ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician

[amos715]

finally got my first little step toward my construction management degree taken care of.

i am now ACI Grade I certified.








that is all

[jeffj40]

Originally Posted by amos715

finally got my first little step toward my construction management degree taken care of.

i am now ACI Grade I certified.








that is all

Congrats!

[JJS]

Dude, don't do it! It's an industry that is extremely susceptible to recession. You will also deal with some of the most dishonest and/or clueless people you'll ever encounter in big projects...

Sometimes it's alright, though...


Congrats.

[amos715]

Originally Posted by JJS

Dude, don't do it! It's an industry that is extremely susceptible to recession. You will also deal with some of the most dishonest and/or clueless people you'll ever encounter in big projects...

Sometimes it's alright, though...


Congrats.

hey - i didn't know that you knew i was a pastor of a small church.















































ohh... you were talking about the construction management.


thanks for the heads up but i did know that.

[cajun65]

Originally Posted by amos715

hey - i didn't know that you knew i was a pastor of a small church.


ohh... you were talking about the construction management.


thanks for the heads up but i did know that.

Too funny. Congrats. Work hard and be honest and you'll make it through the tough times. Best of luck.

[amos715]

so what does the crawfish market look like now.

[PHBeerman]

If you cannot speak Spanish, take classes. Companies are always looking for Bi-Lingual project managers.

[amos715]

great advice.

i do know some spanish. i picked it up really well back in high school when i worked at a meat packing plant. forgot a lot since, but i do plan on picking it up again

[trd55]

Getting the construction management degree is great. Just don't become one of those people who sit there and bark orders from the ivory tower without knowing how stuff works in the field. Make sure you make all inclusive contracts and learn how to live and die by the contract and its verbage. It becomes a game of cat and mouse with subcontractors and do not leave things to interpretation. You superintendents will love you for this.

Where are you going to school?

If you are really lucky, you will realize that the office is not where you want to be, and follow the path of being a Superintendent.

Since when is being ACI grade 1 certified a requirement to be a construction manager.

I know a lot of companies are requiring their employees to be OSHA 10 certified regardless of position. Might as well get the 30 hour out of the way. It looks as that is where things are head anyways, and looks good on your resume.

[amos715]

Originally Posted by trd55

Getting the construction management degree is great. Just don't become one of those people who sit there and bark orders from the ivory tower without knowing how stuff works in the field. Make sure you make all inclusive contracts and learn how to live and die by the contract and its verbage. It becomes a game of cat and mouse with subcontractors and do not leave things to interpretation. You superintendents will love you for this.

Where are you going to school?

If you are really lucky, you will realize that the office is not where you want to be, and follow the path of being a Superintendent.

Since when is being ACI grade 1 certified a requirement to be a construction manager.

I know a lot of companies are requiring their employees to be OSHA 10 certified regardless of position. Might as well get the 30 hour out of the way. It looks as that is where things are head anyways, and looks good on your resume.

Going to Oklahoma State, ACI certification was not a requirement this year, but we have a semester long class just in concrete. and it cover all the grade I aci material. 40 of us took the test.

the cmt program here is very strong, one thing you hear all the time is document, document, document. you live and die by your paperwork.

i am a "non-traditional" student. i have been dooing computer networking for the last several years and i'm switching to construction management so i can get out of the office. my family has been on the blue collar side of everything from outhouses to skyscrapers. i have always loved building stuff. and had a chance to be involved with building a church in texas. one of the best experiences in my life, and i plan on doing more of that.

[jeffj40]

Originally Posted by amos715

the cmt program here is very strong, one thing you hear all the time is document, document, document. you live and die by your paperwork.

I agree. Its a good business although not what it used to be. Im a project manager for a heavy/highway construction company and one piece of advice I could give is to manage a project from the beginning as a future claim. I spend the better part of my time scrounging for documents to send to attorneys knowing if I had paid more attention to documentation things would be cut and dry, and a lot more recoverable.
Good Luck

[amos715]

Originally Posted by jeffj40

I agree. Its a good business although not what it used to be. Im a project manager for a heavy/highway construction company and one piece of advice I could give is to manage a project from the beginning as a future claim. I spend the better part of my time scrounging for documents to send to attorneys knowing if I had paid more attention to documentation things would be cut and dry, and a lot more recoverable.
Good Luck

i thought heavy highway was still smoking hot.

i scan and save tons of paperwork. had a lab assistant forget to record a lab grade this semester and i shot a copy of the scanned original over to the prof.

saved me a whole letter grade it a matter of seconds.

[trd55]

Originally Posted by amos715

Going to Oklahoma State, ACI certification was not a requirement this year, but we have a semester long class just in concrete. and it cover all the grade I aci material. 40 of us took the test.

the cmt program here is very strong, one thing you hear all the time is document, document, document. you live and die by your paperwork.

i am a "non-traditional" student. i have been dooing computer networking for the last several years and i'm switching to construction management so i can get out of the office. my family has been on the blue collar side of everything from outhouses to skyscrapers. i have always loved building stuff. and had a chance to be involved with building a church in texas. one of the best experiences in my life, and i plan on doing more of that.

