The Civil Engineering Academy Podcast Isaac Oakeson

“New year, new me”, the old maxim we’ve all used or at least heard of when preparing for the upcoming year every December. That’s when we stop to reflect on the things we’ve accomplished, and most importantly, think about where we want to go from there. We’re two weeks into 2021 already and that’s precisely when we start working on all the goals we set for ourselves, be it personal or professional. Today, Mark Oakeson jumps back on the show to discuss the approaches and tips engineers can use to make some changes in their professional life.

It’s not rare to see civil engineers who are not pretty satisfied with the work they’re currently doing or the place they’re working at. Some people just feel like making a complete change and switching to a totally new discipline in or outside the field, while others just want to incrementally improve the work they’re already doing. Whatever the case may be, Isaac and Mark dismantle the existing barriers to it, warn about the potential hurdles and difficulties that come with such changes, while also giving tips on what your mindset should be and how this can be done smoothly.

On top of that, they discuss other topics related to how civil engineers can boost their careers, including passing the FE and PE exams before it goes CBT, choosing between an MSE. or an MBA for their graduate studies, going from engineer to manager, and even asking for a raise. In addition, they also mention how we can use our PDHs wisely to learn something new and valuable to our careers, whether we choose to specialize even more in our area of expertise or if we choose to learn something different but somewhat related to what we do on a daily basis at work.

Resources Mentioned 

Some links below are affiliate links which means at no cost to you a get a small commission for referring products and services that I think you'd enjoy because I enjoy them too.

KiwiCo - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/kiwi

Purple Mattress - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/purple

School of PE - http://www.civilengineeringacademy.com/sope

Civil PE Review Course - https://civilpereviewcourse.com

Civil FE Review Course - https://civilfereviewcourse.com

CEA Episode 51 (Tim Miller - NCEES) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/cea-51-the-ncees-chief-officer-of-exams-tim-miller-pe

Crucial Confrontations, by Kerry Patterson - https://amzn.to/3oIEgbZ

Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson - https://amzn.to/3i6mDR6

Haven’t joined up in our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://ceacommunity.com

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base - https://civilengineeringacademy.com

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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According to the rules specified by NCEES, people can take the PE exam whenever they feel both financially and personally ready for it, but they can only get their license after meeting the experience requirements. Therefore, most test-takers are recent graduates in their twenties and young engineers in their early thirties, which creates the belief that those with a bit more life experience are not as likely to pass the test. Today’s guest, who is in his sixties, will show that this belief is in fact a misbelief.

Born and raised in the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia), Zdenek Vymazal is currently a construction roadway designer at the Oregon Department of Transportation. After going to a technical high school and specializing in mining surveying at a Czech university, he decided to get out of his country and move to the West, eventually settling in the US with his family. Working around civil engineers on a daily basis and looking to boost his career, he noticed that he needed to get his professional license since it was the minimum requirement for the higher positions he was aiming at. Therefore, his journey with the FE and PE exams started.

After taking some of the many available online courses and failing to pass his PE exam with the content provided by these courses, he eventually found The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course, by Civil Engineering Academy. Zdenek shares his review of the course and how its features helped him during his journey to get the PE exam done once and for all.

Zdenek mentions how hard it can be, but also how rewarding it is, both personally and financially, after you pass. He received a promotion offer right after passing the exam without even applying for it!

Resources Mentioned

Zdenek Vymazal - zgv@juno.com

The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course - https://civilpereviewcourse.com

The Ultimate Civil FE Review Course - https://civilfereviewcourse.com

PPI is our partner to help you ace your FE and PE exams. Use our discount code of CIVAC and our link to get 15% off any book you order - http://www.civilengineeringacademy.com/ppi

CEA Episode 51 (Tim Miller - NCEES) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/cea-51-the-ncees-chief-officer-of-exams-tim-miller-pe

Oregon Department of Transportation - https://www.oregon.gov

NCEES - https://ncees.org

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base - https://civilengineeringacademy.com

Haven’t joined up in our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://ceacommunity.com

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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History books will definitely never let us forget the crazy year of 2020. A year that changed everybody’s ways of working, doing business, celebrating, and enjoying time with loved ones. Regardless of all the bad things that happened, we have to both recognize and be grateful for all the things that went well. In order to recognize the bright spots of 2020, as well as to prepare for a better 2021, today’s episode is a recap of all we’ve accomplished this past year, and a list of goals we’re setting for the upcoming one.   



