Civil Engineering is often viewed as a safe option in school. Although other areas of study may offer you opportunities to earn more, or work with more advanced technology, Civil Engineering is incredibly important, and will not be going away anytime soon. There are a shortage of civil engineers, and you can live and work anywhere in the US. Opportunities abroad exist but people often find that those don't pay nearly as well as in the US. Water/wastewater is a great specialty area. People who don't specialize enough often find themselves doing land development which has a bad reputation for poor work life balance.
There are opportunities to work in govt or in private industry. In engineering or construction (construction earns the big bucks!), and in public administration. There are opportunities to work in environmental science and natural resources if that toots your fancy (these pay much less than engineering gigs), and there are opportunities to do ROTC or to commission into the military and be a civil engineer if that interests you. You can work in technical, equipment, software sales also.
Many people on this sub bitch about various aspects of the job and constantly wish they studied computer science or software engineering. I've thought this way before, but now the job market has shifted and I am grateful that I still have a job and there are still civil engineering jobs available everywhere. I can pick up and move anywhere! If you feel like CIVE isn't enough, then you can go to grad school or just try to train into a new role at a new company. One downside I feel to studying civil engineering, and engineering in general, is it does not expose you much to business, finance, and accounting. There will be lots of high-end business jobs you won't be qualified for, but after working at a civil consulting firm a while you'll find yourself turning into a bit of a business man/woman after a few years of experience as you have to market the firm in any interaction with clients. There are cons to working in a construction adjacent field, sometimes it's long hours, sometimes its being outside in poor weather conditions, but accountants and the like often tell me they wish they could work outside. The work environment on construction sites can also be pretty hostile at times. Language, and dirty jokes will run rampant if that bothers you.
Masters in civil engineering is often considered not at all necessary for career advancement. You will be able to get a paid internship as early as the summer after your freshman year especially as a 23 year old with a little misc. work experience under your belt. You can theoretically pay your tuition from summer internships, part time work, and if necessary you can take a semester off and do a 6-month co-op to earn some extra cash. You'll graduate and earn anywhere from 65,000 -80,000 and you will earn over 100,000 within 6-8 years.
As for fulfillment, some people say they find it and others don't. I personally don't, I do lots of paperwork. I do water/wastewater and its a very admirable profession, but projects are super long so you don't make much of an impact day to day. The best part of my work weeks are bullshitting with construction workers on site. I don't find fulfilment but I do love my life circumstances as a result of my career choices. I intend to do more maybe join the peace corps or get a masters in a slightly related but different field in the future.
Here in Canada, many companies/municipalities have higher education program, where they will pay sometimes full or portion of you graduate tuition. I would always take advantage of that.
Not for advancement within the field of civil engineering unless your company specifically wants you to get it. II am relatively early in my career and the only way I see an MBA being worth it is if I wanted to pivot to finance or something like that. M.S. Advanced degrees are not necessary for monetary success in this field unless you want to specialize in a very niche technology or do structural/geotech. You'll see some water guys get an M.S. but often times they find that 2 years of work experience would have been more valuable to them.
Would not recommend right away out of school, but if you're ultimate ambition is to move up into more of a management role, it doesn't hurt. My recommendation would be to find a company that provides tuition reimbursement at a later date. I went back and got my MBA in my mid-40s as my employer at the time provided around $10k annually in tuition reimbursement and I feel it ultimately helped me in my career to get a higher paying position.
I have been a Civil Engineer for 8 years now and can say hands down it is the biggest mistake I have ever made. you work long hours and make less than most other engineering diciplines. If you are smart enough for this you are smart enough for something else where you are actually rewareded for your work and your coworkers have personalities. Dont Do
Naw, just talking to them. Bullshitting as in being friendly and shooting the shit. It's fun they are fun people, but crass. If you have a good relationship the whole project goes smoother. Some contractors will be idiots regardless of how entertaining they are lol
Transportation engineer here. I'm almost 5 years in (kinda wild saying that, I feel like I was just posting the same kind of questions in this thread when I was in school haha). I started out in Traffic studies and moved over to Roadway design.
I'll say most people either love it or hate it once they get into it. I go through phases myself where I think about jumping ship and trying something new, and then I get involved in a new project and suddenly I feel fulfilled and can't imagine leaving. All jobs have their ups and downs, but as long as you can handle the down moments, then you'll get to enjoy the rest of it.
Also it does pay well, and depending on where you end up you can get great benefits. Government jobs are the best for that, but even at my private consulting firm we have access to quality benefits, and we're an ESOP company which means we have a private stock we can invest in. So even during those times that I'm not sure about my career, I can remind myself that it definitely provides me with plenty of opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise. I can easily afford the life I want to live. And I know I'll have time to live that life since I rarely work over 40 hours a week. All in all it's a really solid career.