Cool. I went to got my degree from A&M. It is very true about documentation. Save every email, fax, and backup and phone conversation with a telecommunication confirming was what discussed.

The cool thing about being a superintendent is that you are still considered white colar, but you do not have to work in the office.

When do you graduate?

[amos715]

my little brother got his master degree and wife from a&m

on the dept card i had to fill out last fall i put my expected grad date as 2050, but it will probably be closer to 2011

[cajun65]

Originally Posted by amos715

so what does the crawfish market look like now.

This season was really good but it is just about over.

Had a lot of rain this year and the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers were extremely high due to all the weather up north. All of that translates to a big crop next year if the weather stays average. I boiled a few sacks and ordered it from restaurants and drive-thru's (yep, drive thru crawfish to order).

The other good thing is rice prices are really high so the farmers we have left in Louisiana are going to stay in instead of getting out of the business which means a strong infrastructure next winter when it's time to start catching them.

MUD crawfish boil next year anyone?

[bogus one]

Originally Posted by trd55

Getting the construction management degree is great. Just don't become one of those people who sit there and bark orders from the ivory tower without knowing how stuff works in the field. Make sure you make all inclusive contracts and learn how to live and die by the contract and its verbage. It becomes a game of cat and mouse with subcontractors and do not leave things to interpretation. You superintendents will love you for this.


AMEN!!

Where are you going to school?

If you are really lucky, you will realize that the office is not where you want to be, and follow the path of being a Superintendent.

The best Superintendents come from the Trades. Usually Carpenters, since they have the most interaction with th e other trades

Since when is being ACI grade 1 certified a requirement to be a construction manager.

Good question

I know a lot of companies are requiring their employees to be OSHA 10 certified regardless of position. Might as well get the 30 hour out of the way. It looks as that is where things are head anyways, and looks good on your resume.


Amen, again

......

[White Shark]

Originally Posted by trd55

Getting the construction management degree is great. Just don't become one of those people who sit there and bark orders from the ivory tower without knowing how stuff works in the field. Make sure you make all inclusive contracts and learn how to live and die by the contract and its verbage. It becomes a game of cat and mouse with subcontractors and do not leave things to interpretation. You superintendents will love you for this.

Where are you going to school?

If you are really lucky, you will realize that the office is not where you want to be, and follow the path of being a Superintendent.

Since when is being ACI grade 1 certified a requirement to be a construction manager.

I know a lot of companies are requiring their employees to be OSHA 10 certified regardless of position. Might as well get the 30 hour out of the way. It looks as that is where things are head anyways, and looks good on your resume.

True. I did the OSHA 30, as did Cookiemonster. I'm back in the Safety Manager game for a huge commercial builder, and he's working as a Safety Manager for another large scale developer on a huge refinery project. The OSHA 30 should be required for anyone working in construction IMHO.

As far as being a Project Manager is concerned, don't waste time doing residential. You'll be out of work quick, again and again. Stick with high rise commercial. Hospitals, university buildings, utility plants, towers, casinos, refineries, malls, etc.

The outfit I'm working with has paperwork signed for the jobs we're starting over the next 6 years. We're slammed and hiring guys in the trades from all over the country. Commercial work in California is absolutely crazy insane right now.

I've done the Project Manager deal, and it's a good career path, but like everything else in construction, you need to diversify and cover you bases. It may be a long time before you get up to a PM job. You may become a Project Engineer dealing with layout and blueprints, or a myriad of other positions before they put you in as a PM. It just takes time. The company I work for now wants me to go into being a PM again, but I like Safety and will probably hang out in that capacity for some time to come.

In the meantime, get all of the certs you can. I know of a lot of guys who have worked in a half dozen positions before becoming a Project Manager. Hang in there, it will work out.

Congrats, by the way.





By the way, the worst Project Managers in the world are the guys straight out of college who have no real world construction experience. Get a job on the side doing some type of construction work. You'll never learn about what really happens in construction by reading a book. As a Project Manager, I'd never hire a guy who didn't have a few years under his belt of real world experience because they just can't relate to the dynamics and personalities that are present on every job. They will eat you alive, especially if you've never dealt with the unions or organized trades. Get a part time job working for a Contractor, residential or otherwise. Commercial is even better and certainly more valuable as far as experience goes. Almost any type of "real world" production oriented construction will help. Seriously. Backyard sheds and weekend projects don't count. Walking jobs doesn't count either. You need to have feet on the ground.


..

[amos715]

Originally Posted by cajun65

(yep, drive thru crawfish to order).

MUD crawfish boil next year anyone?

i miss east texas so much sometimes.


crawfish boil

[amos715]

Originally Posted by White Shark

Congrats, by the way.





By the way, the worst Project Managers in the world are the guys straight out of college who have no real world construction experience. Get a job on the side doing some type of construction work.

..

thanks

and part of our degree requirement is two years worth of internships, not white collar fetching coffee but real work.

i am 32 now and have done a lot of small jobs, greenhouses, spec houses, sheds, and 1 church. i have worked with plumbers, hvac, steel guys, framers, electrical, but no unions. i don't even know if there are any around here.

and thanks for the advice, i got super good in the computer industry super fast because i found people smarter than me and drained then of any info i could. so any advice you could throw my way will always be appreciated.