“And this?” Elena asked.
Elena’s colleague, a stern structural engineer named Marcus, finally spoke. “That’s community work. Where are your numbers? Your load calculations? Your steel ratios?” portfolio for civil engineer
“When can you start?”
He pointed to a small, hand-drawn star next to a line item. “That’s the extra cost: 8%. The cost of failure? The bridge carries a regional hospital’s only ambulance route.” “And this
She stood and offered her hand.
“My failure,” Arjun said quietly. “My first year as a project lead. A pedestrian bridge over a creek. The concrete mix had too much fly ash to save money. I signed off on it. Two winters of freeze-thaw, and the surface spalled like popcorn. No one was hurt. But the bridge looked terrible within three years. I had to raise money for a retrofit out of my own firm’s contingency fund.” Where are your numbers
Silence. Then Elena closed the portfolio and slid it back.