Turning Plans into Places: A CEI Podcast
Turning Plans into Places is a podcast by CEI Engineering Associates, where we explore the people, projects, and perspectives shaping the future of civil engineering, land surveying, landscape architecture, and site development across the United States.
In each episode, we dive into the real-world challenges and creative solutions behind the work we do, whether it's retail, fueling and convenience store development, outdoor recreation, municipal transportation, or sports facility engineering. Our expert guests break down the details, share industry insights, and highlight how CEI's integrated approach delivers smarter, more resilient places.
But this podcast is more than just technical talk. We also shine a spotlight on CEI's company culture—the people behind the plans. From entry-level stories to leadership journeys, remote work experiences to mentorship moments, we'll explore what makes CEI a dynamic, connected team that values innovation, collaboration, and community.
Whether you're a client, industry partner, future employee, or just curious about the infrastructure that supports everyday life, this podcast is your invitation to go behind the scenes with CEI.
Subscribe and follow as we turn plans into places, one conversation at a time.
Turning Plans into Places: A CEI Podcast
Ep. 4 - Intern to Insider
Finding your professional path isn't always straightforward, something Tristan Smith discovered firsthand during his remarkable three-year internship journey with CEI Engineering Associates. What began as a mechanical engineering dream inspired by Iron Man and Legos transformed into a passionate pursuit of civil engineering through hands-on experience that classroom learning could never provide.
The conversation reveals how Tristan's early survey team experiences, machete in hand, clearing paths through timber to locate benchmarks, laid a foundation for understanding engineering from the ground up. His progression from field work to managing complete Walmart remodel projects showcases the transformative power of internships that offer real responsibility rather than coffee runs. "I've never been treated like an intern at all," Tristan explains, describing how he was immediately embraced as part of the CEI family and entrusted with meaningful work.
What stands out most about Tristan's experience is the workplace culture that fostered both professional growth and personal connections. The flexible "work where you work best" approach allowed him to balance academic responsibilities while gaining invaluable industry experience, even working remotely from California when needed. His advice for future interns resonates with authenticity: build relationships beyond the surface level, don't be shy about reaching out to colleagues, and maintain a positive outlook. For engineering students navigating their own career paths, this episode offers a blueprint for turning internship opportunities into transformative professional experiences that clarify your direction and build lasting industry connections.
Ready to explore engineering internship opportunities that could transform your career trajectory? Visit ceieng.com to learn more about how you can join our team and discover your own professional path.
Hello and welcome to Plans to Places, cei, engineering and Associates podcast, where we discuss all different aspects of design and development, but today we're going to be focusing on the people behind the design and how they got their start. So I'm very excited today I've got a co-host joining me, a Kristen Suave, hr manager with CEI, and so it's really great to have you here?
Speaker 2:Yes, it's great to be here, Debbie. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:It's really great to have you here, kristen, so thank you so much. I see that you've brought a guest, so who have you brought with you today?
Speaker 2:Yes, so thank you so much. I see that you've brought a guest, so who have you brought with you today? Yes, I have invited Tristan Smith to join me today at the podcast. Tristan has been with CEI for three years and he is an intern on our Walmart project team. Excited to have you here to where you can talk about your experiences.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you guys very much for having me. Excellent, it's a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Three consecutive years as an intern.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:That is pretty impressive. So tell us how you got started with CEI, a little bit about your role, and then we will delve into your internship?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so originally I'm from a little town near Tahoe, california, and during the summertime I would go down to San Diego and I would do surf team recreationally there and up north I would go down to San Diego and I would do surf team recreationally there and up north I would do ski team. So basically what led me out here to the south was I wanted to go. I know I wanted to go. Sec originally found Arkansas. They're a great school, great engineering school. My sister, she went to OSU and she had nothing but good things to say about the Ozarks. She spent a lot of time out here. So originally I always wanted to do some sort of engineering. I was leaning more towards mechanical starting out and basically I found that with CEI that I wanted to do civil engineering. So just backing up there attended U of A for mechanical engineering, going into it, and that probably changed around my sophomore year when I first started my internship with CEI.
Speaker 3:I joined the survey team with CEI and I picked survey because I wanted to start at a baseline sort of approach to things and I have a construction background. In high school I remodeled homes and so starting out there I was just a broom boy just pushing the broom around, and then slowly built my way up to wiring, plumbing and drywall work stuff like that woodworking with framing and joining CEI I knew in this field I wanted a baseline for everything. So I knew with CAD plans and such, I just wanted to understand fully what exactly was going into these plans on a base level going into these plans on a base level, and so that happened to be Servant. So I joined the survey team and immediately I was thrown into using a brush axe and a machete and just going right through with timber to find local benchmarks and such like that, and it was a truly humbling experience. I had a great time with the survey crew. Those guys were very long hours and I respect what they do and there's a great group at CEI, the survey team.
