I’ve been a Project Engineer on the PM side for about a year now. I don’t have a construction background (liberal arts major), started as an intern, and then got hired full-time.
Recently I’ve taken over a lot of an APM-type role — mostly handling submittals, RFIs, and coordination. My PM still manages change orders.
I’ll be honest: I feel pretty lost a lot of the time. I’m doing the tasks, but I don’t always understand the “why” behind them or how everything connects.
I walk the site regularly and look at plans, but I struggle to interpret what I’m seeing or tie it back to what’s happening in the field. I talk with supers when I can, but I feel like I could be way more useful if I actually understood things at a deeper level.
A few specific areas I want to improve in:
Reading plans and actually understanding how they translate to real work
Knowing what to look for during site walks
Budget tracking, pay apps, and cost control
Any habits, resources, or ways of learning that actually worked?