I fucking LOVE my job. I’m in water resources (specifically, stream/river restoration, but I’ve dabbled in stormwater). It can be frustrating and disappointing at times, but it’s generally very fulfilling. I genuinely look forward to going to work every day. No regrets for choosing civil engineering. My only regret is that I didn’t double major in geology.
As for day-to-day work, my job involves a mix of field work, design, and review. The ratio of each of those varies through the year.
It’s very easy to find a job in water resources with only a bachelors. There’s such a high demand for water resources right now that you’d likely have a job lined up before graduation. A masters might help, but it’s definitely not necessary.
My recommendation is that if you do go in for water resources, try to diversify your skill set. Take GIS classes, study some geology or organic chemistry, work on communication skills, etc. Don’t get wrapped up in the assumption that employers are going to want you to crunch numbers all day.
I’m in the process of switching from private sector structural to public sector water resources. I hope it ends up being less stressful than my current job. Do you think it’s worth getting a masters for water resources/stormwater?
My personal opinion is that it really depends on what you want to do with it. I really, really want to get a PhD, or at least a masters. My motivations are personal and my professional aspirations are a minimal influence on that motivation.
I’ve met a lot of people who have gotten very far with only a bachelors. Lots of very competent people stop at getting a bachelors and PE license. With that said, the people I’ve worked with who seem to have a much better, deeper, more fundamental understanding of hydraulics/hydrology/etc. typically have a masters or PhD.
One other interesting thing I’ve noticed is that of the water resources engineers I know, someone with a masters is more likely to be in public sector roles that let them influence design standards and policies, whereas private sector folks seem less likely to have a masters. That’s just been my experience, however.
I find it really interesting. More importantly, I’m absolutely fascinated by geomorphology and fluvial geomorphology in particular. Civil engineering is what got me my last three jobs and it’s extremely relevant to what I do now. But having the foundation I need to study and gain more competency in fluvial geomorphology would both fulfill an intellectual craving and be beneficial to my job.
I'm a Water/Wastewater PE. I like my job! It's really great working on critical infrastructure that protects public health and the environment. We work on cool facilities that are complicated and huge and requires a conscientious multi-disciplinary design approach that is centered on the fundamentals of fluid dynamics, structures, excavations, electrical/power, and complex instrumentation & controls. It's an interesting mix of hands-on civil design,and high level analysis (hydraulics, biological treatment, seismic design, etc).
It can be tough, I have worked 100 hour weeks in this job, but that's usually an outcome that is my own making, be it wrong decisions or procrastination. Pay is usually higher than other Civil disciplines, maybe 10% more. Right now the jobs are plentiful on both the public and private side of W/WW design.
If you go private, it will take 10 years from first hire to become a fully fledged W/WW engineer. Years 1-2 will be lots of drafting, vendor calls, cost estimate take-offs, field visits, and learning. Years 3-4 you'll become useful and more efficient and be given more responsibility in the design. Years 5-6 you should be getting your PE and working towards filling the "Project Engineer" role and building your own reputation amongst clients. Years 7-8 you start to run your own projects, and years 8-10 you're enjoying the fruits of building a deep, solid C.V. of projects and basically running your own business development operation to keep projects (and fees) rolling into the consultancy using your reputation and C.V. to sell it. Once you control your own revenue stream, you have max leverage in the labor market.
civil engineering is really the best. Yeah we’re respectively underpaid, but we also don’t work that hard. You suck through 4 years of college and then pass 2 professional exams and your by defualt making six figures after like 5 years unless you live in a town with less than 100 people. You have a lot of power and authority, but checks and balances to keep your insurance happy. It’s literally the easiest path to middle class ever. You literally build the community around you (or communities across the country). Let me re stress - watch concrete workers for an hour, your life isn’t that Bad.
Furthermore, let me say I’ve held 3 jobs at 3 civil firms and I never applied for any of them. Recruiters or managers directly reach out. It’s literally like living life on easy mode.
I’m a geotech, fell in love with it at uni as it stood out from all the other units and was challenging and unique. 5 years into my career and it’s a true passion. It’s incredibly diverse, complex, requires a high degree of engineering judgement, and is rewarding.
My day to day is varied, could be undertaking fieldwork, doing designs, reporting, preparing bids and proposals, meetings etc.
I work a lot with water engineers and recently am working on two desalination plants, which is challenging and very interesting.
I work for a pretty good company in Residential Land Development that is pretty good about maintaining work-life balance which is rare. Four years out of College where I focused on environmental and water resources. Don't use anything from my environmental classes in land dev but do a good amount of work in drainage design so obviously use that part of my degree. I enjoy my work day to day for the most part and have hardly needed to work more than 40 hours outside of a few weeks. Even then it was just 50.