Speaker 1:I like that, the survey team. They're a fun crew. It is a real mixed match of different people and backgrounds that have come together to make that, to make that career. So you were looking at mechanical engineering. You started with CEI. What was the point that you? What was the point in time when you realize this might actually be the direction that you want to take and you felt really connected, moving forward to your professional career. What was that moment?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so start off with mechanical. I knew I know I'd seen Ironman and I played with Legos. I knew that's like, that's what I want to do, kind of thing. And then, you know, I came to realization when I was doing the internship interview processes, I actually got an interview with Lockheed Martin and they required that I travel down to Dallas and spend all my time in a hangar, which was great, it sounded cool. But I felt like with mechanical you cannot. You can't base yourself anywhere that you want in the country, because with civil it's everywhere, it's everywhere you look. But with mechanical you're either going to a major hub like Wichita, kansas, with Boeing or Lockheed Martin in Dallas or in Miami, florida with SpaceX. You can't really pick and choose where you want to be in the field. So I signed on originally with CEI. Signed on originally with CEI and with the survey group. They taught me that, yeah, you can have an office, balance of things but you can also work outside, basically doing field inspections, site inspections.
Speaker 1:So you've been an intern here for three years?
Speaker 3:Yes, Right, right.
Speaker 1:But what were your expectations coming in to this internship? Have they met your expectations?
Speaker 3:Oh, they've more than exceeded it. That was from day one. I've been thrown right into projects. I've never been treated like an intern at all. I've always been treated as part of the CDI's family, an intern at all. I've always been treated as part of the CEI's family and I'm basically doing the roles that a civil designer would be doing if they entered into this field, which is a great test and helps CEI out, because I'm basically giving them a trial. But they're also taking a chance on me to see hey, is this guy actually going to you know work out and does he actually want it? Does he actually want to pursue this kind of career in life?
Speaker 1:When you were out there as an intern and or you're going to be an intern and so you're really thinking about what path am I going to do? What was your experience in the application, Like, how did you land your internship?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So originally I had applied to a bunch of the big head firms in north of Arkansas and some that are out of state, that were offering remote work at the time, and CEI actually was the only one that picked up my application. But I just I didn't. I felt like I could. There was a little bit more room on the table as far as putting myself out there. So I cold approached all the major firms and I got job offers from I'd say 90% of them and you know, ranging from small to big firms.
Speaker 3:There was a huge difference. I know CEI originally paid the best, the best, they had the greatest payout, of course, but the smaller firms actually, they basically wanted me to do an internship, basically on my own right, on my own experience, so basically for free, doing work for free, which was fabulous opportunity. If that was my only option, I definitely would have taken it and not look back on it, because it just betters you as a person and personally I at the time was not looking for money at all. I was just looking for experience, a gateway and a door and a mentor, and with CEI I took a chance on them. I knew they.
Speaker 3:You know, commuting from Fayetteville, arkansas up to Benville was really going to benefit me going with a larger firm such as this and I ultimately found that here I found a mentor and fabulous, two fabulous teams that are well-oiled and optimized, so it's been seamless and fabulous experience.
Speaker 1:Well, that kind of goes to my next question, which is what really surprised, what surprised you the most about the work environment and team dynamics?
Speaker 3:How everyone is is connected not only on a work level but a personal level. I know with survey, people were going over to the department manager's house almost daily for like barbecues or just to discuss workload, like he was. Our department manager was a complete open book and that's shown because now he's on board and he's a great leader, great boss. His replacement is even greater. He's on the ball with everything and he's collaborated with my current team at the highest level. He's been great and getting hold of him is super easy. He's been absolutely phenomenal. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I would say that one thing that sticks out congratulations on your success. I know that you are the beloved intern with us and we're really excited about you graduating. So, as you are looking towards other interns, what advice might you give then for how kind of what you've learned to navigate? Is there anything that sticks out?
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah. So definitely for future interns, and hopefully one to take my place. Please, please, don't be shy and please reach out to your project manager, your colleagues, other designers and just not only get to know them on a base level but really get to know where they came from, why they chose CEI and what led them to this career path. I think just getting that from my own personal experience, just doing those things, allowed them to trust me more and I would pick up tasks here and there of, hey, can you quickly do this for me? I'd send it right back and then I'd gain that trust even more until it led on to fully built startup starting from the ground projects.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that sounds like a very that sounds like a really progressive experience. I love that. Do you have a something that stands out that you are most proud of? Definitely time here yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3:Um, I know I've been on walmart's sort of experimental team and that's been fabulous.
