DT000: Podcast Introduction

Dabldo Talk: Civil Engineering, Business, Leadership with host Brian E. Wagner

Hello and welcome to the introductory episode of Dabldo Talk (DT) where we will discuss a variety of civil engineering and business related topics. Topics will generally focus on the engineering industry including technical design aspects and some of my personal experiences but also include other topics such as project management, business networking, and marketing. These topics will likely evolve with time and change depending on your feedback. Your Host I am your host, Brian Wagner. I am 34 years old, married with two wonderful young children. I have found that other than spending time with my family, sharing my knowledge and experiences with others is one om the most pleasureful things I do. That is the primary driving force to this podcast, hoping that someone else can learn from me and advance their personal or professional lives. I am currently an associate at a civil engineering firm in central Maryland, USA. I began working or this firm in 1998 as part of a high school vocational education internship. After graduation I became a full time employee and even though I left temporarily to challenge myself with 911 dispatch I have moved up the chain from working on the board hand drafting to CAD manager and ultimately Project Manager. My CAD (computer aided drafting) experience is generally MicroStation but I have some experience with AutoCAD. I am familiar with the MicroStation InRoads and also EaglePoint design software used for roadway design and coordinate geometry. Due to the size of the firm, I am often involved in the hard core design work and generally focused on stormwater management, storm drainage, and commercial site design. For the past two years I have been heavily focused on stormwater management retrofits of regional facilities to meet the requirements of NPDES and MS4 regulations. I am was approved to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and recently passed, certifying me as an Engineer in Training or E.I.T. I plan to take the principals and practices exam in October so that I can become licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE). Recently, I was published in Stormwater magazine with an article detailing dam failure analysis to determine hazard classifications of designed dams and will be speaking at the North American conference of surface water professionals, StormCon in August. Beyond my work life, I retired my search and rescue K9 last year. My career focus took away my ability to commit fully to the training required but I am happy to note that I did find two missing people in my about 9 years of volunteering for a search and rescue organization. The Show Structure This show will not be scripted word for word. I will use various bullet points to stay on topic and establish talking points, but in general a lot of the information shared will be spontaneous. After the first few episodes, we will lock into a fairly consistent length. My initial assumptions will be that most episodes will be 20-25 minutes long. I would love to see guests, especially listeners, join the show from time to time. If you would like to be a guest, please contact me through my contact page on this website. Each episode will be accompanied by show notes with links and a review of the information discussed. New episodes will be posted about once every 2-3 weeks. The biggest thing about the structure and types of topics covered will move in the any number of directions based on your reactions so I encourage your feed back through my contact page or by commenting below. Show Format Each show will begin with a brief note about the host. This may be a learning point skipped in a previous episode, something you didn’t know about me, a reflection on something that recently happened to me, or an answer to a question I receive. Once we get a little better aquanted we will move into the main topic! Following the discussion, we will recap the episode and preview the next episode's topic. So,