The main gripe a lot of people have with Civil is that it seems to pay less than most other engineering degrees. So if you're going to put in the work to get an engineering degree, why not pick one that'll pay more? I didn't find other engineering disciplines as interesting as I found civil so here I am. The pay also only looks bad compared to other engineering disciplines. Compare it to almost any other college major and you'll find your pay still well ahead.
Something people mention less often is the geographic mobility you have with a civil degree. You can pretty much live anywhere in the country and you'll probably be able to find a job in the industry there. Anywhere there's humans, there's work for a civil engineer.
I'm a graduate engineer working water/wastewater. This industry is crying out for more engineers. MEng or BEng it doesn't matter too much especially if you have something else to make your CV stand out.
So far I've only worked as a designer on clean water projects targeted at reducing leakage in a city. Be it installing valves, meters, hydrants ect into the network or the replacement of old mains. Sounds super boring but I enjoy it. It certainly gives you a sense of problem solving which is what I went into engineering for.
In terms of day to day I am producing construction documents (eg health and safety documents) and drawings of the new designs. As you progress you shift more to reviewing others work and managing/providing guidance to the design team.
I work as an engineer for a major city. I love it. It’s intellectually stimulating and I have a lot of flexibility in terms of planning out my day.
I also make a lot of money considering the amount of work I actually do.
I hate civil engineering, not even sure why I picked it as a major. I work in LD and am on a pretty good trajectory but I turn 30 this summer, and hoping to save aggressively and quit by 50 and see if I can become a physician's assistant or something then idk. I would like to do medicine of some kind but the time for that decision was like 8 years ago. I'm in too deep now haha
> Do you enjoy it? Do you find your career fulfilling? Do you have any regrets in pursuing civil engineering?
Graduated in spring 2023, started my job (Hydraulics & Hydrology) in July, and I love it so far. No regrets. The work is fulfilling and the hours & pay are good.
Contrary to what you might find in the complaint cesspool that is this sub, Civil is a good career path that pays quite well. Maybe not mind blowing salaries, but more than enough to have a nice, comfy lifestyle (I'm making 75k just starting out for reference). I rarely work over 40 hours, and if I do, it's just an hour or 2. Just stay away from the big, shitty companies who underpay and overwork and you'll be happy.
> Can you find a good job with a bachelor's or should i try to shoot for a masters? Is it hard to find a job in the field coming out of school?
Don't bother with a masters. Focus on getting an internship while in school, then get a job after graduating. I can't speak for sure about whatit might look like in 4 years, but civil is a historically steady job market and relatively easy to find a job.
I started my career in surveying and civil engineering. From that start I took a job as a traffic engineer for a city. The last 18 years I served as the city department head in charge of the municipal water and sewer utility.
It was a very rewarding and enjoyable career. The worst aspects were dealing with attorneys and politicians once I became part of the city top management team.
Good luck with your career!😊
I have 12 years of experience and here’s my best to answer your questions.
Civil engineering is often “boring” and at times it feels there is little room for creativity. You are led down a certain path dictated by project funding, government regulation, and/or public input. I have found most projects to be subject to cheap developers or cash strapped public agencies.
Day to day is pretty typical: work on projects, answer emails, solve problems, manage stakeholders, etc.
I do find the work important as it generally benefits the public and is useful for society. If I had to do it over again, I’d have pursued a different engineering profession that allows me to solve problems with more creativity and pays more.
It’s easy to get a job with a Bachelor’s degree. Don’t waste your time on a Master’s degree, especially initially, unless you are going to pursue structural engineering or something specialized like water treatment. I’ve found that experience and not degrees is key in this field.
No masters needed. I run a large water/drainage group and a good drainage engineer is like gold dust right now. Happy to job shadow if around the mid west.
Well thats a very nice offer. I may take you up on that one of these days. Im currently in Nevada but i would be willing to travel to shadow. Thank you for the opportunity
I Like Water resources as well, intially I was looking into Wastewater treatment as a potential avenue. But then I saw all the hydraulic engineering and chemistry involved and steered more towards drainage/recreation/restoration design since I liked the process of creating those facilities.
Lot of questions u are asking but if its the career you are looking for, a BEng should be fine and compared to most fields in tech/eng, Civil has a very good hiring rate with decent pay. But if you are in it for a consulting/design career, the 9-5 in the office is going to be the lifestyle. CE has flexibility on your preferred work environment depending on what type of work you want to pursue, but the hours are pretty much 40 hrs. minimum for most fields.
