Great place to be, under the right manager - Landscape Architect CDM Smith Employee Review

4.0
Nov 4, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working as an LA here gave me exposure to a variety of types of projects. CDM is a huge multinational company with a very small LA department, so I got to work on projects around the country. It was a great place for me at the time since I was just starting my career. My manager promoted work life balance and manageable workloads, but also encouraged working overtime if I wanted to a few extra bucks

Cons

The corporate nature of CDM is the main con in my eyes. Raises and promotions were based heavily on metrics like utilization rates and years of experience and my manager only had to so much sway in affecting this. This structure may be appealing to some, as its very stable, but it felt impersonal to me

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CDM Smith Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. We appreciate your praise and feedback! We will keep this in mind when continuing to make decisions to keep us as a top-choice employer.

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
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CDM Smith Response
2w
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.

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