A Conversation With ... Neil Brady

We were first incorporated in 1954. We have around 55 employees right now – 35 to 40 here in Springfield, and we also have an office in Joplin. We offer surveying, civil engineering, materials testing and geotechnical drilling. All of those encompass civil engineering. We mainly serve the four-state region: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. We actually are licensed in 27 states. We are employee-owned. We have a board of directors, that I’m a member of, that basically guides the company.

What is your job?

My job is basically to look for work, to write proposals and visit with clients. ... I have six guys directly under me who are engineers or engineer interns.

Where does civil engineering fit into construction projects?

Civil engineering is basically everything outside of an actual building. We do a lot of work with architects, who do the building portion of a new site, and we do the grading, storm-water (management), utilities … to get to the building. We also do subdivision layouts and work for governments such as the city of Springfield, Greene County and the state of Missouri with sewer main (and) water main extensions, storm-water improvements, new road design – basically all the things that serve a community. Civil engineering does encompass structural engineering, but (Anderson Engineering does not) get into that part.

Is it challenging to find new projects?

It doesn’t seem to be. We have a lot of repeat clients. … We’re busy. We’ve got a lot of work going on, and it hasn’t slowed down in some time. The only reason we’re licensed in 27 states (is) that we do some work with O’Reilly Auto Parts in those states. We are looking to maybe hook up with another regional client like that, but we’ve not found anybody yet, although we’ve talked to a few.

You were named Young Engineer of the Year by the Ozark Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers. How long have you been an engineer, and why did you choose it as a career?

I graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla in December 1995, and I’ve been involved in civil engineering ever since. My father (Steven Brady, president of Anderson Engineering), is also a civil engineer, so that (gave) me a look at what it’s all about.

What’s your involvement with MSPE?

I’m on the board of directors. We’ve got 200 or more members just in the local chapter. We do a lot of community involvement. In February, we have an Engineers Day out at the Library Center, and we do a model bridge contest with high schoolers. MSPE tries to get out there and get as much publicity as we can about engineering. I think that’s crucial for keeping our profession going – getting to those kids out there who are into math and science.

Are enough young engineers coming into the field?

We seem to have a hard time trying to find anybody when we have a new position that we want to fill, whether it be an intern or somebody who’s been out (of school) for a while. I think the job market’s tight in this area specifically, and it’s tough finding somebody. Our last intern that we hired, it took us probably six months. We go to Rolla, basically, to search. … (UMR professors) are saying that there are fewer and fewer people wanting to go into engineering, so their introductory classes are going down. I think getting people into engineering is harder. I’m not sure why. There’s a lot of math and science, and … that may be scaring a lot of people away, but I love it.

What do you like most about your work?

You can go out and actually see the work that you’ve done. If a new shopping mall or strip center goes up, we’re a part of that, and we can go out and see what our work has become. Being able to see what you do, once it’s built, is the best part. (My favorite projects) are dealing with larger sites. We do a lot of work with schools through some architects here, and those can be rather large sites with ball fields, practice fields and the main schools themselves. Those are fun, because they’re larger and they encompass a lot of aspects of what we do.

Tell us about your family and your hobbies.

I’m married and have three children … two boys and a little girl. My wife is Tonya. Tanner is 6, Harper is 5, and Kaitlyn is almost 2. She rules the house. We try to be active with school and church, but hobbies outside of work and the kids are slim. There’s not much time left.

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover. You can e-mail her with suggestions for future installments of this feature at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]