Good company, with room for improvement - Structural Engineer CDM Smith Employee Review

4.0
Mar 8, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company is large enough that you are able to work on some large projects, but still small enough to work on small studies. The project work is interesting and IF you know where to look, there is a good variety of work. The pay is slightly above average and the benefits are great. There are some really good people working for the company who will help you grow as an engineer and will bring you into a solid project team. The company does a great job of sharing work between regions. The work environment in the smaller offices is much better when compared to the larger offices (HQ in Boston and Dallas).

Cons

The company's focus on utilization and project profitability cuts in to work life balance and has damaged client relationships. The project management career path is currently non existent, however a new program has just been launched, so there is hope that this will improve. The company has a sometimes favors water treatment and water resources engineers over other disciplines when it comes to being project managers. The company needs to do a better job in identifying good or poor performing employees. The company is large enough for rats to be able to hide, who do nothing but waste budget and throw people under the bus when something goes wrong. Training and career development counts against your utilization.

Explore other reviews about CDM Smith

5.0
Apr 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of training and opportunities

Cons

Company structure can be confusing

1
avatar
CDM Smith Response
3w
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a 5-star review! It was great to have you as an employee and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
2.0
Jun 18, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible hybrid schedule is very nice and starting salary is high for early career engineers.

Cons

The main people running the company are not engineers and you can tell. They are all focused on utilization with rates often set at 97% or higher. This had led to my supervisor asking/telling me to not charge company required trainings. As an early engineer it really feels like they don't want to invest in me and only care about their bottom line. If you are an early career structural engineer you will also not get any meaningful work until you've been with the company for at least 5 years. The senior engineers do not trust you and will only give you grunt work.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All