Jeremy Gardner Associates reviews

- Clients/architects often do not understand that engineers have multiple projects at once, and make unreasonable deadlines. Although this is unavoidable in the construction industry, management are great at looking out for the staff when it comes to tough deadlines. - Projects often go on hold and restart with little or no warning, meaning that engineers are at times under a lot of pressure. It can be difficult at times to get assistance with this, but management are usually quick to address unreasonable deadlines and help make sure that each engineer has the resources that they need. - The strict quality control policies often slow down the issuing of projects, as everything has to be checked and approved by two separate members of staff. As all staff are often busy and under pressure themselves, there can be a bit of a backlog when it comes to checking. - Since the office is in the city centre, commuting can be very difficult at peak times. - When project deadlines are looming, it is sometimes necessary to put in overtime into the evenings or early in the morning.

-Like much of the construction industry, fire engineers must work to artificially deflated deadlines in a highly competitive environment. Working hours are 8:45-5:30 but it is rare to finish work before 6:30. 55 hour working weeks are common. I was also asked to read advanced fire engineering books on my commute which increases working hours to 60 per week. -Management in the Irish offices blindly give out work without considering if it can be done on time. Trying to raise honest concerns about capacity for work will earn blank looks from management and hostility for challenging their authority. -There is a strong culture of reaching deadlines regardless of the circumstances; rather than prioritizing important projects the management will insist on meeting every deadline given. I have seen an engineer work an 80 hour week because the client made a mistake and management would not tell the client that their mistake called for a revised deadline. Note that the UK fire regulatory system makes work a lot easier for engineers and as such, working conditions are not as harsh.