A project engineer is a project management professional with a background in engineering who is responsible for directing a team during the entire lifecycle of a major and complex engineering project. They are the technical expert how to become a project engineer that leads and ensures consistency, design and functionality of a project throughout its execution.
What Does a Project Engineer Do?
Although their duties can vary from job to job, project
engineers are typically responsible for performing the following duties and
tasks:
• Developing project objectives by reviewing project
proposals and plans
• Determining project responsibilities by
identifying project phases and elements
• Assigning personnel to phases and elements
• Reviewing bids from contractors
• Determining project specifications by studying
product design, customer requirements, and performance standards
• Completing technical studies and preparing cost
estimates
• Determining project schedule by studying project
plan and specifications, and calculating time requirements
• Maintaining project schedule by monitoring project
progress, coordinating activities and resolving issues
• Controlling project costs by approving
expenditures and administering contractor contracts
• Preparing project status reports by collecting,
analyzing, and summarizing information and trends
• Maintaining a safe and clean working environment
by enforcing procedures, rules, and regulations
• Maintaining project database by entering and
backing up data, or overseeing this task
Your hours should be fairly regular – up to 40 hours a
week, Monday to Friday – but there will be busy periods as a project reaches
its deadline. You will have an office but you’ll still spend a lot of your time
working on site or visiting clients and contractors so you won’t always be
stuck behind a desk.
If you enjoy
the job, there’s plenty of room to progress and make a career from it. You
could progress to Senior Engineer, Research and Development Manager or Project
Manager, and eventually overall Operations Manager. If management isn’t really
for you, a move into consultancy could be ideal.
Project Engineer Job Responsibilities:
Completes engineering projects by organizing and
controlling project elements.
Develops project objectives by reviewing project
proposals and plans and conferring with management.
Determines project responsibilities by identifying
project phases and elements, assigning personnel to phases and elements, and
reviewing bids from contractors.
Determines project specifications by studying product
design, customer requirements, and performance standards.
Completes technical studies and prepares cost estimates.
Confirms product performance by designing and conducting
tests.
Determines project schedule by studying project plan and
specifications, calculating time requirements, and sequencing project elements.
Maintains project schedule by monitoring project
progress, coordinating activities, and resolving problems.
Controls project plan by reviewing design,
specifications, and plan, scheduling changes, and recommending actions.
Controls project costs by approving expenditures and
administering contractor contracts.
Why Get into Project Management?
First, the obvious advantage: Positions involving
management and oversight typically come with a higher salary range. While the
median salary for
mechanical engineers in the United States is $124,000 according
to a recent ASME survey, the median income for project managers can often be
well above this amount.
As a project manager, there also tend to be more career
opportunities with a wider variety, which means less chance of getting bored as
you progress through your career.
But higher compensation often comes at a price. You might
have to work longer hours, be on call at all hours, and generally bear the
weight of much greater responsibility.
“When you make a mistake, it can impact a lot of people's
lives and careers because it impacts the business. There's just a lot that's
involved,” Suffredini says.
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