The sad start of Site Engineers | The Saga of Pride & Prejudice

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 Caution!

Most stories in this post have an utter resemblance to people and objects around me, if you find any sentence or part that reflects your work story then believe me it's about you only. The post is full of rants I've heard from most of my friends and acquaintances Enjoy reading and leave your comment below.

Lets Start!

It's like the boss on the site, when you arrive there are the mason & the laborers who guide you on the site. There's a volunteer who would even act like our assistant on site. So here you are on the site on a sunny day with your Helmet, Goggles & other PPE. The whole & sole authority, his majesty "The Hon'ble Site Engineer" on the construction site.

There's also a plan and notebook in your hand just if you need to check anything. So you start checking the work done, bashing any contractor who's compromised with the work. You just can't tolerate any safety-related negligence so you scold and fire any person who you find to be in violation of your rules. That's like a complete Singham-like attitude without the police uniform.

Then you walk into your palace "The Dignified Site office" made of the partra smelted from the ores of MP and nailed to the ballis from Ratnagiri which is so comfortable that it is hot, dusty with paperwork around and all the amenities that make you say "Wah! Life ho to Aisi" then there's Chotu from the nearest tapri ready to serve you the elixir from his very hygienic & "single use only cups" you're probably the last person to lick this cup. Also, a cigarette & Vimal would be a complementary add-on.

Then the toilet, this is the best part! it's locked and only you have the keys. Full VIP treatment, how great it is isn't it?

Not everything from the above but most of what looks realistic is the dream life of every civil engineering student, life would be great after I get a degree. Believe me, you have no idea how this industry is going to exploit you. You'll be left dancing left and right on the signs of your masters but still called a glorified Site Engineer "His Majesty".

The dark reality,

After completing 4 years of doing absolutely nothing much valuable (at least in the case of most students) you'll somehow graduate and get the right to call yourself a civil engineer, yes that degree has at least that value. If you are fortunate enough your college will help you get placed but if your college is somewhere in the mountains then you're on your own "Atm-nirbhar" and you'll have to make your Shivi (CV when your mouth is stuffed)/Resume and start visiting site to site seeking employment.

To your bad luck, you are just a rookie, without experience, we can't hire you. This is what you'll often hear and as a solution you'll negotiate to work for free on a site just so that your master is pleased with you and gives you a letter of experience"Ja Simran Jeele" but he's often the nasty/grouch old person who'll try to get the most out of you and will keep you engaged as if you're a full-time payroll employee. Bin Pagari full adhikaari

Else you'll end up making real-looking experience certificates from your friends' totally real companies just as you would endorse one another on LinkedIn.

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Finally, you get to a point where you're working and someone is really going to pay you some money. You will think that acche din aa gay, not so early meri jaan ab dilli door hai. They'll start with a minimum ka minimum wage, lesser than a labor, Yes.

Labors get paid around INR 400 per day that comes out to be 6*4*400 = INR 12000 per month but yes you're special you're the boss so you'll be getting a salary of INR 9000. Initially, you're like the most educated but with the least experience person that is supposed to supervise the contractor, mason and the labors but you'll end up being the bottom winner of the pay pyramid.

You guessed it the DSR says INR 983 but you're special so the Govt. rules won't apply.

But, people are very good! They won't judge you, they'll call you saab! Often ask you for tea or sutta which you cannot deny as you're the boss, you have to pamper your underlings so that they listen to you and agree to your commands. Your hukum should be your shasan!

But then just when you think you're the boss, the big boss might want to visit someday to check if everything is great in the kingdom. And when this happens you're sure to experience a lot of embarrassment. Generally, the project managers (Managers please don't get me wrong here, even I'm sort of a manager now so I won't defame myself) are generally like the Disappointment Panda they'll find something bad in everything that you do, often this is correct as the site people are very smart to fool you and believe me it will be very easy to fool you during the initial age of your career on your site His Majesty.

Depending on what phase your project is he'll either push you into a foundation or ask you to climb a slab just to check if the cover is correct or the formwork is oiled properly. You'll be reduced to a rank of a Sepoy from a Subedar till the time this Panda lures on your kingdom. Many times the Panda will be your best friend and Vimal buddy🙂 if you are that fortunate but the purpose of this post is to make you fret each and every thought you have about your career so we'll go with the worst-case scenario.

Since he's the big boss he'll do some even more bashing in your presence to assert his authority over the regime. Don't worry everything will be normal once he leaves, but he'll have some spies that you can use as double agents just in case.

