Meet Kyle Goodman, an engineer with our Spokane Transportation team who recently earned his professional engineer license. We asked him a few questions about his career, what inspires him, and advice for others.
Tell us about your professional background. What is your area of expertise?
I graduated from Washington State University in 2018 after interning at the Puyallup office of Parametrix in the summer of 2017. I loved Parametrix and wanted to live on the east side of Washington, so the Spokane office was a perfect fit for me. I have worked at the Spokane office since I started in June of 2018.
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering?
I was always much better at the math and science classes I took growing up than I was at the others like English or history, so I thought I would play to my strengths and pursue a career in STEM. I wanted to do something that would allow me to be able to go outside to do site visits/inspections to supplement office work so that I was not looking at a computer screen all day, so civil engineering seemed like a natural fit.
What is your next career goal now that you’ve earned your PE license? What is your ultimate career goal?
Getting my PE was my major career goal that I’ve had my sights set on for a while now, so I have not thought about what’s next too much yet. Ultimately, I want to continue my growth and become a very well rounded civil engineer who has experience and expertise in many different areas.
What is your favorite project you’ve worked on?
My favorite project that I have worked on is probably the Medical Lake Veteran’s Cemetery expansion. I was heavily involved in both the project design and construction inspection. It was really cool for me to see things go from lines in Civil 3D to something in real life, and get to see how each thing was constructed. I really enjoyed getting to be the liaison between the owner, the contractor, and Parametrix.
What advice do you have for others pursuing their PE license?
I highly recommend taking the test as soon as you can after graduating from college, as I think studying gets harder and harder the further you get away from your time in academia. Worst case if you don’t pass after taking it early is you’ll have a better idea of what’s on it for next time.