After receiving their October results, tons of CEA students have already sent us a message via our free Facebook group providing feedback on our course and how it helped them achieve their goal of passing the PE or the FE exam. They took the Ultimate Civil PE Review Course or the Ultimate Civil FE Review Course in order to help them prepare for the tests. According to one of our students, “The best early Christmas gift I could ever hope for”.   This is just one of the accomplishments we’ve had so far in 2020. Others include amazing interviews on this very podcast, ranging from the NCEES chief officer of exams to a successful immigrant woman living the American dream, as well as the creation of a ton of in-depth material for all five major depth sections of the PE exam, called the Ultimate Civil PE Depth Review Courses.  



Now, what are our plans for 2021? Listen to the show to hear what the CEA team is working on to help you on your journey to passing the PE or FE exam. Hint: more live study sessions and a brand new course specifically tailored for the California Seismic and Survey exams. Listen to find out more about it!  



Resources Mentioned  

KiwiCo - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/kiwi  

NCEES - https://ncees.org Civil PE Review Course - https://civilpereviewcourse.com 

Civil FE Review Course - https://civilfereviewcourse.com 

The Ultimate Civil PE Depth Courses - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/depthcourses 

CEA Episode 51 (Tim Miller - NCEES) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/cea-51-the-ncees-chief-officer-of-exams-tim-miller-pe 

CEA Episode 30 (Braden - Engineer4Free) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/cea-30-engineer4free-with-braden 

CEA Episode 53 (Melody Gonzalez) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/cea-53-single-mom-to-engineer-living-the-american-dream-with-melody-gonzalez 

CEA Team Members - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/about/our-team 

Coaching Package - https://courses.civilengineeringacademy.com/p/linked-profile-review 

Live Study Session on January 8th - https://youtu.be/NtBsL_rUMKY 

Haven’t joined up in our free community?  What’s wrong with you?  J/K.  Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://ceacommunity.com   

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE.  We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter 

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base  - https://civilengineeringacademy.com  

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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With technology just getting better every single day and making it easier for people and companies to work and connect with one another, the old-fashioned way of emailing a resume, or even visiting each individual company with a printed version of it, has been replaced by professional networking platforms. The most famous one is, with no doubt, LinkedIn.

As the largest online professional networking platform in the world, with more than 600 million users and 30 million companies, most employers resort to it in order to pre-select candidates for their available positions. In addition to that, many other features allow LinkedIn to be a go-to resource for every professional in every field. In today’s episode, Isaac shares tips and tools to help you create an outstanding LinkedIn profile.

Diving deeper into the individual sections available, Isaac mentions the do’s and don’ts of each one of them. He covers the strategies we should use to fill them in so that we can make them look professionally good and clearly explains who we are, what we do, our areas of expertise, as well as the hard and soft skills we have. Touching on tips that help both those people who already have experience in their respective fields and the ones who are just starting out, this is a great episode that will help anyone polish up or even kick start their online resumes on LinkedIn.

Resources Mentioned

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com

Purple Mattress - civilengineeringacademy.com/purple

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base - https://civilengineeringacademy.com

Haven’t joined up in our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1682344491800869

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter

If you need a personal review of your profile, resume, etc. visit me!

https://courses.civilengineeringacademy.com/p/linked-profile-review

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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Today’s episode is another one on our “America’s Infrastructure Report Card Series”, so to speak. Produced by the ASCE, these report cards are released every four years with the purpose of bringing to light the existing infrastructure problems and limitations in different sectors within the United States, ranging from bridges and dams to wastewater and energy.