Anyways, you're paid very little, made to work full time, even on Saturdays. IT people be like "Saturday is a national holiday" (I haven't even mentioned Sunday to begin with) as if you're like the resident doctor on call. But people won't appreciate your actions as compared to this celestial creature called Doctor. You are nowhere near it, so don't think of comparing.

Well, there are other noblemen that'll visit your kingdom like this Duke of Normandy, Mr. Architect who'll be the supreme leader and try to make everything as per his liking and won't care of how many people and horses die in the cause. No offense! I have deep respect for Architects, they've spent nights drawings and painting stuff we can't understand so huge respect! So every time this Duke visits his convoy will accompany him and he'll suggest some very little and "Easy" changes that you can do and your people will enjoy doing. You'll rejoice in the honor of working on tight deadlines in the bright light of the moon, such a great feeling like full responsibility.

Then there's this Samurai called Mr. Structural Consultant/Engineer who'll either personally visit or send his wingmen to check if everything is correct. The building should be safe, he'll make you go through the entire column again if it doesn't complies with the design. But, sometimes he'll be late to the site and you'll end up finishing the casting so he doesn't get a chance to check the reinforcement. Yay! the benefit of getting up early never was so beneficial. Then while you're on the upper levels this person will come and find some mistake in the reinforcement placement only to realize that this has occurred all the way from bottom to the top, like at 10th or something you realize the bar diameters placed were incorrect or the spacing followed was very correct. Or bigger you're so cautious that you've missed to provide the additional bars in the beams and followed the same.

Now this Samurai is in a pinch! He'll resort to his last trick, the golden sword called Factor of Safety. Everything is safe, he'll reduce the loads and do whatever required to fit the design and cover up any mistakes from his end. If possible he'll make a treaty with your big boss that say's "Thou shall not commit any mistake, any failure is your responsibility. We're just good people to help for some small fees". This guy is as poor as you only INR 4/sq.ft. so he's like your brother and will get along with you.

But if he had a bad day, oh boy believe me he'll make sure to blow up everything that comes his way. So you'll have to make sure you keep this guy is in your favour, you cannot risk having a war with the fierce Samurai they'll end up eating your valor on site and even in the office.

Even with this your life would be pretty adventurous, like you'll be able to afford a second hand splendor after months of frugal living that you can ride and park next to the contactors Bullet 350. The contractor will be very generous and he'll offer you to have a ride and often allow you to take it out when you don't get the lunch at the site. Just some human empathy.

Then you'll kind of start getting used to the work, the constant bullying by the noblemen, the retaliation from the Samurai tribes and sometimes even the sages will encourage you to make it fast so that they can move in fast or if they're not happy with the deal they'll curse you for eternity. I hope you get who the sages are.

You'll have this ally called the Supplier who'll bring the riches of the world to your feet and mind you if you reject his truck, he'll make the entire journey back home an adventure. You could go missing anyway on your route so make sure you're diplomatic with this person. He's like great support but if you're cocky then he's your boss in this and if he has a village to support him then your existence is doomed. Best luck.

Anyways you'll continue to work hard, there'll be memes like JCB ki Khudai and engineers walking into a wedding in a JCB but that's all bullshit it'll take probably an entire life's saving for you to buy a new JCB of your own but who cares you don't need a JCB so you'll continue the Glorified Slavery and be loyal to your Big Boss, have good relations with the Duke & the Samurai and get blessings from the Sages.

There are other people as well but in a small kingdom, they aren't of much significance. Small budgets so no special agencies. 

Hopefully there'll be some great awakening and twisting of your fate and you'll end up in a life that I had expressed in the Prelude but without all that cigarettes and the Vimal, yes it doesn't looks good.

That's all

Thanks for reading I hope you've enjoyed the saga of Pride & Prejudice. It is a very sad reality most Civil Engineering students have to go through after their career unlike IT and other branches Civil Engineering isn't that fortunate to have a good HR policy, good working environment, insurances, allowances, etc. There are a lot of opportunity that civil engineering graduates can make use of.

I often wonder why site engineers get paid so less, I think it might be because of high availability without quality? Like the industry doesn't feel that Civil Engineering graduates are worth paying too much when some mason or labor can get it done.

Let me know your thoughts below, hope we could unite and create a better culture for the future of Civil Engineering in this country.

A huge shoutout to the hardworking engineers, Deepak, Gaurank, Irfan and 2018 batchmates.

Thank you

Engineering the Digital Civilization 

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