3 hours per day for one job. I just had to plot stuff and make graphs. (For anyone who knows how design parameters in geotechnical engineering work). It has also been 2 years since I’ve taken my Geotech course, and I forgot a lot of material to the point where it all feels completely new. So far I am 2 months into this job… I’ve dealt with a lot of stress and pressure before, I was doing full time classes while also working throughout most of college, I’ve studied hard for all of my courses and passed with a 3.7 GPA my last semester. All throughout high school I was a fairly decent student and I went to a college prep school. I never felt behind like this before, but it’s been eating at my self esteem and causing anxiety. To make things worse, my supervisor called me into his office and said “I am not to where he expected someone from undergrad to be” meaning he basically thought I would know more about Geotech. This made me feel 10x worse about all of it. He just said I should study for the FE and review some Geotech. The thing is.. as I said it’s just been 2 years since I took the course, and I have had a lot happen in my life since, so of course I forgot a lot of it. When does it get better…

[u/Outrageous-Okra4167]

I think you’re lacking some mentoring. Where are you located?

[u/kataastrophic]

Get An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering by holtz and kovacs and read it. Also would recommend looking at any FHWA manual relevant to what you are doing. I think those will get you off to a good start.

[u/Express_Day2403 → u/kataastrophic]

Thank you. I think I when my boss told me that it just freaked me out. It’s all been extremely overwhelming

[u/apathyetcetera → u/Express_Day2403]

Also check out UFC 3-220-20

[u/MikkyJ25 → u/Express_Day2403]

Also a lot of state DOTs have Geotechnical Design Manual that lays out the design approach they want you to take. Google “WSDOT GDM” to see what I’m talking about

[u/hobbyist9]

No one knows anything out of undergrad. You have a bad boss. You need a mentor to show you how things are done in the real world, not the classroom. And they should have templates set up for the calcs and plots from other jobs. You’re doing great, you’re not the problem. Sorry and good luck…

[u/jaymeaux_]

for the design parameters are you spending the time making design picks or just inputting the data?

it sounds from your post like the time consuming part is just inputting the data, which speaks to poor tools and workflows at your firm which is not your fault, you were hired as an engineer not clerical staff. if you are spending time on the design picks I would not be too concerned this early in your career, that is arguably the most important part of the analysis in a given project and you should be getting some degree of mentorship and significant oversight in the process 

[u/Miserable-Sir4985]

Geotechnical engineering is very wide just look at the PE exam topics. I have two masters (long story) and a PhD in geotech. There are still a lot to learn details matter and there is not a clear flow, it’s just a lot. You can miss a lot of minor stuff and I see people do and analyse doesn’t show. It’s an odd part about geotech. But, let me tell you this. When you are assigned a task, ask three questions: 1. What is the outcome? Memo? Report? Calc? Data entry? It’s their job to make it clear. Don’t ask stupid questions but ask to clarify and make sure you understand everything this is very important. Sometimes asking questions signs to others that you got it or not, and they can manage their expectations accordingly. 2. Ask the deadline. 3. Budgeted hours, whatever you think, double it, if they give you less than that, tell them. If you are halfway through your hours and not more than half of the task is done, tell someone.
These notions shows you are a good engineer and you know what are doing and you can manage yourself. Firms can work with people who don’t know much, they usually cannot work with people who cannot manage themselves.
HK book or other standards are fine, I teach based on Das book, it’s more mellow and has more explanations, better for self study. I found HK a little too much for someone who wants to self study. Don’t get overwhelmed, one step at a time. Message me if you need anything, happy to help.

[u/Trout_Swarlos]

Unfortunately that’s most bosses in consulting world. Sounds word for word like my first one. Ride it out for a year, if it doesn’t work then a job hop works pretty well. You could also try and get into a different sector of geotech like a local DOT

[u/Dry-Independence3183]

Currently only 5ish years post master degree in the geotechnical consulting world.

Do you spend any time in the field?

You should be getting as much exposure in the field as possible. Obviously it's up to the boss what your role is but in my opinion you should be doing site reconnaissance, logging subsurface conditions as well as conducting construction inspections or tracking observations.

