Whole Life Project

Mark Salmon ETGR1201-031 10/19/13 Instructor: Latta

I have neither given nor received any unauthorized help on this assignment, nor witnessed any violation of the UNC Charlotte Code of Academic Integrity. Mark Salmon 10/18/13

Passion: My passion has always been building thing. Sometimes it is with my hands but I love using equipment or machinery when I can. At this point in time I am very interested in asphalt paving and cant even think of myself in another career. This passion has not come suddenly but has been building ever since I was young. My father and grandfather both had careers in the highway paving business so I have the opportunity to be around the industry more than most, and that is what first sparked my interest. When I was about 10 years old, my father first took me to his office. I remember wandering around his office most of the morning and looking at the huge set of plans in the conference room that covered three walls of the room. He came in later and showed me what some of the symbols and lines meant. That afternoon we went to meet with one of the paving supervisors and I sat in the truck while my dad went to talk to him. In the truck I found myself transfixed by the equipment working all around me. They were loud, huge, and powerful and I loved it all. Most nights at home during conversation at the dinner table my dad will talk about how his day went and what he had to do that day. Those discussions may not seem like much but they help me to understand what the day to day job is like. He used to be a project manager and now he is the chief estimator for the Asheville division of Harrison Construction Company so I have been able to see the duties and responsibilities of multiple jobs. Opportunities like this have given me the chance to gain knowledge of the operation that other people my age may not have. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to have someone so close that is willing to teach me anything I want to know about something that Im so interested in. Being able to have casual conversation over dinner with someone about a career is relieving and makes it less stressful to learn when its not only hearing it from a teacher that is grading you. Now that Im in college we talk on the phone regularly about what Im learning in my courses and he shares with me how it relates to working knowledge on the job and that helps me to see that what I am learning has a purpose and that helps me to put the extra bit of effort in. My dad has always been there to help and guide me when I need it but he has never pushed me to follow in his footsteps. Thats a combination that is hard to find in most fathers but I guess I got lucky. He has always told me that luck might get you somewhere, but hard work is the only thing that will keep you there. It is my choice to be a part of the legacy my father and grandfather have started and it was an easy choice to make. Im proud of my last name and of the men that came before to give it respect and integrity and thats something I long to continue.

Without my dad and grandpa I dont think I would ever have considered this career path. They have been monumentally influential to the development of my understanding of the industry and the growth of my passion. They both have vast amounts on experience and knowledge that I can draw from. This also gives me confidence that when I am in the asphalt paving industry, I have people that I can count on to give me sound advice if I ever run into a situation that I am not sure of the best way to handle. Others may not have had those experiences or the opportunity to have the kind of mentors for the career and industry that they want to go into. I have always done well in my math classes so I am very confident in my ability to calculate. My father has made me use excel since I was in middle school to do things such as schedule chores to develop my skill in that area. I am more disciplined than most people my age and am very good at finding way to accomplish difficult tasks. I am not scared of long hours so I am not intimidated by the fact that it is regular to work fifty to sixty hours a week in this industry because I am motivated by my accomplishments and seeing a finished product.

Impact: Highways are essential for all commerce in this country. They provide routes of transportation for all industries in this country. Most other industries in the country are dependent on highways because the huge amount of freight that is trucked across them every year. A lot of our current roadways and interstates are from the 1970s and their expected life is about 50 years. That means that many of these roadways will need to be replaced or repaired in the next few years. I will be part of the industry with that task. It will also be important that

these projects are cost efficient and effective in their purpose. This will mean that research and development of new mix designs will be necessary to make better and cheaper road surfaces because with the current national economy, taxpayers need to be getting the most road for their money. Using recycled materials has proved to be cost effective and better for the environment so I believe that researching new ways to use them will be a big part of the future of the construction industry in general. Today I rode around some asphalt plants in Greensboro and noticed that at two different plants they have mounds of shingles. These shingles are being ground up and being used as a form of Recycled Asphalt Pavement or RAP as it is commonly referred to. While technically it is not pavement, it still contains asphalt cement and crushed rock. Currently the North Carolina Department of Transportation is pushing asphalt producers to make an asphalt mix using as close to 40% recycled asphalt as possible for use in hot mix asphalt applications. It is common practice currently to use a 30% recycled asphalt pavement mix, but so far it has been hard to accomplish that amount of recycled material without losing quality in the finished project (Sawyer 2013). Since most road paving projects are funded by some form of government then the industry will follow the state of the national and state economies. So the recent recession has hit the highway construction industry hard and if the government doesnt have money then it will continue to shrink. The construction industry is the slowest industry to recover from a struggling economy (Salmon 2013). Warm mix asphalt has started to be used in suitable applications. Most of the applications are the same as what hot mix is tradition ally used for. Warm mix doesnt have to be heated to as high of a temperature for it to be placed because of the additives in it. It is harder to pave with because crews have to be trained in new methods because it has slightly different. Warm mix is becoming more popular but it will take time for companies to change to this new method (Marotta 2011).

Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities

I will need knowledge and skills of how to operate computer systems such as AutoCAD, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel. To run my own company it would be strategic for me to learn to operate all kinds of machinery and heavy equipment. Training would be necessary to learn to operate equipment such as pavers because they are fairly sophisticated and sensitive. Time management is very important to being a contractor. They are required to schedule work so that all pieces of the project they are responsible for flow in a timely and smooth manner. They are also responsible for a lot of cost estimating because they will be putting together what it will cost them for materials, equipment, and labor to accomplish the project. But they must also find a way to put in a profit margin but have the lowest bid because in the highway industry all paving is up for bid by the state Department of Transportation and the lowest bid gets the job. I understand that the Construction Management and Engineering Technologies degree program here at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte will give me these time management and cost estimating skills through required courses and internships that I will have as a student here. Skills that are commonly overlooked are communication and teamwork. There are not usually classes taught on these subject and rarely does one go to college just to learn skills in these areas. Most, including me have come to college expecting to learn about the technologies, procedures, and materials used in construction. I failed to realize the importance of communications but I have since corrected that mindset. Working on the Innovation Project in a group setting really showed me that people that cant work in a group or communicate well, have little value to a company looking to hire someone who will add something to their already existing team. The moment when I realized the importance of communication came when I was reviewing my performance evaluation that my teammates had done of me and I scored the lowest for communication. I then made a commitment that I would work very hard to get better at communication. Through the research and thought I have done over the course of this project, I have been reassured that I want to go into the highway construction industry. With that being said I do plan to stick with the Construction Management and Engineering Technologies degree program at UNC Charlotte that I have already chosen. I have wondered how far this degree will let me grow in the highway construction Industry. I dont know if this degree carries as much weight with potential employers as a degree in civil engineering does. The main thing I am worried about is how much room this degree gives me salary to grow and if it will be capped lower than that of a civil

engineering B.S. I will continue to look for more information on that subject by asking those with the CMET who have recently graduated and entered the work force. By also talking to people who have been in the industry more than ten or fifteen years I will be able to find the average mid-career salary and get an estimate of what type of position they are in at that time and where they expect to be by the end of their career. As a Construction Management and Engineering Technologies major, my course of study will include many classes that teach me skills I need to know to be a valuable team player in the workforce. Required courses in construction materials, physics, accounting, scheduling, business law, and technical drawing will give me useful skills and abilities. One of the reasons I chose this major is because it offers such a diverse course of study which I believe is very effective in preparing you with the skills and knowledge necessary to perform the required duties and responsibilities of your career. I believe this major also give me skills that can transfer to other areas of life or even other career opportunities because it is so unique in that it covers many aspects of running a successful business. The construction materials class that I am now taking is helping me to understand how materials work. In that class most of what we learn are the properties of different materials and how those properties make them suitable for different applications. One can use multiple materials such as rock and asphalt cement to make asphalt paving. The rocks make the surface hard enough to carry a traffic load and the asphalt cement acts as a glue and when heated the whole mixture become malleable and is able to be run through machinery like a paver. Using this basis of knowledge of asphalt I would like design greener ways to produce asphalt pavement and to build roadways. Down the road when I take accounting courses I am expecting to learn how to effectively manage money. Construction is all about money. There is the cost of materials, the cost of labor, and the cost of equipment that all have to be built into the bid that you will submit to the Department of Transportation to try to get a project. The lowest bidder wins the project. But you still have to add extra to your bid to make profit or else you could go out of business. This is all a tricky kind of puzzle. An accounting class will give me the knowledge to make smart, profitable, business decisions and run a profitable company. Taking a course in business law will help me to understand the regulations required to own my own company. Hopefully during that class I will learn what licensing will be needed to start my own company and will not have to pay penalties or lose it. In construction there are many cases where the client is not happy with the finished product. In a cases like that the contractor may not get paid. I am hoping that business law classes will teach me how to read a contract and write one so that I am not at risk of not getting paid for a job. In the construction industry, if you arent making money then you are losing money, and thats not being successful. Some recent job posting and descriptions are as follows Project manager- Charlotte, NC. $80k per year plus full benefits. Must be proficient in Auto CAD, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel. Minimum of 10 years project manager experience ("Simplyhired.com"). Senior Construction Manager- Must possess good communication skills and computer skills. Must be able to prioritize well and know construction procedures and safety regulations. Minimum 10 years of experience. Strong compensation package. Office in Charlotte, NC ("webconnect3"). Construction Estimator/Project Manager- 0 to 5 years of experience. Preferred bachelors in civil engineering or construction management. Benefits include 401k, health care, salary, and company vehicle. Office in Greensboro, NC ("jobview.monster"). This summer I plan to work on a paving crew to see what it is like and so I can participate first hand in some of the processes that occur while paving. I think that experience will be exponentially valuable because I will then know how important every step in the chain before the finished product is. If you have a problem that starts in the plant and your paving crew puts down a bad mix or the wrong mix, then your road will not meet specifications and you will have to tear it up and start again. I also plant to tour an asphalt plant sometime soon so I can see all the equipment there and how it is used. Touring an asphalt plant will help me to see how the asphalt is made. That in turn will allow me to think of ways to make the process more efficient and the asphalt mix cheaper to produce and perform better. Eventually I plan to go and interview a construction manager about his job. Some questions Id like to ask are:

