construction project manager

senior electrical engineer

construction manager

process engineer

senior controls engineer

Dennis Group

The Dennis Group is a design build consulting firm. I had exposure to a wide variety of disciplines and job tasks. Travel is an integral part of the job, and being on-site is incredibly useful, especially for new engineers. You gain valuable intuition by seeing your design built in the field. The shortcomings and potential opportunities become very apparent, which can be applied to future designs. 
Typical job tasks include: piping drawings in CAD, mass balance spreadsheets, project cost estimations, project schedules, site surveys, client design meetings, etc. 
The Dennis Group provides great opportunity to take on responsibility and work autonomously. Initiative and self-motivation are required for success with this company. The office community is also very friendly and welcoming. Everybody works hard, and we treat each other with respect and kindness.
As a company, DG is fighting to improve organization and resource management as it continues to hire more people. The project managers are in general overworked. Training and employee development suffers as a result. There are very few provisions in place to ensure that employees do not get overworked. Resource management is very poor. Engineers will be put onto projects they have no prior experience with, in a high stress environment. There are very few resources available within the company, because almost everybody is working at max capacity at all times. Travel burden is 50-100%. Work life balance is poor. Salary is below average; end of year bonus helps, but it is used as a carrot on a stick to justify being overworked.

Moving forward, this will be the greatest challenge for the company. Finding out a way to manage employee burnout, and decrease the turnover rate. Currently, this is a good place to learn a variety of technical skills, but a bad place to learn how to efficiently run projects.

The Dennis Group is a uniquely challenging and rewarding company to work for. Most employees are technically trained (engineering mostly), motivated and very smart.  Dennis Group employees all seem to get along with little to no politics or drama. Workload is generally high and fast-past.  As a result, there isn't a lot of 'hand-holding' for employees, particulalry new employees, who maybe aren't as self-motivated as others.  For those that perceive such a lack of deep mentorship as personal it may seem alienating.  For those that don't take it personally however (and maybe even prefer the lack of micro-management), the opportuinties created by this culture 'of jumping in and figuring out how to swim' is preffered and ideal as it offers plenty of opportunities to contribute and advance (there's always someone somewhere who could and will appreciate your help). For such folks, well meaning mistakes are tolerated by management and the effort to 'jump in' is generally recognized by tenured employees who are always avaiable and happy to help you develp and grow.  There is little artificial promotion at DG, the ones that contribute most generally get the pay and promotion benefits.  Highly ethical company as well.  Never witnessed anything that I would consider ethically questionable. 

Be ready to work long hours without overtime or travel pay. Stressful work environment with little support from management. There's a lot of politics and if you aren't "in the group", you can forget about significant bonuses or promotions. You'll find that the workload is not evenly distributed and you always have to do more work than what's in your job description. It's a fast-paced environment with no pity. Be ready to tread water while your workload is constantly pulling you down.

While you'll get to work a lot and gain experience quickly, there is no work/life balance and the toxic and stressful environment will eventually get to you. You'll find that many of the employees are young and leave after a few years of servitude.

The projects, job culture, & employees at The Dennis Group are all excellent.  Each new project is always fast-paced & exciting & provides plenty of room for each employee to contribute his or her part to the project & see it come to fruition.  The workplace never gets stale as you are constantly moving from site to site & job to job.

The job itself I love; however, balancing this job with a personal life/family is where things get difficult.  You are required to travel 40% - 100% of the time, depending on your position, & work long hours on-site.  It's work you can fall in love with and lose yourself in, but you need to be prepared to dedicate yourself to that kind of a commitment.

DGL is a demanding employer. With more work to be done than is possible in a 40 hour work week, it's expected to go above and beyond 120% all the time. While there is definitely a culture of fun (company parties, celebrations after projects end, camaraderie with coworkers), there is not a lot of time or energy left when the day is done (or the trip is done--lots of employees travel) to take home to a spouse and children. Not recommended for anyone with a family or someone looking to have a life outside of the company.

This is not a good palce to work. No directions, objectives are provided by your direct Manager. They have no time for you, at least I want to give them that excuse, no time to define objectives for the year, no time for periodic one-on-one meetings to assess your performance, training needs, outlook for ongoing and coming projects, roadmap for career development. Absolutely nothing! 

Do yourself a favor and do not apply here. They will sell you on the company and act like you are taking this great position within a great growing company but it's all a lie. They are disorganized and treat their employees horribly. You can work 60 hours a week and not get any additional pay or recognition for your work. Just another employee to make the upper managers wallets fatter. No one cares about you. The only people that do well are the ones that are related or in a relationship with management or have been there for 20 years. Very low morale, poor ethics and poor management.

I worked 60 hour weeks in the field with no extra incentives. I did not receive any additional PTO, overtime pay, or even a thank you. Management is non existent and largely composed of the "good ol boy culture" If you make waves, you will drown.

The annual bonus program is a joke. Your bonus is determined by one or two managers. 

Here's a life tip- Never sign up for anything when the terms can be easily manipulated by the employer. The culture is toxic and if the Dennis Group was serious about it's employees, they would pay up front like legit companies do.

They take care of their full-time employee's. If you work under a contract management and it's employees don't support you and every chance they have throw you under the bus.  They find every means not to pay bill's and work to find loop holes not to pay extras.  Here is where the lying comes into play

Employees receive a pay check. Several young engineers are truly good at what they do.  Managements fails to support them.

Work hard, play hard; that's the simplest summary of the Dennis Group culture. The team at DG cares, they care about their employees, their clients, their reputation and success. I have learned so much in my 10+ years at DG and still continue to learn more! I enjoy going to work, the people I work with, the problems we get to solve and seeing the results of our work in our everyday lives!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Construction project manager 4 salaries reported	$141,250 per year
Senior electrical engineer 7 salaries reported	$120,000 per year
Construction manager 2 salaries reported	$152,500 per year
Process engineer 4 salaries reported	$81,250 per year
Senior controls engineer 9 salaries reported	$113,333 per year

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