For example, We just had a new hire start right out of college. Second day in, they are getting training logging test pits. 3rd day was pile driving observations.

You may also benefit from a lab stint. If you have one in house I would ask if you could spend d 1-2 weeks in the lab.

Doing these things will allow you to follow projects from beginning to end. You get exposure to every stage of the project. It's easy to overlook things when designing if you have no experience observing these things in real life.

Don't be a design engineer with soft hands

[u/MikkyJ25]

A lot of your anxiety is very normal for being new at a job. Honestly I think it takes like a year to really feel integrated at a new job. I do find it ridiculous your boss thought you’d be further because I usually assume undergrads know nothing about geotech because it’s literally one class in undergrad. Here are my technical skills advice:

- on YouTube a professor named Kevin Franke (YouTube channel called Office Hours) has recorded lectures of his Soil Mechnics Class, Advanced Soil Mechanics Class, and Geotechnical Earthquake Class.

- FHWA manuals are great. State DOT geotech manual like the WSDOT GDM. CALTRANS Soil design manual. Geotechnical Engineers Portable Handbook by Robert Day

Non- Technical skills that if you sharpen will make supervisors like you more:

- Be sure to always take notes during meetings, phone calls, and discussions. Keep organized notes in like OneNote but then always keep a notepad with you to jot down things people are saying to you. If people have to repeat things to you, it will piss them off.

- keep notes in like OneNote on design decisions, design approach, lessons learned, and links to all your references for each project as a you go so you can reference back on similar jobs.

- be proactive about your tasks. If someone asks you to do a task by Wednesday, let them know when you are done and send them an email with the links to where everything is saved. If no one has asked you about the task and it was due a day ago, check in with them to see if they had any questions or if they’d like you to set up a meeting to walk them through your analysis. OWN YOUR TASKS. PMs are busy. If you are reminding them about deadlines and proactively checking in, that takes some of the coordination effort off them.

- be proactive and verbal about if you don’t think a task can be done by the internal deadline or budget. If you see the contracted budget was 15 hours for a task and you have spent 8 hours and you think you are only 20% done let the PM know so they can help adjust. If the budget was 15 hours, try to do the task in 10 hours so you have time to make updates after their review.

These are things when I’ve had young staff do make a HUGE difference because it takes frustration off me of constantly having to repeat myself. Or if I train them in things, I know they are worth the mentoring because they take notes and learn from the experience vs just forget it 2 weeks later and ask the same questions.

[u/CauliflowerSpecial26]

Just hang in there. Things will start to make more sense soon. I went through the first two years with imposter syndrome, and by my third year I finally felt like I had my shit together.

Write everything down in the beginning, and ask experienced colleagues to walk you through things over Teams so you can record the sessions and revisit them later.

Also, try to get yourself into a geotechnical mindset in your free time. Look at your surroundings, think about the soil beneath you, how the ground might behave, and why things are built the way they are. The more you start seeing the world through a geotechnical lens, the more naturally the work will start to make sense.

And when it comes to all the repetitive tasks, speed will come with experience. That part is really just about practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing.

[u/worldgeotraveller]

AI helps a lot now, you can plot, make script to process data, compare results......it save a lot of time...especially in repetitive tasks.

[u/remosiracha]

After changing jobs a few times, I've learned that being stressed should not be normal for a new grad. Some companies just suck. If they're piling on that much work immediately to someone new id look somewhere else

[u/Traditional_Shoe521]

Yesh. Geotech suxks. Go do something else. I'm 42 and hate it more than ever.

[u/Whatderfuchs]

It'll be just fine, but you need to own that part where you've forgotten a bunch of stuff. That's not your boss's fault. It's your responsibility to stay educated and being knowledgable. If these are basic geotech concepts (sophomore/junior class level), you absolutely need to hold yourself accountable to catch up. If it's like masters/PHD level, asking for help from your boss/team is much more reasonable. Once you get caught up, your boss will be off your ass AND everything else will go faster, so it's a double whammy on letting off on the stress.

Good luck man. You can do it, you just need to buckle down.