Going downhill fast.... - Anonymous employee CDM Smith Employee Review

2.0
6 Feb 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great coworkers. Decent work-life balance. Decent benefits, maybe slightly better than average.

Cons

Organization/reporting structure makes no sense. No career path for senior, experienced staff, especially in the Transportation service line, which has effectively driven the company away from being competitive in the markets where Wilbur Smith Assoc. was once a major player. Insane focus on week to week utilization, with no plans to capture work in the long term. No support for senior or mid-level staff who are actually interested in doing more to increase the firm's market share rather than sitting at their desks doing calculations all day. Less than competitive compensation for senior staff, while new hires get bought in at market rates. Quite a number of old time managers who are either unwilling or unable to perform in the role they have been assigned.

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

1
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CDM Smith Response
3w
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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