Today, Mark Oakeson jumps back on to discuss with Isaac the last report card on bridge conditions nationwide, released in 2017. The overall grade assigned was a C+, which may not seem that bad initially, but according to the report, almost 10% of the nation’s bridges were structurally deficient in 2016, and there were about 188 million trips across such bridges per day. According to the report, 4 in 10 of America’s bridges are 50+ years old, which is highly significant once we factor in that a bridge is designed to reach 50 years of proper functioning at most.

For all civil engineers out there, this is a great episode that will certainly show you that there are plenty of opportunities. According to the report, civil engineers are needed as never seen before to ensure that our infrastructure functions properly, safely, and efficiently. Isaac and Mark dive into how inspections are made and how specialists determine if a bridge is a “pass” or a “fail”, the huge role that funding plays in this discussion, as well as uncovering the States that are doing a good job at taking care of their bridges and the ones that don’t.

Resources Mentioned

America’s Infrastructure Report Card (2017) - https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org

Bridge Infrastructure Report (2017) - https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/bridges

I-35W bridge collapse (MN, 2007) - http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/collapse.html

Federal Highway Administration - https://highways.dot.gov

Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/fastact

Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) - https://www.udot.utah.gov/connect

PPI is our partner to help you ace your FE and PE exams. Use our discount code of CIVACand our link to get 15% off any book you order - http://www.civilengineeringacademy.com/ppi

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base - https://civilengineeringacademy.com

Haven’t joined up in our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://www.community.com

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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Civil engineers, as with all the other professionals within the STEM sector (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), are undeniably more comfortable with the “hard skills” they are required to learn in school than they are with some, if not all, “soft skills”. However, once they start working, they realize that these soft, interpersonal skills can be just as valuable for their careers as their math-focused, college-trained competencies. Or even worse, they may end up having to use more of the former than the latter. Today’s guest is a living example that people in STEM can acquire and master such interpersonal skills to excel both in their professional and personal lives.

Neil Thompson is a speaker, writer, entrepreneur, and a professional engineer who runs Teach The Geek To Speak, an online course dedicated to teaching public speaking skills specifically to people within STEM. Neil started out his career by earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in product development engineering. Since his company didn’t hire a project manager, he was chosen to take on that role. However, what he didn’t know was that it included giving project status updates to senior management on a monthly basis in the form of presentations. After some failed attempts, he realized he needed to improve at this. Now, he’s combined all the things he learned over time with these monthly presentations in the form of an online course and has put it out to help others achieve the same level of mastery and further their careers.

Isaac and Neil walk us through the top tips regarding presentations, both related to how to act when giving them and how to structure our slides and visuals so that our audience can in fact listen to what we are saying. In addition, Neil paints a totally new picture of the difference between introverts and extroverts, as well as why the idea that introverts are not good at public speaking is the biggest lie ever.

Resources Mentioned

Teach The Geek - http://teachthegeek.com

Teach The Geek To Speak (Online Course) - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/teachthegeek

Teach The Geek (Youtube Channel) - youtube.teachthegeek.com

Neil’s Children’s Book (Ask Uncle Neil: Why Is My hair Curly?) - http://askuncleneil.com

Neil’s Public Speaking Book (Teach The Geek To Speak) - https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Geek-Speak-Neil-Thompson/dp/0578410117

Toastmasters - https://www.toastmasters.org

If you need exams, solved problems, or courses, make sure to check out our home base - https://civilengineeringacademy.com

Haven’t joined up in our free community? What’s wrong with you? J/K. Ok, just go there and join a group of like-minded civil engineers! - https://www.ceacommunity.com

Join over 4000 engineers like you and learn the tips and tricks to passing the FE and PE. We even have a free resource for you! - https://civilengineeringacademy.com/join-our-newsletter

Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com


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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/civilengineeringacademy/message