February 1, 2023 A Day In the Life: Project Engineer, Ramiro Brigueda
Recently, we picked the brain of Ramiro Brigueda, project engineer with MYR Energy Services working on the Central East Energy Connect transmission project out of Albany, N.Y. Brigueda’s worked with MYRE for two and half years, his first job in construction having previously worked in the oil industry as a field engineer.
Brigueda gives his insight into how a project engineer is crucial to the success of a project as they support members throughout the team, how a challenging but supportive environment helps his career development, and why the job never allows for a boring day.
Q: What is a project engineer and how is it important to the overall scope of completing the project?
A project engineer assists the project manager with different facets of the project. We focus deeper in the weeds so that the project manager is freed up to look at the project at a higher level. Project engineers are crucial because we enable the project manager to stay more out of the day-to-day and dedicate more of their time to looking at the big picture. This helps the trajectory of the project stay on schedule.
Q: What does a typical day on the job look like for you?
Every day looks completely different depending on a variety of factors, which is what makes each day doing my job interesting!
Q: How is a project engineer unique compared to other key operational positions?
In my opinion, I feel like a project engineer has a bit more flexibility and versatility on what to focus on each day compared to some of the other operational positions on a project.
Q: What do you love most about your job?
I love that my job is different every day, therefore, it never gets boring! Also, there’s so much to learn on so many different levels, so it keeps my job interesting.
Q: Where do you feel most passionate about the industry and your role in it?
I feel passionate about doing my best to help the crews out in any way I can, as well as using my leadership skills to put the project in the best position to succeed.
Q: In your opinion, what characteristics make a project engineer successful?
I believe strong attention to detail, a good memory, being a great communicator, confidence, and caring about your people up and down the chain of a project team is what make a project engineer successful.
Q: Why do you think somebody considering a career in construction should want to join MYR Energy Services and/or MYR Group?
I feel that MYRE’s leadership and teamwork are our greatest strengths as a company and why somebody should want to join our team. You are given challenges, which will develop you, and you always have the support of the team whenever you need it to help you overcome those challenges and to reinforce your development.