Kent Grisemer - Civil Engineer

Meet Kent Grisemer! Mr. Grisemer is a construction manager with a background in civil engineering. Graduating from UC Berkeley, Mr. Grisemer majored in civil engineering with an emphasis on structural engineering and minored in architecture. He began to work for Flatiron Construction Corporation immediately after graduating from college, where he still works today.

Flatiron Construction Corporation is a company that builds heavy civil infrastructure, such as highways, bridges, dams, and water treatment facilities, and operates in the United States and Canada.

Mr. Grisemer began working for Flatiron because he desired to do in-person work. A notable project Mr. Grisemer has worked on is the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, among numerous other projects. At the moment, Mr. Grisemer is overseeing the construction of a water treatment plant in Orinda, California. As a construction manager, Mr. Grisemer often arrives at his work at around 6:30 in the morning and continues working until 5 or 6pm in the afternoon. The duties of a construction manager include coordinating and supervising construction projects.

To pursue a career in civil engineering with an emphasis on construction, Mr. Grisemer recommends majoring in structural engineering or construction management.

Flatiron provides internship opportunities and offers positions to 93% of its interns. Typically, people who have interned with Flatiron are hired for permanent positions.

To find internships in college, Mr. Grisemer recommends attending job fairs at local universities, where one meets potential employers.

While the calculations and designs of the final structures are performed by the client, Flatiron Corporation designs and builds the temporary works, such as shoring, falsework, and scaffolding, that are used to build the final structures. This, too, is a time- and labor-intensive process.