Firm is Now Heading in the Right Direction - Water Resources Engineer CDM Smith Employee Review

4.0
7 Dec 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This is a follow-up to a prior review that I wrote about the time of a number of management and organizational changes. It took about 3 or 4 years, but the future is looking very bright and a lot of the rough spots are starting to smooth out. Pros include: work-life balance, challenging projects, great co-workers, broad portfolio of opportunities, top-notch QA/QC process, and a major attempt by management to open up career options for as many as possible. I feel like there has been a real conscious shift to understand what motivates people of all types. One other thing: they have undertaken a number of difficult change initiatives in IT, HR and business unit operations and have really stuck with them, and continuing to try to improve on them based on employee input. This seems much better than other places I have worked.

Cons

Still a few long-term senior managers hanging on to jobs they should consider passing to younger folk. Disconnect between actual profit and utilization as a proxy for profit creates conflict at times.

Explore other reviews about CDM Smith

5.0
22 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lots of training and opportunities

Cons

Company structure can be confusing

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CDM Smith Response
4w
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a 5-star review! It was great to have you as an employee and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
2.0
18 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible hybrid schedule is very nice and starting salary is high for early career engineers.

Cons

The main people running the company are not engineers and you can tell. They are all focused on utilization with rates often set at 97% or higher. This had led to my supervisor asking/telling me to not charge company required trainings. As an early engineer it really feels like they don't want to invest in me and only care about their bottom line. If you are an early career structural engineer you will also not get any meaningful work until you've been with the company for at least 5 years. The senior engineers do not trust you and will only give you grunt work.

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