Advice on starting an Engineering firm

hope your a PE

I am still in school actually. I do plan on passing the FE and getting my PE. I figure I can get some work experience and save up money in the process before opening my own firm.

I'll be a Senior in the fall. I know all the information about being a PE. I was inquiring here more about the financial and managerial aspects about owning your own business.

It is good that you are starting early if owning your own firm is your long term goal, but I feel that you may be looking a little too far ahead being that you are still in school.

First things first - Make sure you get the FE out of the way before you finish school. The exam gets tougher to prepare for the longer you wait because you tend to forget a lot of things you learn in school. Then after you graduate, see if you can find work with an engineering consulting company, kind of like the one your want to own eventually, so that you gain first hand experience on how such a firm works and what kind of business skills are needed to run such a company. Like someone said, you will have to work a few years under a PE to eventually get your PE license anyway, so make sure you find an employer who can give you that opportunity.

Another thing to consider - I think PE licensing differs from state to state. So if you want to open your company in Louisiana, but got your PE in Texas, I don't know how hard it is to get a new one for LA. Not sure if you have to retake the PE exam, maybe somebody else can chime in on this. Just keep this at the back of your mind too.

You should easily be able to find a job being an ME and having done those internships. Houston probably has more opportunities for you in terms of ME type jobs with all the oil field, energy and related companies there. But if you work at big companies like FMC/Bechtel/Fluor/Exterran or some other company like that doing engineering work, while you will gain valuable work experience, your learning will be mostly technical in the first few years. For what you are trying to do - learn the business/finanacial side of running a engineering firm - I'd look at smaller companies where you will get a chance to interact with a more diverse and cross-functional group of people and not just be confined to your own project or team. If you work in a smaller company, I think you will have a better overall professional growth and it will prepare you better for your long term goal. Exponent: LINK - might be a good fit for you. Look into them. Just my $0.02.

ETA: Like ForeLSU said, if you can get into a niche field that will be a big advantage. Do you know what kind of engineering work you are interested in - Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer etc.? These days you can outsource all kinds of work CAD, CFD, FEA etc. which will save you on capital spending. Start thinking on these lines too.

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It is good that you are starting early if owning your own firm is your long term goal, but I feel that you may be looking a little too far ahead being that you are still in school.

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This.

Do you know what specialty of ME you want to pursue? What industry?

A few years of work experience may change your perspective about what you want and what's realistic. Finding good mentors will be key. And sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time for a good opening to start your own business (i.e. someone else retires or closes shop). You have to develop a healthy base of potential clients, which can take considerable time depending on what type of role you assume in your first job or jobs. A lot of existing ties are strong and it isn't easy to siphon off work from long-standing business relationships. Also, you have to line-up some reliable people to work for you, unless you are in a field where you can be productive starting out as a one man show. And the big thing is how quickly you can develop the technical expertise necessary to call the shots and not make costly mistakes. School only scratches the surface.

It's good that you have a good long term goal. But don't get too far ahead of yourself.

Isn't it mandatory to have a PE if you want to do any kind of government projects?

Move to Houston and work for an engineering firm - take notes.

I started mine in Jan 2007 at 29 years old. Spent the previous 8 years working for 3 other consulting firms, constantly on the lookout at each place for what worked and what didn't.

If you are going to call your company anything "Engineering", you must have someone on staff with a P.E. If you plan on being the principal engineer of your firm with only 5 years of experience, make sure you don't get pigeonholed into any one thing while doing your time leading up to the start of your biz.

Decide before starting your business if you can handle 80 hour weeks, 20 hour weeks, and being fully dependent on you, yourself for bringing in new business. The rewards are there, but only for the strong. You will have to be willing to eat shite from clients, work tirelessly, and have either a year of work lined up going in or enough money to live on for a year.

Truthfully, having only 5 year of experience will be your biggest challenge. I had 8 when I started and my saving grace was a ridiculously good resume. 10 or more years of experience in the engineering consulting business is money.

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Tigris

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I'm a PE. Let me know if you need someone to sign and seal