Have you ever been given a piece of advice that was so impactful it stuck with you a long time? Great advice should lift you to a higher level, not only in your career, but in your life. In celebration of Engineers Week, we asked our colleagues, “What is the best advice you’ve ever received?” Here is what they said.
“You can’t be too proactive in communicating with clients. It’s always better to give them an update on something before they have to ask, even if the update is that you are still working on completing a task or obtaining an answer for them. Managing expectations with clients is important at the beginning of a project, and it’s just as important to continually manage expectations throughout the project with proactive communication.”
- Suzy Mansfield, PE, Land Development Project Manager
“To always give a lot of effort, and provide a lot of detail, when identifying the criteria and constraints for your problem. It’s less fun than doing some design work, but if you don’t put the effort in early, you could create a nightmare for yourself.”
- Jon Olson, Land Development Project Analyst
“Years ago, I was interviewing a young engineer with a list of questions that I carefully prepared. My department head told me, ‘Charlie, you can ask an interviewee a million questions, but you don’t really know that person until you have worked with them for three months. And, the same goes for them, they do not really know how our company works until they have worked with us for three months.’ Since then, I have thought about that statement many times from both sides of the interviewing table.”
- Charles Beadles, Landscape Architecture Senior Project Manager
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
- Jack Johnson, Land Development Senior Project Manager
“Listen more than you speak. So, that you know what you should say, and what you should not, and when you should or shouldn’t say it.”
- Vince Musat, Land Development West Division Director
“Don’t be so in love with your design. Coming from school as a student, I was used to pouring my heart and soul into my designs expecting it to be the best. Any criticism I would receive I simply thought of it as a subjective opinion that couldn’t possibly be a better approach to my own design. After a few years of real-world experience, I realized that design is a collaborative and gradual process that requires a lot of discipline inputs to reach a final state. I have now realized that my designs are simply a starting point for a conversation. Either with the client, or other colleagues, there will always be change. Everybody looks at things differently, and clients want or need different things.”
- Stelios Kalopedis, Landscape Designer
“I have received a lot of great advice over the years, here are a few of my favorites: Never draw when you can trace.; Measure twice, cut once; Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do; Estimate how long you think it will take, then triple that; Plan the Work – Work the Plan; A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine; Good? Fast? Cheap? (Pick two); You are welcome to come to me with a question, but you better bring 3 possible answers; Work hard now, one day you will sleep forever; You will never regret being honest”
- Lee Comer, Broadband Engineering Practice Area Leader
About Foresite Group
Foresite Group is a multidisciplinary engineering, planning, and consulting firm providing services to public and private sector clients nationwide. Our team’s collaborative process results in creative products and services that help our clients achieve their goals. Our team takes pride in enhancing and developing the cities and communities where we live, work, and raise our families.