civil engineer

transport planner

program analyst

senior engineer

engineer

Caltrans - CA Dept. of Transportation

As a mid and upper level Manager my job was to find ways to allow employees to excel under ever increasing restrictions. Most restrictions or new requirements were based in legislation or oversight by outside agencies. Since I started at Caltrans in 1980 until I retired in 2015 restrictions and additional reporting requirements outweighed advances in technology resulting in increased project delivery times and costs. 

During my career there were over 100 new laws passed or regulations adopted regarding the environmental process. Each new requirement added effort and time to the delivery process. I felt fortunate to have a fair amount of freedom and willingness by other managers to develop new processes which limited the impacts to  project delivery. 

After some large IT project failures the State created the California Technology Agency. The new agency and state regulations that came with it slowed the creation of new programs, data basses and processes that were considered Information Technology. I was the chairperson for a research committee, the Rural Program Steering Committee which worked with various universities in developing new products for Intelligent Transportation Systems. Again I found a willingness to work through restrictions and issues to find success. 

Rising delivery costs were compounded by calls by the Legislature to provide more accountability and reporting requirements through Task Management. The initial costs to implement task management appeared high with minimal benefit to the delivery of the project. I was able to pull a couple of highly skilled engineers/computer programmers into my Project Management Unit and develop Task Management Tools that greatly reduced the effort required of task managers. I believe this tool was implemented statewide after my retirement.

In summary there are more and more restrictions and requirements being placed on Caltrans and it's employees. It can feel very burdensome; however, there are a lot of people where the job is a big part of their life. They care about quality and strive to do an excellent job. There is still a spirit and willingness to overcome issues and get the job done.

Cal Trans was a place that I thought I would never leave my first four years there there I made good money worked a lot of over time because a lot of people wasn't showing up for work, and to me management was just to laid back, things they were suppose be doing he wasn't we would have to check the work of our co-workers and delivering supplies too all the bridges, and we had to clean up four bridges a day sometimes we would work 12 to 16 hours a day loved the overtime we didn't get to move upin  the job every time we put in paper work something would always happen we put in for full time but in the end we found out that our boss had kept us on temps for the hold nine years but he was telling us that we were full time we got a raise and everything it was three of us ladies, we really didn't find out until he hired two guys and they were hired on at full time workers making the money that we made with no overtime,we were did wrong two ladies quit before I left I stayed on and kept fighting for our right  until my mom and dad got sick and I had to take a leave and when i came back so many things had changed some foreign country brought in and they started taking over so a lot of people were forced into retirement or taking a desk job and now most of the jobs are part time so they don't have to pay benefits now and you can only work so many hours and you are laid off for a while then you get a call back if they are still available, now where carpool was free now people that carpool has to pay as well so many things has changed even if i didn't retire and they called me back I would not go back to work for Cal Trans its one big mess people that were there when I left are gone to work some where else now most of the jobs at Cal Trans like the Toll Booth workers, custodians and maintenance worker most of them are part time worker now so they don't get any benefit. Its a sham how America has a Billion dollars a day company and just let it be taken over by someone else or loose control because of the controlling stock holder , to me the State is just too laid back to me people get these jobs and just don't care and we wounder why we are falling apart or we are loosing our respect as American.

Reviewed Labor Compliance on contracts for No. California.  Reviewing, auditing work of contractors performing work on Public Works projects (State and Federal highways and buildings), ensuring employees were paid correctly for the work they performed.  Made phone calls, wrote emails, wrote manuals and reports.  Worked on computers, and used several programs such as Windows, Excel, Powerpoint, along with CA State programs.  Called payroll clerks working for contractors, to ensure they corrected errors and held payments to contractors until employees and payrolls were corrected.  Audited contractor's offices, reviewing their payrolls, taxes, business licenses and ensuring they were within compliance with posters and bulletins required by State and Federal Laws. Contact with CA State Engineers who were overseeing the jobs was vital.  I visited jobsites frequently, to ensure the contractor was performing State and Federal laws and regulations.  Prior to each project beginning, had meetings with the CA State Engineers and the contractors who had won the bid for the project.  In the meetings, I told them the laws they were to follow and answered all questions.

I trained all employees within the unit (7) permanent employees and during the winter, trained engineers who came in to work for me from the field (they couldn't work on jobsites when there was snow).  This was a great help to the entire unit, as I was able to teach them quickly and get the work done during the winter, prior to the summer season and new contracts being issued.

When my supervisor was gone (for 6 months), and other times she was gone for short or extended periods of time, I performed her job, and my job.  I trained all employees in the unit and ensured they performed their jobs correctly, efficiently, and had good relations with the contractors.

I am currently employed at CalTrans, and I love it. Since it is a public agency there is no fighting the boss/owner for time off, or pay raises, or promotions. Not everything will be a walk in the park but you have to make the best out of your time here. There will be some bad apples (fellow co-workers) who don't like to see others succeed or do better than them but that is anywhere in the work force today (sadly), and I have found they are few and far in between. Just stay true to your character, be kind, courteous, and hard working and you will likely surpass them anyways. Your pay will be less than the private sector when comparing job title and duties to the outside workforce(so don't expect to get rich), but your benefits, available time-off, and family life will likely be much better working for CalTrans than any other highway maintenance/construction company. There are also A LOT of promotional opportunities, so just because you got hired in one position that doesn't mean you will be stuck there forever; but you do have to apply yourself. If you are a hard-worker and team player you will find a strong sense of camaraderie among a lot of the CalTrans employees. If you are considering a highway personnel position, it is dangerous and can be nerve racking for some. Be smart, stay safe, and watch each others back. No piece of debris in the roadway is worth losing a life over, especially nowadays with everyone driving distracted and having limited respect for others. CalTrans does a great job training and educating. Take it for what it's worth, stay out of trouble and apply yourself; you will be happy with the results.