Are you happy with your job? Do you feel you are making an Impact? Do you feel appreciated or valuable to your employer? Are you satisfied where your career is going? These are questions I would like to have other people opinions on before I go into that field. After the interview I plan to shadow a construction manager or project manager for a day to see if what they do is really as glorious as it plays out in my mind. I have been with my dad to work multiple time but he is an estimator so I would like to see what other positions do daily as well. Reflection and Conclusion My passion is to manage the construction of highways and bridges. I have always liked building and wanted to do this since I was very young and would love to follow in my father and grandfathers footsteps. Both of them have helped me see how rewarding this career can be and how you can climb ranks with a lot of hard work. Through the process of finding information for this project and thinking about what my real passion is, my desire to pursue this career has grown and become firm. I have also learned through this project that there are is a lot of knowledge I need to learn, skills I need to develop, and abilities I need to make to be successful in the highway construction field of work. This has motivated me to study more and better in school because the information I am receiving is the knowledge that I will need in my career. The job search that was required for this project allowed me to look at jobs and to see the description of the job and also to see what skills employers are looking for. I now know that without those skills I should not expect to be hired for the position that I would like, thus making it vital that I learn the skills and abilities mentioned in the ads. Communication and teamwork I believe to be the main things I need to work on outside of knowledge that I will gain through school. This project forced me to look into myself to check that the reason I am in this program of study is because I am passionate about it. This passion will continue to drive me to acquire the knowledge that is necessary for me to get a job in my desired field. Once in the workforce I will be able to make an impact on current construction practices to make them more environmentally friendly and economical. If I can accomplish that then I will consider myself successful in my career goals of making an impact in the environment and the economy.

References Leroy Sawyer, ((Quality Assurance Manager) Harrisoncc Asheville Division), interview by Mark Salmon, 3 28, 2013. Chuck Salmon, ((Chief Estimator) Harrisoncc Asheville Division), interview by Mark Salmon, 9 20, 2013. Theodore W. Marotta, Basic Construction Materials, (Columbus, Ohio: Prentice Hall, 2011), chap. 7. "Simplyhired.com." Accessed September 21, 2013. http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=ZW1pbHkuMzEyNjMuMTM1MkBjcHJteWNhcmVlci5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20 Delta Construction Company, "webconnect3." Accessed September 21, 2013. http://webconnect3.sendouts.com/CN_Frame.aspx?ID=dep&SiteID=webconnect&Group=webconnect&Key=CN&C NTrackID=2&MTTrackID=1&PostId=490a6ac5-259a-417c-9290-9a7c66d4f6a4&CnId=&applynewcan=0. Ruston Paving, "jobview.monster." Accessed September 21, 2013. http://jobview.monster.com/constructionestimator-project-manager-job-greensboro-nc-us-125465998.aspx