Crystal Thomas

I am a professional civil engineer and land surveyor in the state of New Jersey. I am currently employed full-time at a consulting firm which performs engineering and land surveying for various state and local agencies. I am a Project Manager, but my role in the company is diverse.

My primary function is to lead the group who prepares basemaps for roadways and bridges for which a new design is proposed. My group handles all the field and office data and assimilates it into Computed Aided Drafting and Design (CADD) files for transmittal to designers who need them. My secondary function involves hydrology and hydraulics (H&H). Whenever these tasks are required for a project, I either perform them myself, or oversee the task as performed by other staff engineers.

I find my position unique and fulfilling. I am able to foresee the needs of engineers in my role as the land surveyor responsible for basemapping. In this way, duplicate trips to the field are eliminated as we are able to acquire data that would not have ordinarily been obtained without my unique perspective. As an H&H specialist, I am able to provide provide proper guidance to field crews and office personnel so that analyses will be complete and accurate.

I work for a family-owned business. My employer treats us with kindness and respect. For this reason, I would not consider new employment, even though other firms have offered me substantial raises in salary. As they say, "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Suffice it to say, I haven't "worked" in years.

I am happily married and my husband is very supportive in my career. He joins me at company seminars whenever he is able. We have a simple life, which suits us fine, especially in these unprecedented times. A perfect weekend to me is to stay at home with my family, enjoying a good meal, and watching television or listening to music. I can happily say that I've had perfect weekends for years.