{"id":20896,"date":"2026-03-25T13:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T17:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carrollengineering.com\/?p=20896"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T17:28:27","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-an-engineer-traffic-and-water-wastewater-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/?p=20896","title":{"rendered":"A Day in the Life of an Engineer: Traffic and Water\/Wastewater Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Carroll Engineering, no two days look the same for our engineers. From behind-the-scenes infrastructure work to human-centered transportation planning, our team tackles complex problems that most people never even realize exist.<\/p>\n

To give a better glimpse into what our work actually looks like, we sat down with two members of our team\u2014Stephanie Farley, P.E., a Water\/Wastewater Engineer, and Susan Phillips, P.E., A.I.C.P, a Traffic Engineer\u2014to show you what a \u201cday in the life\u201d looks like here at Carroll Engineering!<\/p>\n

A Day in the Life of a Water\/Wastewater Engineer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Stephanie (Steph) Farley, P.E<\/strong><\/p>\n

Water\/Wastewater Department Project Manager<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Easton, PA Office <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

8:00 AM \u2013 Starting the Day<\/strong>
\nSteph starts her day by reviewing her project list, but she knows better than to expect to follow it exactly. In water\/wastewater engineering, priorities shift quickly. A project she planned to work on yesterday may still be open on her screen today, while new requests, questions, or coordination needs pop up without warning. Flexibility is key!<\/p>\n

9:30 AM \u2013 Design, Research, and Problem Solving<\/strong>
\nMuch of Steph\u2019s work focuses on infrastructure people rarely see: water and sewer systems beneath streets, buildings, and runways. Whether she\u2019s designing sewer improvements or coordinating utility layouts, her work ensures that wastewater is safely integrated with surrounding infrastructure. This work is essential to keeping communities functioning, even if it\u2019s out of sight.<\/p>\n

11:00 AM \u2013 Coordination Across Offices<\/strong>
\nBy late morning, Steph may be working with team members in another office, consulting with surveyors or structural engineers, or syncing up with subconsultants and vendors. With water\/wastewater projects, every design decision must align with other departments, whether it be traffic, structural, environmental, or other constraints. Collaboration is a constant part of the job.<\/p>\n

12:30 PM \u2013 Learning Never Stops<\/strong>
\nSteph carves out time to research and refresh technical concepts, sometimes revisiting principles she hasn\u2019t used since early in her career. Whether reviewing calculations, watching refresher videos, or digging into permitting requirements, learning is one of her favorite parts of the job. Staying sharp helps to better mentor younger engineers and explain complex concepts clearly.<\/p>\n

2:00 PM \u2013 Meetings, Reviews, and Client Updates<\/strong>
\nAfternoons often include meetings with clients, internal reviews of design work, or preparation for upcoming project milestones. Steph spends significant time reviewing drawings and marking up documents. Keeping projects moving is a huge part of her role.<\/p>\n

5:00 PM \u2013 Signing Off
\n<\/strong>Some days end with a small victory, like getting a challenging project out the door or resolving a tricky design issue. Steph wraps up knowing tomorrow will bring a completely different mix of challenges, which is exactly what keeps the job interesting!<\/p>\n

\u00a0A Day in the Life of a Traffic Engineer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Susan (Su) Phillips, P.E., A.I.C.P<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traffic & Transportation Department Project Manager<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Malvern, PA Office<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/strong><\/p>\n

8:00 AM \u2013 Starting Strong<\/strong>
\nSu starts her day with intention. After reviewing her week ahead, she dives into email triage and prioritizes her to-dos. With multiple projects running at once, organization is critical to keep the day from spiraling into chaos.<\/p>\n

9:00 AM \u2013 Design Meets Human Psychology<\/strong>
\nBeing a successful traffic engineer means understanding how people think and react behind the wheel. Su spends her morning working on traffic studies, signal timing, and\/or intersection design, translating technical standards into solutions that improve safety and reduce frustration for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.<\/p>\n

10:00 AM \u2013Switching Gears<\/strong>
\nMid-morning is Su\u2019s reset point. She checks emails (her weekly goal is zero unread messages in her inbox!) and switches focus from one project to another. Managing communication is just as important as managing design, because clients and team members rely on clear, timely updates to keep their ends of projects moving.<\/p>\n

11:00 AM \u2013 Proposals, Research, and Innovation<\/strong>
\nLate morning might be spent on proposal work or research, and Su is always looking for ways to make processes more efficient and more accurate! Recently, that\u2019s meant collaborating with GIS specialists to explore smarter ways to conduct parking studies and traffic data collection.<\/p>\n

1:00 PM \u2013 Field Familiarity<\/strong>
\nWhile Su doesn\u2019t spend every day in the field, understanding a project area is essential. She makes a point to drive sites early in a project so that when she presents to planning commissions or community members, they know she truly understands the local context of the area.<\/p>\n

3:00 PM \u2013 Learning<\/strong>
\nAfternoons include professional development sessions and\/or digging into unexpected findings (like researching potential environmental constraints that pop up during a project). Su intentionally seeks out learning opportunities that directly support her work.<\/p>\n

5:00 PM \u2013 Wrapping Up<\/strong>
\nBefore the day ends, Su circles back to emails, task lists, and project notes. A good day feels complete when work is moving forward, teammates feel supported, and another box gets checked on her to\u2011do list. With her inbox under control and priorities set, Su signs off\u2014ready to do it all again tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For decades, women in engineering have been outnumbered (and often underestimated), but they\u2019ve continued to push boundaries and redefine what leadership in technical fields looks like. Today, women engineers bring not only strong analytical skills, but collaboration, adaptability, and a people-first perspective to everything they do. At Carroll Engineering, we\u2019re proud to support women who make meaningful impacts every day. Steph and Su are just two examples of how passion, expertise, and determination drive our work forward and prove that there\u2019s no single mold for what an engineer looks like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Carroll Engineering, no two days look the same for our engineers. From behind-the-scenes infrastructure work to human-centered transportation planning, our team tackles complex problems that most people never even realize exist. To give a better glimpse into what our work actually looks like, we sat down with two members of our team\u2014Stephanie Farley, P.E., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_88942483-scaled-1-600x400.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_88942483-scaled-1-600x600.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Krista Madden","author_link":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/?author=2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cecorpprod.carrollengineering.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}