Howdy Hi

[Retired Engineer Bob]

Very glad to be able to join the forum. As posted previously, long time lurker, previous member- 10 plus years ago.

I am looking across the kitchen table, and see my husband of seven years, partner since 1996. He is taking over the full time job duties, and will be able to provide health insurance for us both. My retirement is pretty well secured thanks to him. He is allowing me to jump off the rat race at age 56.

Just filled out my timesheet for the week, 16 hours. Work is allowing me to go part time/contract, pay is a bit better than being a Walmart greeter. I am truly blessed.

Anyhow, greetings and salutations to my DU friends.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Welcome (back) Bob :)

Look forward to your future contributions ...

[I_UndergroundPanther]

2. Hello back to you.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Welcome home!

And to DU.3!

[Retired Engineer Bob]

4. Appreciate the warm welcome

Hoping to contribute to the intelligent discussion on this site.

[NBachers]

5. Thanks for contributing!

[SheltieLover]

6. Congrats & Welcome!

[MFM008]

7. hi

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Welcome (back) to DU, Retired Engineer Bob! Congratulations on your retirement.

Please be sure to check out the many forums and groups* here, if you haven't already. I hope you find a few you fancy and will subscribe. I'm looking forward to reading your posts.



❤ pants

* https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forums

[SergeStorms]

9. Welcome back, Bob.

Jump right in a participate. No more lurking for you.

[calimary]

10. Welcome and Welcome back, Retired Engineer Bob!

[secondwind]

11. Welcome home, my friend.

At times like these, it truly is a blessing to have DU when you need a helping hand, etc.

[genxlib]

12. Welcome Bob

Fellow Engineer here (Civil/Structural) just a few years younger than you.

I am more than a little bit curious about your retirement job for the obvious reason. What kind of engineering? Consulting, industry or government?

I don’t foresee going early like you because I carry the health care for the family. But I could foresee getting out as soon as I can helped by a transition job. I envision something like just being a QA/QC guy where I just get to comment on projects without getting in the weeds.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

13. Howdy genxlib

More than happy to share my tale. My degree was electrical with an emphasis on microelectronics and programming. Ended up at a consulting firm that primarily did wastewater and water treatment for municipalities. My specialty was instrumentation and controls.

After about 10 years my supervisor invited me over to his house and offered me a position in a new firm that he and several folks from the existing company were forming. Their motivation was to take back control of the decision making process - go/no go on bidding a project, new software purchases, etc. The offer included a possibility to invest in the firm as well. After careful consideration I decided to make the leap.

So here I am 25 or so years later. My initial investment in the company has paid off handsomely. My husband is now working full time and can take over the health insurance burden. I am being allowed to work part time/as needed. I plan on 8 to 16 hours a week for now.

Please tell me a bit about your career. Civil/structural covers quite a bit of territory. At least you’re not an architect

[genxlib]

15. It is a broad field but I like it that way

I did about ten years in structures (split between bridge and building) in the early part of my career. Then my company needed me to switch over to a more traditional Civil Engineering role doing drainage, utilities and site design. I work mostly in the municipal sector doing projects for Cities and Counties. I have developed specific expertise in parks and recreation doing things like artificial turf fields and aquatic facilities. That is a lot more fun that my typical projects where many of my accomplishments are buried out of sight.

I still stay active in structural to keep my skills up because I do side work with FEMA as a Structural Specialist on Search and Rescue teams. I have written about it here before https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10028157750

I have kind of an unusual career story in that I have worked for a single company for 30+ years but have seen the full breadth of the industry. I joined a startup firm straight out of college in the late eighties that had only 6 employees. That company grew to about 150 when we were bought out by a multi-national top-10 firm with over 20,000 employees. There are pros and cons about working for all sizes of companies but I actually like the big company version. It has lots of resources to take care of BS for me so I can concentrate on the stuff I am good at.

I am very familiar with the kind of work you do. That is partly because we do a lot of stormwater and wastewater pump station work. So I have worked with a number of people with your skills. In addition to that, our particular branch is a hub for that kind of work in our big company so we have a team of those guys here. We see a lot of that kind of stuff come through our office.

Congrats

[Retired Engineer Bob]

17. I read your post

“Our everyday lives are bound up in petty differences, frivolous desires and trivial concerns. But tragedy has a way of breaking through the clutter and exposing the core of our humanity. And it changed us for the better, at least for a short while.”

Very profound, articulate, and inspiring. I’ll try to keep your words in mind as I go about my daily activities.

Have you had any concerns or issues from the dust/debris exposure? Lots of nasty things in the air.

Sounds like you have had a very fulfilling life. Live long and prosper.

[genxlib]

18. We were very fortunate

We also take hazmat specialist with us as one of the other expertise positions on the team. We had a very senior guy who just knew that the air was bad. He drilled us on respirator use before we ever got there. So we were pretty well protected. I think most of the horrible effects were for people caught in the cloud on the first day anyway.

Nevertheless, I participate in the registry so they can track me over time.

Thank you for the kind words on the writing. Hard to believe it will be 20 years in just a few months.

[Fla Dem]

14. Welcome Back!! Time flies doesn't it?

[niyad]

16. Welcome back to our DU family.