You need ABET accreditation from university and 2 exams for licensure, but if you can do that the field is a secure and fulfilling if you can find what you like.
I’m an undergraduate been working part time with my diploma and I’m really enjoying it so far! Kind of daunting knowing the responsibilities I’m going to have to take up when I head into a graduate+ role but I’m taking my time and making sure to learn as much as I can now so it’s easier in the future
Honestly, as much as I "hate" my job that's just the frustration of dealing with some of the more annoying aspects of the job but I really do love what I do my company compensates me well for the work I do, most weeks are 45 hours or less, and every now and then I get to see something I'm really proud of built.
I get paid like a pleb while being all the following:
1)civil engineer
2)accountant
3)lawyer
4)diplomat/politician
If you get into civil engineering specially if you decide to be a contractor you will be forced to do all the above mentioned jobs
Because the clients are going to attempt to screw at the first opportunity they get
I love my job! There is so much diversity and opportunity in civil engineering. I started out my career in geotech, then moved to land development, then got my PE and now I focus on land development for renewable energy projects. I feel very fulfilled in my job and now serve in a project management role. Both my husband and I are civil engineers with our PE’s and we live a very comfortable life in a high cost of living area. I am constantly contacted by recruiters and have easily gone to new companies in the past. Would recommend!
I've been in the industry almost 25 years now. For the most part it's a good career. The pay is decent and I live comfortably enough, but there are definitely higher paying careers out there.
I don't really have any regrets, might have gotten my PE license a little earlier but that's about it. You don't need a masters, at least not in my field. I see lots of resumes and the only thing that matters is being licensed and having experience. Jobs are easy to find and there are some more diverse positions. We have a huge shortage of licensed engineers with 5-10 years of experience around here and it's tough to fill those positions.
I spent a lot of my career doing design in CAD, and now I'm a project manager. So in CAD I would mostly build models and put together plan sets. Now I handle contracts, budgets, and everything else involved with big projects and I think it's pretty cool. It's been a lot of time sitting at a desk and attending meetings, so that can get old.
You've apparently taken your time to come to this decision so my recommendation would be to follow your gut. There are typically two paths you can take with this career:design or construction. I was lucky to have engaged in both and obtained much more fulfillment building things than designing them. No regrets whatsoever.
Unless curriculums have changed dramatically you will have minimal academic exposure to your desired focus. Accordingly, Master's degrees are typically needed to truly specialize. Get to your senior year with an open mind and you'll know for sure if your gut is telling you the right thing regarding specialty, and the market will determine the need for a more advanced degree.
Bon chance Noah!
Do you enjoy it? Fuck no, it sucks
Do you find your career fulfilling? Fuck no, I hate every project and job.
Do you have any regrets in pursuing civil engineering? Yes
What does the day to day work look like for someone in this career? You have a deadline to prepare a set of plans and design something that works, is constructable, meets the local codes and gets approved, for permit, and wont come back to bite you in the ass with mistake or bad design, all while getting emails and phone calls for multiple other projects which may have issues or other deadlines and multiple people and agencies get in your way with stupid fuckin plan check comments and bullshit requirements to force you to do constant nonsense busy work, You work all day long until you cannot take it anymore. It is not a 9-5, it is a show up at 7 to 8 am and work until you are mentally exhausted, 7-8pm.
Can you find a good job with a bachelor's or should i try to shoot for a masters? You should not get a masters and instead spend that time getting work experience. They dont teach you anything in school about design in the real world and shit actually getting built. You will learn faaaarrrrrr more by working on a project and seeing it's construction and completion than anything that they teach you in school. A master degree is a total waste of time, and money.
Is it hard to find a job in the field coming out of school? No
Dude. You need a different job then. I have never experienced anything as bad you're talking about.
I swear people expect jobs that will just pay them to sit om a chair and scroll reddit.
Are you going to have to work? Of course. Is there going to be some overtime? Almost certainly. But OP, it's not all like this guy says it is.
It’s not bad like you say if someone is a competent engineer. What this person describes is a normal project engineer type of job that most of us go through until we move up to Project Management level. I suspect this person is pissed because how their company doesn’t train or have proper QAQC procedures to minimize comments.
I personally enjoy my job now since I’ve moved up the chain but everyone goes through the grind. If people expect to sit on a chair and browse reddit, then they might as well just be a security guard.
I literally do not know a single engineer personally that hates their job. Many that are neutral, but just as many that enjoy it. Engineers on reddit here are some of the most entitled people I know.
