For National Engineering Week, we sat down with Briana De Kalb, one of our project engineers in Portland, Ore. Briana joined Sundt last year and is a member of the Interstate-5 (I-5) Rose Quarter Improvement
project. She shared what being an engineer means to her and offers insights for individuals considering a similar career path.
At what point did you realize that civil engineering was the field you wanted to pursue?
This might sound really cliché, and I think other engineers might have the same story. Growing up, I was fascinated with building things. I was always playing with Legos and building blocks. I have an uncle who was a civil engineer, and in elementary school, during a parent teacher conference, my teacher said to my mom that she thought I would be a great engineer. Since then, it stuck with me and that was the route I decided to take.
You are a project engineer. However, you do have experience with design. Could you talk about what that was like?
After I passed the fundamentals of engineering (F.E.) exam, I knew that I wanted to pursue becoming a professional licensed engineer (P.E.) and I always wondered what it would be like to work in design. So, I made the switch into design work for a few years and worked civil site design for various projects including trails, streetscapes, commercial buildings and K-12 school projects in Washington, Oregon and California. I ended up learning many things that positively affected my current career as a project engineer. The biggest thing that helps me today is that I was sitting in the designer seat for a few years. My design experience essentially has helped facilitate collaboration during preconstruction between our team, the owner and the engineers.
I saw you recently passed your PE exam and officially became a professional licensed engineer, congratulations! Could you talk about that process and what it means now and moving forward?
Part of the reason I went into design is that one of the requirements to get your P.E. is to work under other licensed professional engineers. So, I could take the leap into design to see if I liked it while at the same time getting the experience I needed to become a licensed professional engineer. It has been really helpful to have my P.E., especially when working on a construction manager at-risk project. You work closely with engineers and owners, and the things you learn while getting your P.E. really help to facilitate collaboration with different people and groups across the project.
What advice would you give to someone who may be on the fence about pursuing an engineering career, either in civil or another specialty?
I would say just go for it! It is so rewarding to see your work. You’re not the person building it but seeing the projects you’re working on impacting more people than yourself is something I find very special and unique. One of the main reasons I do it is because you can have such a large impact on your community and be able to do something so great for so many people. You can look back at something you did that will impact people for multiple generations. If you are on the fence, think about the influence you can have by getting into this career and how you can help your community.
Working in a very male dominated industry, how has your experience been?
I am not the most extroverted person, and coming into construction, where you have to work with a multitude of different personalities, I needed to learn to put myself out there. There was a learning curve, but I always made sure to ask a lot of questions. I feel lucky to have always felt welcomed and supported by all of my coworkers. I feel so grateful to be on such a great team where I can go into any situation and feel like I always have their support.
How has it been working in Portland?
I have been living in the area for almost eight years now, and I think one special part of Portland that we see a lot of on our job is community involvement. There is a big push to build up disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned businesses. The focus that the community in and around Portland puts on the need to create opportunities for minority contractors and minority builders and helping to build them up so that they can be successful is something that I think is special.