Speaker 3:I know I can't disclose any of that, but that's been just the amount of trust that this team has put in me has been, um, just blown my mind with how much trust I've gotten.
Speaker 3:But specifically, yeah, walmart had us do a remodel site in the South and I basically drove there, did the scoping trip and, with CEI, one of the things that my boss, my current project manager, told me was to, when Walmart gives you a task, they tell you to improve or add on stalls, don't only look at that, look at the surrounding area and make sure hey, you know, is this baller getting tagged by a wheel or tire and, if so, can it be relocated or removed to help people on site that are shopping there leaves, you know, in the most comfortable fashion? But um, so I definitely implemented that on this scoping trip and it ended up being one of the final revisions and I was super proud of that. But yeah, just taking the city in the south from the beginning, from just walking it all the way to doing CAD work and doing multiple revisions with Walmart's CEM, it's just absolutely amazing for an intern, absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:It is. Did you feel during that process you had the support that you needed?
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, yeah it is. Did you feel? During that process you had the support that you needed, super outgoing, and even those that were working remotely at the time came in and see how I was doing, checked in on with me, with my, how my family was doing, and just they connected with me not only on like a business level, but a personal level as well nice.
Speaker 1:I heard you mention remote work, kristen, so is that something that is common with our interns? For them to be able to work? How does that process work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. So, remote work, cei fostered a few years ago wanted to be one of the first engineering firms to have the option to let people work from wherever, work where you work best. It helps CEI in letting people live their best lives, supports you with your work life balance and, yeah, I'd say, with the right training and the confidence, anyone can work from anywhere. It's been adopted by our executives and seen down by everyone really well and again, if you can work where you work best, it just it helps and it makes everyone, makes everyone perform better.
Speaker 1:Have you gotten to experience that Usually interns are in the office right?
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, that's one of the things that separates all the competition from CEI is how seamless your guys' remote connections are. I have been able, as an intern, to go fly back to SoCal or NorCal and work from there for a week a time and the connections are absolutely seamless, flawless, and if you ever have any issues the IT is over the board like on top of it. You're sending in a help ticket and they're immediately getting back to you and if you ever have any actual hardware issues, they're overnighting stuff right to you. They're committed to getting you back on track as soon as possible.
Speaker 2:From the sounds of it and it has been proven CEI support with IT training, marketing, human resources. We really do have a great group of support that does help you work wherever you need to work from.
Speaker 3:Yeah, especially as an intern, the flexibility is unreal. The amount of flexibility you guys have given me as an intern, it's unheard of, because once you're with a bigger firm, usually you're at the mercy of that firm, like what they say goes CEI. I've been able to take a couple of personal days for family and that's almost unheard of, especially at an internship level. And just the ability to travel and actually have a summer because you know you only get a handful of them as a college student it's just, it's incredible, it's really great.
Speaker 2:Being able to partner with your employer is very powerful.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Would you recommend so? Thinking about internships, would you recommend this internship to a classmate?
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, yeah, see eye a shot. Um, they are welcoming with open arms and they are just one giant family that connects on every single level and the amount of communication and greetings that you guys do are just and you know, you guys have a fun committee and whenever you guys all get together it's like one giant family and you can't, you can't not go home feeling happy that you were a part of the team, you were a part of the system, that infrastructure.
Speaker 1:What is a piece of advice that you would give to an intern that's just starting at CEI?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So a piece of advice I'd give to an intern would most likely like hey, there is another side of life that is totally different than yours and that's totally okay. But just overall, having just a positive outlook on meeting people is just key, and meeting people is just key and, like I said, with the whole trust thing and getting to know people and gaining their trust just elevates you further in this career and it's really who you know in this field other than any sort of experience.
Speaker 1:And this is creating relationships at last. I really, really appreciate you guys taking time to come in today and to really give us an insider's look at CEI's culture and professional development opportunities. So, whether you're considering applying or you're starting your first internship or you just want some more information, I would encourage you to please reach out CEIcom CEIengcom and we'll be happy to answer any additional questions or provide any information that you have. So really really appreciate you guys' time today.
Speaker 2:Thank you, tristan, and thank you Debbie.
Speaker 3:Thank you all, thank you very much, thank you. Thanks for watching.