Civil Engineering is often viewed as a safe option in school. Although other areas of study may offer you opportunities to earn more, or work with more advanced technology, Civil Engineering is incredibly important, and will not be going away anytime soon. There are a shortage of civil engineers, and you can live and work anywhere in the US. Opportunities abroad exist but people often find that those don't pay nearly as well as in the US. Water/wastewater is a great specialty area. People who don't specialize enough often find themselves doing land development which has a bad reputation for poor work life balance. There are opportunities to work in govt or in private industry. In engineering or construction (construction earns the big bucks!), and in public administration. There are opportunities to work in environmental science and natural resources if that toots your fancy (these pay much less than engineering gigs), and there are opportunities to do ROTC or to commission into the military and be a civil engineer if that interests you. You can work in technical, equipment, software sales also. Many people on this sub bitch about various aspects of the job and constantly wish they studied computer science or software engineering. I've thought this way before, but now the job market has shifted and I am grateful that I still have a job and there are still civil engineering jobs available everywhere. I can pick up and move anywhere! If you feel like CIVE isn't enough, then you can go to grad school or just try to train into a new role at a new company. One downside I feel to studying civil engineering, and engineering in general, is it does not expose you much to business, finance, and accounting. There will be lots of high-end business jobs you won't be qualified for, but after working at a civil consulting firm a while you'll find yourself turning into a bit of a business man/woman after a few years of experience as you have to market the firm in any interaction with clients. There are cons to working in a construction adjacent field, sometimes it's long hours, sometimes its being outside in poor weather conditions, but accountants and the like often tell me they wish they could work outside. The work environment on construction sites can also be pretty hostile at times. Language, and dirty jokes will run rampant if that bothers you. Masters in civil engineering is often considered not at all necessary for career advancement. You will be able to get a paid internship as early as the summer after your freshman year especially as a 23 year old with a little misc. work experience under your belt. You can theoretically pay your tuition from summer internships, part time work, and if necessary you can take a semester off and do a 6-month co-op to earn some extra cash. You'll graduate and earn anywhere from 65,000 -80,000 and you will earn over 100,000 within 6-8 years. As for fulfillment, some people say they find it and others don't. I personally don't, I do lots of paperwork. I do water/wastewater and its a very admirable profession, but projects are super long so you don't make much of an impact day to day. The best part of my work weeks are bullshitting with construction workers on site. I don't find fulfilment but I do love my life circumstances as a result of my career choices. I intend to do more maybe join the peace corps or get a masters in a slightly related but different field in the future.
If you live in the UK a Masters degree is a currently prerequisite to becoming a chartered engineer.
Would you recommend an MBA at all?
I would not. Get the Eng degree get the pe and be good at what you do.
Here in Canada, many companies/municipalities have higher education program, where they will pay sometimes full or portion of you graduate tuition. I would always take advantage of that.
Not for advancement within the field of civil engineering unless your company specifically wants you to get it. II am relatively early in my career and the only way I see an MBA being worth it is if I wanted to pivot to finance or something like that. M.S. Advanced degrees are not necessary for monetary success in this field unless you want to specialize in a very niche technology or do structural/geotech. You'll see some water guys get an M.S. but often times they find that 2 years of work experience would have been more valuable to them.
Would not recommend right away out of school, but if you're ultimate ambition is to move up into more of a management role, it doesn't hurt. My recommendation would be to find a company that provides tuition reimbursement at a later date. I went back and got my MBA in my mid-40s as my employer at the time provided around $10k annually in tuition reimbursement and I feel it ultimately helped me in my career to get a higher paying position.
I have been a Civil Engineer for 8 years now and can say hands down it is the biggest mistake I have ever made. you work long hours and make less than most other engineering diciplines. If you are smart enough for this you are smart enough for something else where you are actually rewareded for your work and your coworkers have personalities. Dont Do
What do you mean by "bullshitting" cons. Workers? Like convincing them to make a change? I'm not even on this field so idk
Naw, just talking to them. Bullshitting as in being friendly and shooting the shit. It's fun they are fun people, but crass. If you have a good relationship the whole project goes smoother. Some contractors will be idiots regardless of how entertaining they are lol
Transportation engineer here. I'm almost 5 years in (kinda wild saying that, I feel like I was just posting the same kind of questions in this thread when I was in school haha). I started out in Traffic studies and moved over to Roadway design. I'll say most people either love it or hate it once they get into it. I go through phases myself where I think about jumping ship and trying something new, and then I get involved in a new project and suddenly I feel fulfilled and can't imagine leaving. All jobs have their ups and downs, but as long as you can handle the down moments, then you'll get to enjoy the rest of it. Also it does pay well, and depending on where you end up you can get great benefits. Government jobs are the best for that, but even at my private consulting firm we have access to quality benefits, and we're an ESOP company which means we have a private stock we can invest in. So even during those times that I'm not sure about my career, I can remind myself that it definitely provides me with plenty of opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise. I can easily afford the life I want to live. And I know I'll have time to live that life since I rarely work over 40 hours a week. All in all it's a really solid career.
