Pros
-If you're interested in public works, they usually land some big infrastructure projects in the Bay Area. They self-perform much of the work, which means they always have some good foreman, operators, and laborers staffed. They also own a lot of heavy equipment. -Employee benefits: good options for medical/dental/vision, cell phone provided, matched 401k contributions (up to 4%), Christmas bonus depending on tenure/position (not much for PEs), main office was a very nice building in downtown Oakland -Casual dress code, pets allowed in the office and on-site, hours were flexible, occasionally working remotely was okay. -Most of the management and employees were good people and fun to be around.
Cons
-PE Salaries are on the lower side for the Bay Area. Salaries were not consistent amongst comparable employees. Don't expect to be compensated for your market value just by performing your duties and asking for a review/raise. Threatening to leave or brown-nosing was pretty common. -No mentorship or structure for PE growth. No one really went out of their way to help you grow or get a promoted. There was no real system in place at the company to progress or learn. This isn't uncommon in the construction industry. Also, there was no assistant PM role, which makes it really difficult for any PE to advance and transition to a PM successfully. -High employee turnover. Every PE that was there during my time eventually left. Same with most of the PMs and safety managers. This led to a lot of shuffling of resources, e.g. people being moved to other roles when the company would land a new project and be short-handed. -Poor judgment of character. There were a lot of incompetent, useless people that had no idea what they were doing ("fake it til you make it" comes to mind) or did the bare minimum. It was clear the company was not good at selecting talent or they were just desperate to fill positions. Some were dealt with and others easily flew under the radar. -Advice to potential job seekers: not the worst place to start in construction and see some heavy civil projects up close, as long as you don't mind the pay. You will be thrown out in the deep end right away and experience a lot being out in the field. I wouldn't recommend staying longer than a year though--use that experience as a stepping stone to a company with better opportunities and pay.