Civil Engineering (or) Teaching Work in Western (preferably) Maryland? (Baltimore: attorneys, new house)

[CMor2Day]

I'll be coming up for a visit soon and want to send up some resumes ahead of time. I'm looking for any kind of civil engineering work ...private, public, design, construction and even including teaching civil engineering courses. Any guidance towards local firms/municipalities with a hiring contact name to address the resume to would be great. Coming from FL with 3 yrs experience in marina design.

[ki0eh]

Wondering how you define and what the draw is of western Maryland for you, it has seemed to me a desert for civil engineering work west of Hagerstown. The Marcellus Shale is a big push for engineering jobs in western and northern PA, probably in WV as well. It's not too crazy to think that some firms around Pittsburgh or possibly Morgantown, WV are working on new terminals along the three rivers for inbound shale supplies like fracking sand. There are a lot more marinas in eastern MD for obvious reasons.

[westsideboy]

How do you define "Western Maryland?" Plenty of jobs up your alley in Frederick, when you head west to the mountains and the "real Western Maryland "there are far fewer.

[CMor2Day]

The area I would like to be in is between Cumberland & Morgantown, but anything within an hours drive to make visiting those two places easy would work. Frederick wouldn't be bad, as I have family in Mount Airy, we'll check it out if I can find some leads on work while we're there. Thanks for the tip on Marcellus Shale and the three rivers area, I will look in those areas, hadn't really thought about PA!

The draw is the weather (you actually have 4 seasons), beautiful landscape (florida beaches and even our swamps, have been nice, but I'd like a to live in the mountains for a few years) plus it's close enough to the NE metropolitan areas for weekend getaways.

We have good friends in Morgantown and family in MD strewn from LaVale out to DC. They (LaVale and Morgantown folks) love the area. We like FL a lot but, its time for a change. We have no delusions we won't miss warm weather and theme parks galore

I could probably find marina design work in Baltimore, but I would like a change in work as well - something with more scope/managment or with more of a social aspect such as teaching, than the number crunching I have been doing. We also want to try living in a smaller community. Tampa/Apollo Beach has been great, but its crowded and expensive for the pay, we want some space.

We're planning on coming up in Late Feb/Early March hoping to catch some snow for the kids to play in. We'll be driving from Tampa-Knoxville - Morgantown- LaVale to DC next month for the 1st time (we usually come in and out from DC and only get as far west as Mount Airy to visit family). I suppose we'll see what real western MD is - hopefully the road conditions will be okay on I-68!

[westsideboy]

Gotcha. If Morgantown is on your radar, I would focus there. There is a ton of growth (by Appalachia standards) going on in that area including new houses, fed contracting work contected to the FBI? center in Clarksburg, WV, and jobs connected to WVU as well. They have a much better economy than Allegany County/Cumberland has right now, although I am guessing engineers are like attorneys in that there is always work available for good ones.

The other advice I would have is that if you find work in the Cumberland area stay on that side of the Allegheny Front (the BIG Mountain that dictates the "snow belt" in our area.) If you find work in Morgantown, stay on the other side. For reference Garrett County and Western Allegany County, MD and Preston County WV are in the high mountains. Commuting daily over the high mountains in the winter (read Oct. through April) is not something I would recommend. It can be sunny and 40 in Morgantown and Cumberland and dumping snow up in Oakland and Kingwood.

[CMor2Day]

Sunny and 40 versus dumping snow! That's riduculus (and..I believe you), good point about the commute!!
So Morgantown more so than Frostburg or other western MD areas, I wouldn't of thought. Thanks for the direction.

We're going to be travelling through soon and I'm a little worried about driving through there. On the otherhand, we won't be able to see any snow if we don't! Planning on a couple days at Wisp.

Do you have any pointers or can you give me comfort such as .. no big drop offs without gaurd rails .. the roads aren't too curvy or steep.., I'm really hoping.

My next internet search is "what to carry in your car in case you get stuck in the snow with kids!" j.k.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by CMor2Day

Sunny and 40 versus dumping snow! That's riduculus (and..I believe you), good point about the commute!!
So Morgantown more so than Frostburg or other western MD areas, I wouldn't of thought. Thanks for the direction.

We're going to be travelling through soon and I'm a little worried about driving through there. On the otherhand, we won't be able to see any snow if we don't! Planning on a couple days at Wisp.

Do you have any pointers or can you give me comfort such as .. no big drop offs without gaurd rails .. the roads aren't too curvy or steep.., I'm really hoping.

My next internet search is "what to carry in your car in case you get stuck in the snow with kids!" j.k.

If you stay on I-68 and US 219, the roads will be well treated and kept pretty clear. You are in the mountains, so both roads go up and down hills and have some turns. Both are major US highways, so neither is terribly narrow or windy, but it won't be like driving in Florida. If you haven't driven in the snow here are some pointers.

1. Make sure you wipers are in good shape.
2. Make sure your wiper fluid is full, you will need alot of it to clean the salt spray from other vehicles.
3. Be sure your tires are in good shape.
4. If conditions are slippery, don't try to accelerate or brake while turning. Turn gently to get your car pointed the right way, then hit gas or break. This reduces the likelyhood of skidding and spinning.
5. Keep space from other vehicles.

Winter, even in the higher mountains has been pretty mild so far this year, but it can turn in an instant, so check the forcast before you go. And it did snow there last night!