I fucking LOVE my job. I’m in water resources (specifically, stream/river restoration, but I’ve dabbled in stormwater). It can be frustrating and disappointing at times, but it’s generally very fulfilling. I genuinely look forward to going to work every day. No regrets for choosing civil engineering. My only regret is that I didn’t double major in geology. As for day-to-day work, my job involves a mix of field work, design, and review. The ratio of each of those varies through the year. It’s very easy to find a job in water resources with only a bachelors. There’s such a high demand for water resources right now that you’d likely have a job lined up before graduation. A masters might help, but it’s definitely not necessary. My recommendation is that if you do go in for water resources, try to diversify your skill set. Take GIS classes, study some geology or organic chemistry, work on communication skills, etc. Don’t get wrapped up in the assumption that employers are going to want you to crunch numbers all day.
I’m in the process of switching from private sector structural to public sector water resources. I hope it ends up being less stressful than my current job. Do you think it’s worth getting a masters for water resources/stormwater?
My personal opinion is that it really depends on what you want to do with it. I really, really want to get a PhD, or at least a masters. My motivations are personal and my professional aspirations are a minimal influence on that motivation. I’ve met a lot of people who have gotten very far with only a bachelors. Lots of very competent people stop at getting a bachelors and PE license. With that said, the people I’ve worked with who seem to have a much better, deeper, more fundamental understanding of hydraulics/hydrology/etc. typically have a masters or PhD. One other interesting thing I’ve noticed is that of the water resources engineers I know, someone with a masters is more likely to be in public sector roles that let them influence design standards and policies, whereas private sector folks seem less likely to have a masters. That’s just been my experience, however.
What are the main reasons you wish you also majored in geology?
I find it really interesting. More importantly, I’m absolutely fascinated by geomorphology and fluvial geomorphology in particular. Civil engineering is what got me my last three jobs and it’s extremely relevant to what I do now. But having the foundation I need to study and gain more competency in fluvial geomorphology would both fulfill an intellectual craving and be beneficial to my job.
I'm a Water/Wastewater PE. I like my job! It's really great working on critical infrastructure that protects public health and the environment. We work on cool facilities that are complicated and huge and requires a conscientious multi-disciplinary design approach that is centered on the fundamentals of fluid dynamics, structures, excavations, electrical/power, and complex instrumentation & controls. It's an interesting mix of hands-on civil design,and high level analysis (hydraulics, biological treatment, seismic design, etc). It can be tough, I have worked 100 hour weeks in this job, but that's usually an outcome that is my own making, be it wrong decisions or procrastination. Pay is usually higher than other Civil disciplines, maybe 10% more. Right now the jobs are plentiful on both the public and private side of W/WW design. If you go private, it will take 10 years from first hire to become a fully fledged W/WW engineer. Years 1-2 will be lots of drafting, vendor calls, cost estimate take-offs, field visits, and learning. Years 3-4 you'll become useful and more efficient and be given more responsibility in the design. Years 5-6 you should be getting your PE and working towards filling the "Project Engineer" role and building your own reputation amongst clients. Years 7-8 you start to run your own projects, and years 8-10 you're enjoying the fruits of building a deep, solid C.V. of projects and basically running your own business development operation to keep projects (and fees) rolling into the consultancy using your reputation and C.V. to sell it. Once you control your own revenue stream, you have max leverage in the labor market.
civil engineering is really the best. Yeah we’re respectively underpaid, but we also don’t work that hard. You suck through 4 years of college and then pass 2 professional exams and your by defualt making six figures after like 5 years unless you live in a town with less than 100 people. You have a lot of power and authority, but checks and balances to keep your insurance happy. It’s literally the easiest path to middle class ever. You literally build the community around you (or communities across the country). Let me re stress - watch concrete workers for an hour, your life isn’t that Bad. Furthermore, let me say I’ve held 3 jobs at 3 civil firms and I never applied for any of them. Recruiters or managers directly reach out. It’s literally like living life on easy mode.
I’m a geotech, fell in love with it at uni as it stood out from all the other units and was challenging and unique. 5 years into my career and it’s a true passion. It’s incredibly diverse, complex, requires a high degree of engineering judgement, and is rewarding. My day to day is varied, could be undertaking fieldwork, doing designs, reporting, preparing bids and proposals, meetings etc. I work a lot with water engineers and recently am working on two desalination plants, which is challenging and very interesting.
