In an engineering company that specializes in site operations, for example construction work, there will be engineers assigned to the office and to the site. The office engineers are in-charge of managing the requirements for the specific project including estimates and paperwork. They are also the ones calling the suppliers and processing the payments, documents and transactions needed in the operations.
On the other hand, the site engineers are responsible for the site operations and execution work, if the work is done according to their blueprints. They are the ones controlling the progress of the jobsite in their specific areas, securing that the job is done as per plan, cost and duration.
Despite the clear difference of job descriptions, there is that tension going on, an unspoken issue, between both sets of engineers. Why?
Site engineers, as the name suggests, are always in the site or field. They do rounds in their respective areas to check if the contractor or subcontractor is doing the job right, and they do it multiple times during work hours to ensure the quality of construction work. And that is almost always tiring if the sun is up and angry being exposed to the excruciating heat. That is also a difficult thing to do when the rain is pouring, as the site engineers don’t want to get mud over those steel toes.
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At times when the site engineers who just got from the field get to have a short rest in the office, taking off their hard hats, they will realize that the office engineers do not give as much sacrifice as they do. While they are out there sweating out and getting themselves a shade darker, or getting themselves wet, the office engineers sit comfortably on a computer chair in an air-conditioned room regardless of the weather. Some even roll their chairs around and only get up during pee breaks, an entirely different effort compared to the site engineers. Some site engineers even spot the office engineers to be sitting in their jackets and all. It is unfair.
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That may be the site engineers’ main issue with office engineers. After a long day at work, rendering the same number of hours and getting the same pay, the site engineers are always more physically and maybe mentally tired than the office engineers are.
