Job satisfaction is met through the variety of work projects for this engineer

Jesse DeCoteau

What is your name and job title? Jesse DeCoteau, Denver Service Center (DSC) Design & Construction Division Project Specialist.

What experience and education do you have? I have Bachelors (2010) and Masters (2012) of Science Degrees in Civil Engineering from South Dakota State University. My graduate research assistant work included water quality sampling, laboratory analyses. As a student, I was also an operator of an eight-million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant through a cooperative agreement between the University and Brookings, South Dakota. My thesis was on trace metal concentrations in the White and Cheyenne Rivers of Nebraska and South Dakota. I also had the opportunity to take advantage of an internship with the Indian Health Service which led to employment with their Office of Environmental Health and Engineering. It was great professional experience to manage water, wastewater, and solid waste projects from cradle to grave. It was also good to work with and provide technical assistance to seventeen Tribal utilities on operations and maintenance issues. The best part of the job was knowing the work had high impacts on public health by providing facilities for people to turn on a faucet and flush a toilet in their homes, which was often not an option before.

I arrived at the DSC about six months ago after a year at the City and County of Denver Public Works working on operations and maintenance on sanitary sewer and storm drainage facilities.

What is a typical day like? It has been an exciting first six months at DSC. Projects vary widely in scope, complexity, location, and phase of design or construction, so monotony is not a problem. Possibly the best aspect about working at DSC is that you get projects in different parks throughout the country. This allows you to learn a lot about each park and project-specific logistical issues that make you appreciate the resources each park has to offer, which are what you are trying to preserve.

What career advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar path? Keep an eye on vacancies that match where you want to go in your career and seek the experiences to meet those anticipated qualifications. That is what I tried to do and it has yet to go to plan, but seems like good advice anyway.

What is one of the bigger projects you are working on and what about that project might surprise people? I was involved with the rehabilitation of a wastewater treatment plant in Yosemite National Park. It is surprising a treatment plant exists since it is difficult to see from heavily trafficked areas, which is the way it ought to be.

Something you’d like to share about yourself? I was born and raised in Sisseton, South Dakota, and I am an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.