BTW, what do you guys do?

A common question that I receive when I meet an individual at a networking event, or certainly when making a connection with a new lead that I encounter is, "What type of work do you do?"  By most accounts, this type of question is a societal norm for new encounters.  However, having "Engineering" in our company name, or the title of "Engineer" does not easily allow someone to make a quick determination of the work that we do. I've certainly had my share of head-scratching encounters with individuals with creative "Engineer" job titles that made me wonder aloud, and say "Huh???"

One example is an encounter that I had several years ago with a highly-recognized Midwest-based swimming pool consultant. At that time, I was employed as an account representative for a Fortune 500 manufacturer of swimming pool chemicals.  In my role, I visited with several of the major swimming pool consultants across the country in order to further educate them on the company's product capabilities and benefits in hopes of having the product specified on new swimming pool installations. This person had such a large influence on new swimming pool design projects in his geographic area, it was assumed by many in the field that he was a licensed engineering professional.  In fact, when I visited with him, he provided me a business card with a P.E. designation after his name.  As a young (unlicensed) engineer at the time, I innocently commented that I hoped to become a Professional Engineer too someday.  Interestingly, the consultant pointed out the P.E. on his card stood for Pool Engineer.  All I could muster in the moment was a surprised, "Oh," in response.

The lesson that I took from that encounter is that authenticity matters.  From the outset, we've taken pride in being a small engineering consulting firm (with actual licensed engineers) that doesn't shy away from helping clients to overcome big infrastructure challenges that can frustrate or that has already disrupted daily operations.  By the way, to answer the initial question, we provide trusted advice to our clients on various emerging technology and regulatory compliance risks on energy and environmental issues impacting facility and transportation operations.  Our typical clients are fleet managers, industrial manufacturers, and commercial building owners.

I'm new to blogging, but have felt the need to share my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on various issues that we encounter in our interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, and engineering peers through our daily work.  My hope is to enlighten, encourage, and possibly entertain other key stakeholders from our project experience.