Day 6: Transportation, Meeting the CEO, Construction Management, and a Trip to Morgan State University!
I start the day in the Sparks office and then I get to go out in the field to Morgan State. I’m excited to go off campus to see some more work that KCI does…
Counselor Connections
- Inspectors make up a huge part of KCI! Inspectors are important because they represent the owner and make sure the job gets done right.
- Inspectors do not need college degrees and many companies will hire people with no experience at all and provide the training.
- Inspectors can start out making $40k a year and work up to $90k per year! There are also lots of opportunities for overtime!
- KCI meets the basic needs for people in terms of getting people and goods from place to place. It is a rewarding place to work!
- Safety of the workers and community are really important during construction. There are jobs out there if you want to help keep people safe!
- There are definitely financial benefits for working for an ESOP like KCI. You can retire a millionaire if you stay a long time and work hard!
- There are so many people involved with making 1 single project happen. There are so many job opportunties out there in the engineering and construction industry!
Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Naval Academy
23+ years at KCI
Joel was my first
interview of the day and he was a joy to talk with. Such a friendly guy! I
enjoyed hearing about his journey from the Naval Academy to where he is today
at KCI. Joel is responsible for Transportation North while Bayne, who I spoke
to yesterday, is responsible for Transportation South.
I learned that when it
comes to transportation, about 80% of the KCI employees are inspectors and the
rest are in-house project engineers. The inspector’s role is to make sure the
job gets done right! For example, rebar (reinforcing steel), needs to be put in
before concrete in order to keep the structure from falling apart. Meanwhile, the project
engineer is responsible for helping the owner with scheduling the project,
budgeting, etc.
Inspectors do not require
college degrees and just requires a certification. As an entry-level position,
many companies, such as KCI, will provide the training for their employees. He
talked about the Mid-Atlantic Region Technician Certification Program (MARTCP)
offered through the State Highway Administration, which I will definitely look
in to for more detail. Even more interesting, inspectors can start out making $40k
to $50k a year and can then make up to $80k to $90k a year with further
experience.! Working at a company like KCI, you could also retire with millions
in stock- all without a college degree! Amazing!
I also learned that with these projects, KCI is
typically working as the owner’s rep (for the client themselves). These
inspectors sort of serve as a checks and balances to make sure what the
contractors (who are actually doing the work), is done correctly and in the owner’s
best interest. I always think in terms of the actual construction workers on
the job, but this is such an important and neat side of the job that I didn’t
even know existed. I’m excited to learn more as I go on the job sites today and
later this week!
How would you describe your job to a high school student in a few sentences?
“It’s cool because we help get things built and
every project is different. It could be a courthouse, library, bridge…and we
get to see the result.
What advice do you have
for a high school student?
“Work hard. Don’t be
afraid to change what you think you want to do. Find what you like but accept
that it’s a job and not all days will be roses. Have your release!”
Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University
35 years at KCI
Nate tells me a really cool story about how he was looking for a job out of college, and while at Lehigh University, he saw a post-it note on an elevator for a Structural Engineering position. He interviewed and got the job and that job is what led him to where he is today. It was like it was meant to be! What a cool story!
-KCI does a lot of things well in a lot of different areas because
that is what helps keep work going. It’s important to have enough work for good
people.
-There are usually about 30 firms bidding for every job, so it is competitive.
-About half of the employees are field personnel and half of the
employees work in the office or remotely.
-KCI will continue to grow and it is essential for the ESOP in
order to return value to the shareholders.
-If a KCI employee stays for 5-7 years, they will get the amount
of 1 year's worth of salary from the ESOP- that’s awesome!
“Equal amounts of challenge and reward.” I set
the vision for the company and get the right people to make the vision come to life. I help
get the financial resources and then get out of the way to let people do their
job!
The company as a whole:
“Every basic need of
society (except for food and health care), we help fulfill. We are a mobility
business and we design infrastructure to get goods from point A to Point B.” From
housing to warehouses to shopping malls, we help design and permit. The power market is huge. Duke Energy is our biggest client.
