The book follows the life of the author from his early recollections of growing up on the farm through his college training and his career as a civil engineer. It explores what forces and influences led him to desire to become an engineer, specifically a civil engineer. It shows his successes and his deficiencies and how he overcame them. His experiences directly affected the way he treated others and how he turned failures into successes. It also introduces the novice reader to the world of engineering and adds insight to the world of the experienced engineer. Even experienced engineers and highly technically trained people can always learn more from others.
The book follows his career through the initial graduation of the engineer, his first summer job as a practicing engineer, and each successive career change and modification. It develops the author as he learns to deal with supervision and being in charge, as well as the lessons he learns as his career progresses. As his career continues to develop, he learns that he does not utilize his technical skills as much since he has other competent people working for him to perform those tasks.
As a supervisor of a large group, he has to develop people skills in order to handle the problems of his group. The book finally covers the many different tasks and assignments that are required that he must handle. The author performs many tasks that are not specifically a part of his job description, but he has learned to cope with unexpected requests and learns to adapt.
A large part of his duties involves training and teaching those who work for him to accept new challenges and pass the knowledge learned on to others. The book will give insight into the working career of an engineer and provide instruction and knowledge to the young inexperienced engineer as well as to the experienced engineer.
Mayes, Gerald W.: - The author is a retired engineer with an Associate of Arts degree in Pre-Engineering, received in May 1969 from East Central Junior College. He continued his education, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in May 1971 and a Master of Science degree in August 1975, both in Civil Engineering with a major in Structures from Mississippi State University.He spent his career working across a wide range of industries, including chemical, construction, environmental, manufacturing, nuclear, petro-chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, power generation, process safety, pulp and paper, railroad, solid waste, steel, and wastewater treatment.He has worked in all seven U.S. EPA regions and designed structures and foundations for projects around the world. He has also provided numerous consulting services for various clients and worked closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.During his career, he was registered as a Professional Engineer in seven states. He is a lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction. He served on the ASCE task subcommittee that produced Wind Loads for Petrochemical and Other Industrial Facilities, published in 2011.Currently retired, he resides with his wife of over fifty years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
