project manager

associate

project designer

mechanical designer

electrical designer

Smith + Andersen

I worked for a year at S&A in the Tenant Department. I resigned, but still found my experience here frustrating. This job left me feeling overworked, unfulfilled career-wise and unappreciated despite the hard work and 2% raise.

Pros are:
1. Pay is competitive to most companies in the industry.
2. Experience *CAN* be good if you take initiative and help many different project managers out. But. Even this can get repetitive, but that comes with the industry, not the company, so fair enough.
3. Some coworkers were nice.

There were quite a few downsides I first-hand experienced at S&A:
1. I'll start with the over-time. It's normal for people to work 45-50 hours a week, but not on a weekly basis. Some are okay with that but prepare to have little work-life balance.
2. I did have some prior experience, but I got 0 training on using slightly different software, company procedures etc. I was assigned work at 8:00am on Day 2 with 0 training (Day 1 was just HR stuff). 
3. The tenant department is so desperate at making money, you will get assigned any and all projects, so you often get overwhelmed with minimal support. I often had to offset work to an intern as well as an overseas office, and still work 45 hours a week.
4. I have been thrown underneath the bus by a senior (3 times in a year) blaming me for a mistake, then I would show the email with a client proving my innocence to department manager, and nothing was corrected. So, there is so much internal hunger for promotion that there is little trust within the department.
5. Prepare to deal with politics, both internal and external, but this can be said about many larger firms. 
6. No flexibility with your schedule either. But that can be said about many firms too.
7. Some intermediate or senior people leave on time, while many junior people will work OT and carry much of the workload.
8. PMs can get so busy with projects that they don't know what on Earth is going on.
9. High turnover rate, always saw people come and go. Only social events were to say goodbye to people as they came and went.

General advice:
1. Stop overwhelming both Project Managers as well as Designers. An unhealthy and unhappy employee is not one who is productive and not one who is loyal. Your designers and PMs become so stressed and unappreciated, and we carry the brunt of the work, so there goes your whole department. Hence the high turnover.
2. Start doing some basic training, regardless of experience level. Company procedures and software are different, so basic training is necessary.
3. Respect hard work from employees. A job is a job, but company culture and appreciation goes a LONG way if you want loyal people. Especially for junior staff. You're losing money on having to re-hire - hence why you can't afford to re-train. It's unsustainable and why you lose money. Likely why you also assign complicated projects to junior staff, since you can’t afford a to assign a senior employee. 2 weeks of training will save you 2-3 months worth of new employees making mistakes.

Using Outlook and Excel as main software to schedule meetings and track money. Edit databases. Create and transfer internal documents. Make coffee, greet clients and vendors, answer and respond to many inquires regarding the businesses .  Operate  phone lines, prepare packages for courier pick up and delivery. Organize stock room.  Stay within a budget when ordering supplies. Maintain all personal printers. Print blue prints in a timely manner for engineers.  Retrieve archived and recent blue prints or documents for management and engineers.  Maintain the cleanliness of three kitchens and order all supplies.

I learned how to operate blue printing machines, Outlook, create data base.  Use my time management skills efficiently.

Management staff were a pleasure to work with and always had helpful tips to make my day run smoothly.

Always congenial and willing to help each other.

The hardest part of the job was walking most of the day on two levels of cement floors. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was learning and teaching student engineers how to operate the OCE printers, also meeting people from all over the world and preparing for Christmas staff party.

Good company, however typical engineering environment. cold and direct to the point.

Little respect for your personal life, late days mostly in boring meetings where the good talkers talk and talk.

No much flexibility to work from home or working hours.

Working days are 8.25hr and Fridays 4.5hrs. I like this as long as a late meeting is not called, which is normal.

Salaries are acceptable.

Some managers are telling in front of everyone if you mess it up, and feel like a kid being scalded by grampa. They need better soft  skills.

3 months probation with no benefits.

If you have an entrepreneurial mindset and enjoy engineering consulting you can succeed with hard work. Vast company knowledge base at your disposal.  Management is progressive and willing to listen to employees, with company events and excursions to encourage team bonding.

Excellent place to work if you are experienced enough to deal with your own projects.

People are nice and polite, but not very open and collaborative. Everyone seems or pretend to be very busy.

There are some very good managers. 

There are bunch of individuals chasing their careers and not very good team players.

Good company, however the principals and most engineer in charge do not have people's skills.  They will scorch you in front of everyone in a cubicle environment. 
Contradictory directions when dealing with clients. One is telling you to be firm, others quick you out of the project because of that...

S+A is an incredible place to work, with a friendly and supportive staff always willing to lend a hand. The team is highly encouraging, fostering a collaborative environment that helps everyone succeed. With ample opportunities for personal and professional growth, it's a workplace where you're constantly motivated to learn and thrive.

The Electrical side is a bit more organized than the Mechanical contrapart, but both are poorly managed in the Vancouver office.  Lots of room for improvement!

Great place for co-ops to learn about the industry. The work can be challenging at times, but everyone is incredibly supportive and helpful. Management team is extremely knowledgeable and experienced.

It's a small office, so the resources are limited. They will claim they have resources, but it's hard to find them. The manager loves to micromanage and doesn't have time to teach.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Project manager 29 salaries reported	$107,328 per year
Associate 10 salaries reported	$125,000 per year
Project designer 8 salaries reported	$106,250 per year
Mechanical designer 6 salaries reported	$76,667 per year
Electrical designer 6 salaries reported	$80,833 per year

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