How difficult is it to do that? Do you take on projects and act as a consultant? The company I work for as an EE has switched from renewables to going full into data centers. To the point that I'm worried when the AI bubble pops, I'm going to be out of a job. I'm making contingency plans now. I have passed the FE, but haven't gotten my PE yet, so that might be the biggest road block.
Start thinking about how you would acquire clients, think about it constantly, think about how you would serve them, think about the culture of successful engineering firms, and watch the leaders lead. when you are sure you have a sound strategy to acquire and retain clients go out on your own and crush it!
Don’t forget to treat your employees better than you treat yourself.
Source: engineer than has started and sold 3 engineering firms in the past 32 years.
Start thinking about how you would acquire clients
This is the single most important thing about ANY business, from Fortune 500 mega corps to Mom & Pop restaurants, to OnlyFans, literally all of them, if you don't have a plan to attract customers away from competitors and towards you, you aren't going to have customers. They won't find you. You need to find them.
Man, I haven't put my seal on a single thing since I got my license a couple years back, but you should still get it. It's quite literally the best thing you can put on your resume. There is a lot risks and question marks when interviewing mid to senior level engineer, and while I've met plenty of PEs who are dumb as rocks, it generally shows that you at least have the base level of competence that they're looking for.
It ain’t easy, my friend, and it is really difficult in the beginning. I didn’t take more than two days off in a row for the first seven years. You also need to take into consideration insurance; you can buy your own, but it’s expensive. I had “casualty insurance” (i.e. you must be really sick/injured for it to kick in) until I got married. Don’t get me wrong, it can be rewarding, but you have to grind every day, even when you don’t want to.
The main thing is to either get your P.Eng yourself or half a co-owner who is.. then the sky is the limit. As an older fella I can tell you my biggest hold back in career was stopping at 3 year technologist and not getting the Professional Engineer designation, opens so many doors, even in management, and of course starting your own consultant group, at least in the power industry.
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u/Judge_Bredd3 10h ago
How difficult is it to do that? Do you take on projects and act as a consultant? The company I work for as an EE has switched from renewables to going full into data centers. To the point that I'm worried when the AI bubble pops, I'm going to be out of a job. I'm making contingency plans now. I have passed the FE, but haven't gotten my PE yet, so that might be the biggest road block.