By Joe Krebs, Project Engineer, Shiel Sexton

I learned a lot of valuable information throughout college and during my internships and apprenticeships. However, none of that prepares you for the amount of knowledge gathered in the first year of your professional career in the construction industry.           

Reflecting on my first year at Shiel Sexton, I came up with three key items to concentrate on as you embark on your new construction journey, or really, at any point in your career.                                 

  1. Be self-critical . For me, being critical of my own work was imperative in order for me to see the ways I could improve on my work in the future. Though it is important to be confident in what you do, I believe it is equally important to know there is always room to improve. This mentality has continually helped push me to be better in my career every day.
  2. Learn from the people around you. I am surrounded by people that have, what seems like, limitless amounts of knowledge about the construction industry. Making it a point to learn day in and day out from the experienced people around me has helped expand my knowledge of the industry. I now have a broader understanding of how the industry works from finding a project, to winning the work, to executing the project in the field. Learning from the people around me has been invaluable when trying to improve myself, my knowledge and my skills.
  3. Teach yourself something every day. I make it a point to learn about other projects in my area, read about past projects and innovative processes that are used throughout the construction industry. I teach myself something new every day. Try it! Be a consumer of information and be curious. Don’t be afraid to raise your hand and ask a question. 

This past year, I quickly learned what I didn’t know and focused on what would help me be successful. I hope my experiences and lessons learned can serve as a guide to another recent graduate in the construction industry!

The Messenger | January 2019 | More from this issue