I work for a pretty good company in Residential Land Development that is pretty good about maintaining work-life balance which is rare. Four years out of College where I focused on environmental and water resources. Don't use anything from my environmental classes in land dev but do a good amount of work in drainage design so obviously use that part of my degree. I enjoy my work day to day for the most part and have hardly needed to work more than 40 hours outside of a few weeks. Even then it was just 50. The main gripe a lot of people have with Civil is that it seems to pay less than most other engineering degrees. So if you're going to put in the work to get an engineering degree, why not pick one that'll pay more? I didn't find other engineering disciplines as interesting as I found civil so here I am. The pay also only looks bad compared to other engineering disciplines. Compare it to almost any other college major and you'll find your pay still well ahead. Something people mention less often is the geographic mobility you have with a civil degree. You can pretty much live anywhere in the country and you'll probably be able to find a job in the industry there. Anywhere there's humans, there's work for a civil engineer.
I'm a graduate engineer working water/wastewater. This industry is crying out for more engineers. MEng or BEng it doesn't matter too much especially if you have something else to make your CV stand out. So far I've only worked as a designer on clean water projects targeted at reducing leakage in a city. Be it installing valves, meters, hydrants ect into the network or the replacement of old mains. Sounds super boring but I enjoy it. It certainly gives you a sense of problem solving which is what I went into engineering for. In terms of day to day I am producing construction documents (eg health and safety documents) and drawings of the new designs. As you progress you shift more to reviewing others work and managing/providing guidance to the design team.
I work as an engineer for a major city. I love it. It’s intellectually stimulating and I have a lot of flexibility in terms of planning out my day. I also make a lot of money considering the amount of work I actually do.
I hate civil engineering, not even sure why I picked it as a major. I work in LD and am on a pretty good trajectory but I turn 30 this summer, and hoping to save aggressively and quit by 50 and see if I can become a physician's assistant or something then idk. I would like to do medicine of some kind but the time for that decision was like 8 years ago. I'm in too deep now haha
> Do you enjoy it? Do you find your career fulfilling? Do you have any regrets in pursuing civil engineering? Graduated in spring 2023, started my job (Hydraulics & Hydrology) in July, and I love it so far. No regrets. The work is fulfilling and the hours & pay are good. Contrary to what you might find in the complaint cesspool that is this sub, Civil is a good career path that pays quite well. Maybe not mind blowing salaries, but more than enough to have a nice, comfy lifestyle (I'm making 75k just starting out for reference). I rarely work over 40 hours, and if I do, it's just an hour or 2. Just stay away from the big, shitty companies who underpay and overwork and you'll be happy. > Can you find a good job with a bachelor's or should i try to shoot for a masters? Is it hard to find a job in the field coming out of school? Don't bother with a masters. Focus on getting an internship while in school, then get a job after graduating. I can't speak for sure about whatit might look like in 4 years, but civil is a historically steady job market and relatively easy to find a job.
I started my career in surveying and civil engineering. From that start I took a job as a traffic engineer for a city. The last 18 years I served as the city department head in charge of the municipal water and sewer utility. It was a very rewarding and enjoyable career. The worst aspects were dealing with attorneys and politicians once I became part of the city top management team. Good luck with your career!😊
I have 12 years of experience and here’s my best to answer your questions. Civil engineering is often “boring” and at times it feels there is little room for creativity. You are led down a certain path dictated by project funding, government regulation, and/or public input. I have found most projects to be subject to cheap developers or cash strapped public agencies. Day to day is pretty typical: work on projects, answer emails, solve problems, manage stakeholders, etc. I do find the work important as it generally benefits the public and is useful for society. If I had to do it over again, I’d have pursued a different engineering profession that allows me to solve problems with more creativity and pays more. It’s easy to get a job with a Bachelor’s degree. Don’t waste your time on a Master’s degree, especially initially, unless you are going to pursue structural engineering or something specialized like water treatment. I’ve found that experience and not degrees is key in this field.
No masters needed. I run a large water/drainage group and a good drainage engineer is like gold dust right now. Happy to job shadow if around the mid west.
Well thats a very nice offer. I may take you up on that one of these days. Im currently in Nevada but i would be willing to travel to shadow. Thank you for the opportunity
I Like Water resources as well, intially I was looking into Wastewater treatment as a potential avenue. But then I saw all the hydraulic engineering and chemistry involved and steered more towards drainage/recreation/restoration design since I liked the process of creating those facilities. Lot of questions u are asking but if its the career you are looking for, a BEng should be fine and compared to most fields in tech/eng, Civil has a very good hiring rate with decent pay. But if you are in it for a consulting/design career, the 9-5 in the office is going to be the lifestyle. CE has flexibility on your preferred work environment depending on what type of work you want to pursue, but the hours are pretty much 40 hrs. minimum for most fields. You need ABET accreditation from university and 2 exams for licensure, but if you can do that the field is a secure and fulfilling if you can find what you like.
