- Long Hours: If you're starting out in the field (On site), expect to be thrown into the deep end to see if you can swim. As a junior, the superintendents above you will pile everything under the sun on your head because that is how they were brought up. You get passive aggressive remarks if you even sniff at the idea of leaving site before 5:00PM even if you're work is completed. Again, old school superintendents will always say "I was always on site at 5AM and leaving at 7PM every day!" Good for you, but not everyone wants to live that kind of life. Unfortunately if you don't live that kind of life you will get penalized in growth which is unfair. Work life balance is laughed at in this job because the seniors never had it, therefore you shouldn't have it either. - If you do good on bad jobs, you will be put on bad jobs because you can do them. Sometimes being great at your job will often screw you long term because you will be seen as the guy who can do the "bad and hard" jobs and that is all you will do with the rest of your career, but the B or even C Level talent get to cruise on the non-high level jobs and only make marginally less than you. - Share program is nice but it's only for very long term. The share program just kills you financially in the beginning as it's a long term investment, especially with how it is structured now. Sure you get a nice dividend but you have to fork over even more than that to buy the shares each year if you don't go with a loan to do so. You won't really reap the benefits of it until your 15+ Years with the company. - Always Understaffed: No matter the budget, it seems that the field side of construction get's always understaffed. I've been on jobs with 75% of the PCL staff on a job site is all just Project Coordinators and PMs, which get's frustrating to deal when you need to coordinate with 3-4 different people about one aspect of the job, while the site guys need to carry everything plus more.
