Regarding engineers; - Anonymous employee Terracon Employee Review

3.0
4 Oct 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Terracon takes safety extremely seriously - rank-and-file and management are truly beginning to incorporate safe work practices and critical thinking. The unusual thing: the rules are being driven by a desire for safety, not for the sake of rules. There's been a big emphasis on conversation/coaching vs. monitoring/punishment. The people are the other best reason to be here. Office has less than the usual number of bad apples. Everyone gets along really well, and there is a definite teamwork atmosphere. Terracon has geotechnical, materials, environmental, and facilities service lines. There is staggering potential for cross-selling and cooperation between the service lines in the bigger offices (Houston, Dallas, etc.). Environmental and Facilities will learn a lot of different things; Geotechnical and Materials will be working to engineers who have a lot of knowledge to pass on.

Cons

Average pay; fast-paced consulting work leaves you at the mercy of the client; sometimes management won't stand up to client demands, leaving you with yet another 60-hour work week you won't be getting overtime for. Great place to start for engineers fresh out of college; solid pay for older, more experienced engineers; difficult for middle-experience engineers (4-10 years) to do the grind. Hard to justify forgoing a more competitive salary at another firm for ten or fifteen years while grinding to become a principal and finally make serious money with company stock. Mentoring is also ad hoc if you're not a geotechnical or materials engineer. Sometimes you're lucky and someone above you has the background and inclination to educate you on the finer points of being an engineer. Terracon has a reputation as something of a meat-grinder with regards to personnel; it's getting better, but there is some of that mentality still.

Explore other reviews about Terracon

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great to work at. Good benefits

Cons

Pay is on the lower side

3.0
14 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You have sustainable hours for construction but there is mandatory overtime (The most I’ve done is 51 hours in a week), they pay you enough to live on, it’s good experience, upper management pays lip service to workers rights, there is genuine concern and regulation from management to provide you an emotionally and physically safe place to work, you’re never really rushed to do your job, and you do have the right to stop work

Cons

You need a degree in engineering or geology to move up and you have to threaten to move offices or take another job to get a pay raise. It’s not unionized.

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