Caltrans is the world leading transportation institution, one of the biggest engineer’s employer in California. It has many different departments that providing opportunity for working on various projects.
Complete line of transportation production planning, designing, preparing bid documents, inspecting construction of transportation projects and maintaining facilities. The most enjoyable part of the job is to see your design in construction and being successfully used, the sense of completion is indescribable. A good engineering experience. Learned how engineering projects were managed. Working with the experience Caltrans staff was a wonderful way to get exposure to the engineering discipline. The great resources that this organization has, allows one to learn from an array of engineers. Training and coaching less experienced  staff.
SAFETY FIRST, provides safety for own employees, travelers and environment. Team work, productivity, state-of-the art implementations. There was always something to learn from broad diverse experience and background. High work ethic of most employees. Everybody pulls together to get the job done on schedule and within budget. I learned to be professional, proficient, efficient, and loved working in a team!

I truly enjoyed working for Department of Motor Vehicles, (D.M.V), Investigations Division, as a sworn Investigator.  I investigated criminal and administrative cases.  It was always exciting because no case was ever the same and the challenges it presented requiring you to put your expertise to work.  I was also a Field Training Officer, I enjoyed training new Investigators and educating them in a through investigation, policy and procedure, as well as preparing them for a healthy start and furthering their career with the department.  I was also a Background Investigator.  I conducted many backgrounds on new applicants for hire to assist in the Department's Bureau of Investigations hiring process.  I truly enjoyed working for the department as it gave me the opportunity to travel many areas of Los Angeles County and others, a wealth of knowledge.  That was a great plus.  The job was challenging, stressful and came with the ups and downs, but it made it that much more exciting.  It was something I looked forward to no matter how stressful.  I retired and now seeking my next endeavor with confidence.

A typical day at Caltrans included checking the email and calendar early in the mornings for any meetings during the day; working preparing and organizing the audit working papers, writing audit findings on point sheets, preparing audit summaries, and writing audit reports.

I learned to apply the GAGAS standards and learn contract and construction auditing. 

The management was very supporting of professional staff regarding the continuing education program and about the flex schedules. Also, professional staff and management had a very good work ethic and were very proficient doing their work.

The hardest part of the job was that we had to do different types of assignments, and sometimes there was no program in place, so I had to write the program in a few of the assignments. Regarding the most enjoyable part of the job was the travel part, and the challenges faced when starting a new assignment where there was no program or guidelines to follow.

Working for Caltrans is a tremendous involvement with getting an extensive exposure to various fields and aspects of construction and civil engineering that brings together an experience for a life time. The types of assignments one gets to work on, are so diverse and one can expect to be working on various challenging duties everyday; which makes it very pleasant.
Self-development can be achieved via tremendous training and learning opportunities, from industry leaders and professionals with unique academic and work experience background.
Also, the organization's workforce is highly diverse, co-workers are pretty helpful to work with and they constantly share their knowledge.
I think the best part of the organization specifically for young graduates and professionals, is the exposure opportunity to numerous aspects of the industry as well as undertaking various challenging tasks, that if you are up to take the challenge, eager to learn and succeed; is an ideal place.

* A typical day at work is supervising and directing staff in order to develop subordinate staff's ability to apply laws, rules, policies and procedure to achieve departmental objectives.  
*  I have learned as a leader to model a positive attitude and a commitment to conduct business in a professional manner in dealing with the public and department clients and to provide quality customer service to internal and external customers.
* As a leader I supervise the development, delivery, evaluation and modification of in-service training, in such areas as leadership development, customer relations, and process improvement.
* With co-workers I ensure communication with people with diverse skill sets and backgrounds, facilitating meetings and training sessions.
*The hardest part of the job is that I enjoy completing task , meeting deadlines, and problem solving with customers and staff.
*The most enjoyable part of the day is when I leave work I know that I have given 125%.

Worked 35 years at Caltrans and I enjoyed very much working in various fields as I promoted through the ranks. I worked as a roadway Maintenance division entry level employee then advanced to leadworker and supervisor. I was able to take advantage of opportunities in upward mobility as a civil engineer in traffic division operations and claims officer in administration division. I learned a great deal about the organization and the various trades and professions it employed. I also assisted attorneys and special investigators in the legal division and executives in upper management. I enjoyed the professionalism and organization I encountered in all areas and also enjoyed many business relationships over an extended period of time. I have to say personally I really grew as a person with this organization mostly enjoying long time co-workers of all backgrounds, some of them will be cherished also as personal friends as I move forward into other fields of employment.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Civil engineer 62 salaries reported	$105,840 per year
Transport planner 19 salaries reported	$93,622 per year
Program analyst 13 salaries reported	$77,126 per year
Senior engineer 18 salaries reported	$147,819 per year
Engineer 3 salaries reported	$7,400 per month

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