surveyor

chief engineer

mechanic

site engineer

project engineer

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

First, in order to understand the previous reviews, both glowing and whiny, and what you're getting into, you need to understand the nature of the company and most of the posted jobs.

This company is essentially a heavy construction company. Jobs and projects change constantly, and job sites are mostly up and down the east coast of the US, but could be anywhere in the world. Project and engineering staff swoop into a new project, find temporary office space, hire temporary hourly workers for things like beach security and other local jobs, and make all of the arrangements. Heavy equipment and vessels make their way to the project site when scheduled to begin work. Engineers are constantly monitoring equipment, taking survey data, and working with the Army Corps of Engineers or other clients and contractors. When the work is done, everything is packed up and demobilized, and shipped in a dozen directions to other projects. There are a lot of moving parts, and the equipment has a high operating expense - it can't just sit idle losing money, so things have to keep moving. Never mind contractual deadlines and schedule obligations. This is the case not only for GLDD, but also for her subsidiaries.

Much of the company works in the field, in the environment above. Family life is very difficult by nature, but the company generally takes care of flying people home on their time off. Schedules are rough and extended, but supplemented with generous time off in between. Housing is often paid for, and many receive a per diem for food and whatnot, but again you're away from home. "Management" and "supervisors" mentioned above are not the company management - they are the project managers, supervisors over a small group of people, vessel crews and whatnot. These folks are in the field with relatively little day-to-day management over employee drama and interpersonal BS, so your mileage may vary. This should come as no surprise - most people have worked for both good and bad managers, and it happens everywhere.

The company management is focused on three things above all: Safety, Quality of Work and Profitability, in that order. We get emails frequently outlining injuries and near misses with remediation suggestions. These injuries range from hitting one's finger with a sledge to getting one's foot caught in rigging or trip hazards on a vessel - very rarely do serious injuries occur, and on those rare occasions work is stopped at all sites and safety is focused on. That's an amazing thing for an industry such as ours with the equipment that we're working with, but it's the company's highest priority.

No place that you go, short of a silicon valley start-up, is going to provide extravagant benefits to the employees - it's just not financially feasible. GLDD, however, does go out of its way to provide for us, especially when travelling or working a project. Benefits are great, bonuses are paid out according to company profitability, and because the Dredging Division leads in revenue, they typically get the best bonuses. Employee stock options are available, etc. Corporate office work is typical. Hours, culture, and availability requirements vary between positions and departments, like most places.

So that said, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is a great place to work. We do fascinating, history-making work. If you're looking for a corporate job, come on over. If you're looking for a field, engineering or project based job, keep in mind the nature of the work that we do. They'll take care of you, but it's still hard work far away from home.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock is a great company that provides skill sets along the way to mold a Field Engineer into a well rounded Senior Manager. Through my 3.5 years of experience I have been promoted to the Acting Project Engineer of the job site and feel very comfortable in my role. One of the many skill sets I have acquired along the way is the ability to lead and motivate a team of engineers. 
     A typical work day is all dependent on the stage of the project; during days of mobilization and demobilization it is typical to work 9 hour a days, when the dredge is digging it is typical to work 12 hour days. As a project engineer I feel 60% of my day is working on computer related material where the other 40% in the field, interacting with field engineers along with the crew.
     The hardest part about this job is the ability to deal with the stress that comes along with a production driven industry. When we are up and running every wasted minute is a loss in revenue that is unacceptable. It is often that a manager will ask for a drawing or calculation that involves multiple hours of work and they always want it yesterday...
    The most enjoyable part of the job is the opportunity to be on the beach/ocean. Being the outdoors person, I am about to enjoy fishing and surfing most days after work. If you do not mind spending 2 weeks away from your home at a time this is the ideal job.

