Does the TxDOT Engineering Assistant Career Development Program Really Make a Difference? / Randy Machemehl and Kelly Selman. Presented at the 2016 CTR Symposium: http://ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-symp/

1. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
AN EVALUATION OF A
DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM FOR
TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERS
CTR Symposium
13 April 2016

2. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Paper Authors
Kelly Selman, P.E.
District Engineer, Dallas
Texas Department of Transportation
Nabeel Khwaja, MS, P.E.
Research Engineer
Center for Transportation Research,
The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Randy B. Machemehl, P.E.
Nasser Al-Rashid Centennial Professor in Transportation
Engineering
Center for Transportation Research,
The University of Texas at Austin
Moggan Motamed
Graduate Research Assistant
Center for Transportation Research,
The University of Texas at Austin
Clair LaVaye
Editor
The University of Texas at Austin
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3. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Dallas District
 Dallas District
– Plans, designs, builds, operates and
maintains the state transportation system
in seven counties: Collin, Dallas, Denton,
Ellis, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall
– Encompasses 5,447 square miles
– Lane miles of state system roadways:
10,426
– Serves approximately 4.2 million people
– Approximately 3.7 million registered
vehicles
– Current full-time employee count: 822
– Five area offices and six maintenance
offices
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4. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Overview – TxDOT DFW Construction/Development
 $32 billion in planning on select regional
projects
 $10 billion in key projects under
construction or in development regionally
 $7.1 billion in key projects recently
completed
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5. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
I-35E at Lake Lewisville Bridge
35Express Project
Columns for I-35E at Belt Line Road New SB I-35E Bridge over FM 407
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6. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
The Dallas Horseshoe Project
I-30 Margaret McDermott Bridge
construction west of downtown Dallas
NB I-35E connection to westbound I-30 in
downtown Dallas
I-35E looking north approaching
downtown Dallas
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7. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
The Challenge
Shortage of
trained
engineers for
leadership
positions in
DOTs
Not enough
graduates
Universities
are challenged
to provide
thorough
grounding
DOTs have
difficulty
retaining
engineers
Increased
retirement of
experienced
leaders
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8. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Background of the Dallas EA Program
 Personal Experience
 Historical hiring of Engineering Assistants by TxDOT - 2006
– Individual offices
• Summer Interns
• Area Office (10 at the time)
• District Design
– Less structured and more dependent on Individual supervisor and the
EA
• Sometimes created a barrier in EA’s development
 Cross-functional experience (In lieu of ‘silos’)
 Progression through the ranks – Equal opportunity for Experience &
Training
 Leadership positions 8

9. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Dallas EA Program - Overview
 EA Program
– Mandatory for all new EA hires (since 2009)
– Uniform training and flat organizational structure
– The EA’s Supervisor is the Deputy District Engineer – one payroll unit
• Quarterly group meetings + presentations
• Mock interviews to develop interviewing skills
• “Loaned out” to different disciplines, i.e. Design, Construction,
Traffic Operations, etc.
– Do not count towards FTE allocation
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10. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Elements of the EA Program
1. Functional Area Rotations
– Usually design  construction  traffic operations
2. Mentoring
– Assigned a high-level district manager as a mentor
– Mentors are not in the trainee’s direct chain of command
3. Formal classroom/online instruction
– At least 3 courses per year
– List includes: GeoPak, bridge construction, work zone traffic control,
watershed modeling, risk management, etc.
4. Professional Engineer (PE) Exam Prep
– Expected to take PE exam after 4 years of training
– EA’s given access to PE exam classes and study opportunities
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11. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Success Stories of the EA Program
 Project Manager of the Dallas Horseshoe Project - $800 million DB
Project
 Project Delivery Engineer – Dallas District
 Area Engineer
 Assistant Area Engineers
 Hydraulic Section Supervisor
 Area Office Design Section Supervisors
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12. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Evaluation of the EA Program
Examine what DOT’s are doing to:
– Recruit
– Train
– Retrain, and
– Build leadership skills in engineering staff ranks
Procedure
1. Review published information
2. Conduct national survey
3. Examine the Dallas TxDOT District Training Program
4. Objectively evaluate the Dallas Training Program
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13. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
DOT OUTREACH AND TRAINING
 Summer Internships
 Partnerships with universities
 DOT Training Programs
– At least 21 DOTs offer/require
training
 Variability across DOTs:
• 61% provide mentoring
• 100% rotate trainees through
functional areas
• Most DOTs do NOT require
training for ALL new hires
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14. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS
Training Mentorship Mandatory
Training?
Rotation?
Total “YES” 14 14 2 11
Total “NO” 7 10 7 0
Total Responses
21 24 9 11
Training programs range from 19 weeks up to 4 years
Average duration = 2.3 years
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15. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
EA PROGRAM PARTICIPANT PE EXAM PASS RATE
 October 2014 Texas Board of Professional Engineers Transportation
Discipline Pass Rate = 48%
 Bayesian analysis of TxDOT EA pass rate
– Bayesian analysis gives us a way to “update” a probability estimate
(here, 48% pass) in light of evidence (in this case, Dallas District
survey results)
– Results indicate an 89% chance that those who complete the
program will pass
TxDOT EA’s program participants have almost twice the
likelihood of passing compared to the general population
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16. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Time to Licensure
• On average, pass at the end
of fourth year
• Those with previous
experience became licensed
in < 2 years
• Those who did not
participate take 6.74 years
on average
EA Program Benefit
Time to Licensure
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17. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
EA Program Benefit: Participant Mean Job Progress (Promotion) Rates
0.755
0.721
0.435
0.452
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Progress Mean
of Total
Progress Mean
2000-2007
ProgressRate
Employee with
Training
Employee without
Training
 For 117 total engineers
– 49 with training, and
– 68 without training
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18. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Survey of Dallas Engineers
 77 total responses
– 32 Training program
graduates
– 14 currently active in
program
– 32 did not participate in the
training program
 Questions addressed:
– Employee job satisfaction
– Professional growth
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19. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Survey of Dallas Engineers
When you began your full time job at the DOT, do you
think you received the training you needed to do your
job well?
Do you have opportunities for
professional growth within TxDOT?
When you began your full time job at
TxDOT, do you think you received the
training you needed to do your job well?
Do you have opportunities for professional
growth within TxDOT?
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20. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Survey of Dallas Engineers
Are you comfortable asking
questions when you are in doubt?
Are you comfortable disagreeing with your
supervisor when you discuss ideas?
Are you comfortable asking questions when you
are in doubt?
Are you comfortable disagreeing with your
supervisor when you discuss ideas?
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21. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Feedback for Improvements
 Leadership Program
– Graduates believe that a leadership program should be implemented
– “We arrived trained in engineering, but we have to learn management.”
– More customization of rotation progression
– Helps to have upper-level managers responsible for rotation to avoid delay
 Mentoring
– Formalize the mentoring process
– Add a mentor group composed of recent graduates
– Allow trainees to pick a mentor from a pool
 Equipment
– Need to further improve access to materials and equipment
Overall, positive experience!
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22. CTR Symposium 13 April 2016
Recommendations for those starting a training program
 Flatten the organization structure for trainees to eliminate internal
conflicts and area self-interests
 Enforce rotation for trainees
 Customize area rotations based on potential, talents, and interests of
trainees.
 Monitor and standardize the number of classes taken each year
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