Duke maintains the grid from North Carolina down to Florida. We help design grids to
distribute energy. We are in the sustainability market in terms of water. We do
restoration for wetlands and streams. We do construction and telecommunication-
5G and fiberoptics. Bridges and roadways are our primary economic driver.
What advice do you have
for a high school student?
“Find what you love, otherwise it’s just a job. If you’re not happy, find somewhere to be happy. Find the company that best suits your passion.”
Lunch with Valerie Robinson and John Furman!
This was my first lunch out with KCI employees and it was really nice and so generous of KCI to treat me! I got know Valerie Robinson during lunch. She is another one of the few women in the field with an interesting background. Valerie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She actually had her first job working for radio station! Eventually she got into interior renovations for banks and became a project manager, which led to her career in this field. She also has a Master’s in Business Management and has her certification in Construction Management. It’s really cool to see how you can go a different path with your career. We also had lunch with John Furman, who will be taking me to Morgan State right after lunch. John started at a community college/trade school in New York and earned a 2 year degree in Architecture Management before getting his 4 year degree. I enjoyed learning about his unique pathway to get where he is today. Time to head to Morgan State…
John Furman, Business Management, Construction Development
Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management from Virginia Tech
MBA from Johns Hopkins University
I followed John to Morgan State and we met in a conference room with one other Engineer from KCI, the Project Managers from Siemens (the contractor), and several Morgan State employees, including Kim McCalla, Associate Vice President for Facilities, Design, and Construction at Morgan State University. I was particularly impressed by Kim. She has such an amazing presence as a woman in the engineering field and I can tell she is super smart.
The meeting was about 2 hours long and was basically held to discuss the progress of an array of projects happening at Morgan State. John said these meetings happen twice a month. There is a lot of coordination that happens between Morgan State as the client and their own construction employees, Siemens and their contractors and subcontractors who actually do the work, and KCI who represents Morgan State and makes sure all of the work is being done properly. The lead Construction Manager for Siemens led the meeting and talked through all of the bullet points.
I honestly had trouble following a lot of what they were talking about because it is a lot of terminology that I am not familiar with but here are some of the things I did gather from the meeting:
-there is a lot of construction work
that has to be done in the summer before students return, especially work done
in the residence halls, including ensuring the A/C is working and air ducts are
cleaned
-putting in stadium lighting is a BIG
project! Road closures need to happen and the community needs to be informed.
This was a big point of discussed.
-There is always the discussion of cost-effectiveness
when it comes to these projects. Money is a huge factor!
-Keeping the construction site safe and
clean for both the workers and also the students when they return is KEY!
Everything from making sure the workers wear their hardhat, vest, and glasses,
to making sure the students don’t get exposure to dust and mold is important.
The Morgan State Environmental Scientist/Engineer was very vocal about
concerns. If anything happens, the job can be shut down so safety is
everything!
-Overall, there are so many pieces to the puzzle when it comes to one project. There are lots of stakeholders involved from beginning to end and everyone has to work together to deliver a quality project.
I talked with a Project Manager from Siemens and he gave me his phone number and offered to let me see some of the projects they are working on that were discussed during the meeting. I thought this was so nice of him to do and I hope to get the chance to really see what they are working on.
After the meeting, John walked me to my car and he answered my 2 questions I had. He also told me about a pretty cool project he is working on in Harford County through a grant to offer free internet to families. Through this project, he works with teams in GIS/mapping and the Communications Infrastructure which I will learn about later. What a rewarding job and how cool that John gets to work with such different projects. I’m excited to learn more!
How would you describe your job to a high school
student in a few sentences?
“I work with a lot of
individual projects maintained by construction teams and owners and come up
with ways to make things work. I help make projects be successful.”
What advice do you have
for a high school student?
“Learn a lot from summer
jobs.” From getting up and going to work, to learning the chain of command, and
engaging in real-life experiences.
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