A Typical Day at work you wake up at either 4:30 am or 5:30 am to catch the 0600 boats or the 0700 boats, depending on how management feels at the time. You report to your designated assignment (Dredge, Fill Site, Survey boat) and start your day. If you are on the dredge you create your production reports in the morning and in the afternoon you focus on a Survey report and setting up the dredge to dig during the night. 
You do not have a set schedule you work until you're done, this mentality is very draining and often is the reason that this job has such a high turnover rate. Some days if the weather is too rough for the dredge you can finish at 2:00 pm (Seldom) but most of the time you are looking at finishing around 4:00 pm so a 10-hour day is very common.
The one thing that will make you stay, is the culture you have with your coworkers. They become your friends and it eventually feels like a family...until you get transferred to another project and start all over again.

This is a great job out of college, well paying, easy to save money and interesting work most people haven't heard of. 
Training:
I've developed skills in ACAD, Hypack, and Excel. Gained some basic troubleshooting in electronics/computers. I am capable of hydrographic surveys (single beam only - not all that useful) and topo surveys. 
Typical Day:
You're expected to work an average of 10 hours a day - some days its 6-8 and other days its 12-14.
Management:
Some are good and some are terrible. 
Workplace culture:
Very laid back, T-shirt and jeans most days.

If you like a constantly changing work environment and moving from location to location it's great. Can be difficult being away from family and friends for so long. Rotational work schedules, 14 days on and 7 days off with paid travel. Lots of major restructuring within the company recently has resulted in a lot of shuffling of responsibilities and grown the gap between corporate employees and field employees. Long hours, expected to wear basically every hat in the company from HR, to Payroll, Crew Management, Site/Project Management, Purchasing, Travel Coordination, etc. Constantly having to deal with last minute problem solving due to lack of planning, poor communication from corporate management, and major last minute changes. Not much opportunity for growth.

Some managers struggle for authority rather than communicate, leading to "the silo effect". Two consulting firms declared the same issue within a 10 year period and senior management did nothing to change it. 

Policies were established, but some only adhered to when it was convenient. Exceptions to policies because upper management "knows him" or is related somehow.

Great employees left the company due to failure from upper management to support the changes the individuals were specifically hired to make. 

Revolving door on CEO position. 

Equipment outdated but employees expected to keep things working.

12 hour day started at 6:00am - safety meeting to discuss days agenda and talk about ways to do the work safely. in engine room checking on computer system to make sure all engines,electriical,
and days work orders were completed. ordered all parts to keep dredge running.worked on all repair orders and maintenance orders.
I,ve learned that if al lmaintenance was done periodicly that most everything ran right. safety was really part of the work place culture.
the hardest part of the job was time away from home. I lived aboard for two weeks to 6 weeks at a time 12 to 16 hour days. but at the end of the day to see that everything was running smoothly and safely was great!

On my projects, management was generally unprofessional and rude to each other and to engineers and crewmembers. Anybody working a field position will almost guarantee you to miss out on important life events back home such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.  The culture in management was somewhat of a good ole boys club.  There is a lot of gossip and dishonesty among the culture as well. I wouldn't really recommend this job to anybody who comes from a decent family, is in a relationship/marriage, or who wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I would show up to work make sure the work boat had fuel and the packing in the bilge was okay then I would check the oil and hydrolic fluids. Then off to the dredge to shift the anchors and check the pipeline. Move ahead. My typical day would be 12 to 13 hours everyday till we rotate. I liked running across pipe while the water was going 12 nots or so. And the ball flanges were about 500 pounds u would have to rock it then push it up over the ball and lick it in place. It was a great place to work for

Coming out of college this is a great job if you want to travel and see alot of different places.  Not the best job for those who have a family and wish to balance family and work.  Corporate management is a little too micromanaging.  Benefits (401K, health insurance) is really good.  

Best part of the job:  Chance to see alot of places and travel the country.  Because you have one week off at a time, it allows you to see even more places during time off.  Every job is different in it's own way so the job does not get routine.

Worst part of the job:  Depending on the project, hours can be very long and your work can sometimes feel underappreciated.  Corporate office can at times feel like they are micromanaging.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Surveyor 37 salaries reported	$95,000 per year
Chief engineer 36 salaries reported	$132,500 per year
Mechanic 32 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Site engineer 3 salaries reported	$69,667 per year
Project engineer 4 salaries reported	$83,500 per year

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