Omner A. Meza
Designer – MONROVIA
Congratulations to Omner Meza on his 15 years with Civiltec Engineering!
Omner attended ITT Technical Institute and graduated with an Associate of Science degree in Drafting and Design in 2005. After graduation, he joined the Civiltec team right away and hasn’t looked back.
With a contractor for a father, Omner grew up spending a lot of time on job sites. He quickly developed a passion for construction and reading site plans that lead him to a career in civil engineering.
Looking back at his career so far, we wanted to give Omner a chance to reflect on his time with Civiltec.
What is a favorite skill that you have learned?
I can sit here and list different skills, abilities or traits for days that I’ve picked up along the way that have molded me and have guided me at work and in my personal time!
I’ve coached youth sports for 9 years, and one thing that I have always told my team is to be little sponges. Listen and soak in what you learn. Work on your abilities and master them, because practice makes perfect! No one is perfect, but we can be really good at it, and when it comes to work, I guess I would have to say that my abilities to put plans together and use the data we have to create a surfaces and sample those surfaces to then create existing and proposed ground sections and profiles to later creating a pipe network of existing and proposed utilities to see how we’re going to install a water, sewer, or a storm drain alignment. Looking at the scope of work, understanding, and visualizing what the final product will look like before we even start. Well, although not mastered, I’d like to think that would be my favorite skill to have.
What has been your favorite project and why?
Wow! I’ve enjoyed being a part of many projects! My favorite I would have to say is one of our currents projects! Design of Water Main Replacement for the City of Brea! Roughly about 27,000 linear feet of pipeline replacement! It was the first time given a project of this magnitude and I ran with it! The reason why its my favorite project? Well, its because I was given the opportunity, with the assistance of Mr. Busque, to teach some of our young staff what it takes to produce a project from scratch! Things like reading record maps or utility as-builts, going to the site to investigate the current conditions and why and how we translate that and put it onto CAD! The overwhelmed faces they would express reminded me of when I first started as a Drafter! It was gold! But on our final stretch of the project, I see our young staff now, confident and proud of the great job that they’ve done and they continue to do on other various projects! That was me 15 years ago! I’m humbled, I’m up there now, like one of our Staff Engineer likes to say, I’m one of “The Old Dog’s” priceless!
Since joining Civiltec, how has your life changed? Have your passions evolved?
15 years is a long time! But, it has also gone by so fast! I got married to my elementary school sweetheart and we have 2 boys! Life changer for sure! Along the journey of the married life and parenthood, we realize that our passions become our children! Watching them grow has been the greatest part of my life!
CIVILTEC has helped with that along the way! David and Rick have always expressed to us how important Family is, along with new ownership! They have given me the opportunity to be with my family to watch the school performances, award assemblies, coaching and the walk-off home run! And for that, I am very thankful of CIVILTEC!
Do you have any hobbies?
Growing up I used to collect and built model cars! I used to go to a small shop called Tony’s Hobbies in our city and purchase lowrider car kits and DC Motors with Hydraulic kits with money I would earn from working with my Dad. At times, I would also sell some to my classmates for the extra cash to purchase pencils and sketch books to feed my other hobby!
Parenthood has taken that from me and now I enjoy that free time with my boys supporting LAFC! The new soccer club in Major League Soccer which has been by far, the best sporting even I have attended! We also build Lego sets, but I get placed on timeout since I like to use super glue! Shame on me!
How do you want to help Civiltec grow in the future? Is there anything you want Civiltec to achieve?
I’ve learned a lot and have met many wonderful people these past 15 years. The Senior Staff at Civiltec has helped me grow into a Designer and in turn, I’ve been able to share that same knowledge, and more, with our young staff members! I believe that the key to our success is the knowledge we pass on to our young staff! They are future Designers, Engineers, and Owners of Civiltec!