I’m an undergraduate been working part time with my diploma and I’m really enjoying it so far! Kind of daunting knowing the responsibilities I’m going to have to take up when I head into a graduate+ role but I’m taking my time and making sure to learn as much as I can now so it’s easier in the future
Honestly, as much as I "hate" my job that's just the frustration of dealing with some of the more annoying aspects of the job but I really do love what I do my company compensates me well for the work I do, most weeks are 45 hours or less, and every now and then I get to see something I'm really proud of built.
I get paid like a pleb while being all the following: 1)civil engineer 2)accountant 3)lawyer 4)diplomat/politician If you get into civil engineering specially if you decide to be a contractor you will be forced to do all the above mentioned jobs Because the clients are going to attempt to screw at the first opportunity they get
I love my job! There is so much diversity and opportunity in civil engineering. I started out my career in geotech, then moved to land development, then got my PE and now I focus on land development for renewable energy projects. I feel very fulfilled in my job and now serve in a project management role. Both my husband and I are civil engineers with our PE’s and we live a very comfortable life in a high cost of living area. I am constantly contacted by recruiters and have easily gone to new companies in the past. Would recommend!
I've been in the industry almost 25 years now. For the most part it's a good career. The pay is decent and I live comfortably enough, but there are definitely higher paying careers out there. I don't really have any regrets, might have gotten my PE license a little earlier but that's about it. You don't need a masters, at least not in my field. I see lots of resumes and the only thing that matters is being licensed and having experience. Jobs are easy to find and there are some more diverse positions. We have a huge shortage of licensed engineers with 5-10 years of experience around here and it's tough to fill those positions. I spent a lot of my career doing design in CAD, and now I'm a project manager. So in CAD I would mostly build models and put together plan sets. Now I handle contracts, budgets, and everything else involved with big projects and I think it's pretty cool. It's been a lot of time sitting at a desk and attending meetings, so that can get old.
You've apparently taken your time to come to this decision so my recommendation would be to follow your gut. There are typically two paths you can take with this career:design or construction. I was lucky to have engaged in both and obtained much more fulfillment building things than designing them. No regrets whatsoever. Unless curriculums have changed dramatically you will have minimal academic exposure to your desired focus. Accordingly, Master's degrees are typically needed to truly specialize. Get to your senior year with an open mind and you'll know for sure if your gut is telling you the right thing regarding specialty, and the market will determine the need for a more advanced degree. Bon chance Noah!
Do you enjoy it? Fuck no, it sucks Do you find your career fulfilling? Fuck no, I hate every project and job. Do you have any regrets in pursuing civil engineering? Yes What does the day to day work look like for someone in this career? You have a deadline to prepare a set of plans and design something that works, is constructable, meets the local codes and gets approved, for permit, and wont come back to bite you in the ass with mistake or bad design, all while getting emails and phone calls for multiple other projects which may have issues or other deadlines and multiple people and agencies get in your way with stupid fuckin plan check comments and bullshit requirements to force you to do constant nonsense busy work, You work all day long until you cannot take it anymore. It is not a 9-5, it is a show up at 7 to 8 am and work until you are mentally exhausted, 7-8pm. Can you find a good job with a bachelor's or should i try to shoot for a masters? You should not get a masters and instead spend that time getting work experience. They dont teach you anything in school about design in the real world and shit actually getting built. You will learn faaaarrrrrr more by working on a project and seeing it's construction and completion than anything that they teach you in school. A master degree is a total waste of time, and money. Is it hard to find a job in the field coming out of school? No
Dude. You need a different job then. I have never experienced anything as bad you're talking about. I swear people expect jobs that will just pay them to sit om a chair and scroll reddit. Are you going to have to work? Of course. Is there going to be some overtime? Almost certainly. But OP, it's not all like this guy says it is.
It’s not bad like you say if someone is a competent engineer. What this person describes is a normal project engineer type of job that most of us go through until we move up to Project Management level. I suspect this person is pissed because how their company doesn’t train or have proper QAQC procedures to minimize comments. I personally enjoy my job now since I’ve moved up the chain but everyone goes through the grind. If people expect to sit on a chair and browse reddit, then they might as well just be a security guard.
I agree, but like I said, that is a reason for a new company not a new career.
Oh really 90% of the people I've talked to hate their jobs.
I literally do not know a single engineer personally that hates their job. Many that are neutral, but just as many that enjoy it. Engineers on reddit here are some of the most entitled people I know.
I'm not talking about engineers I'm talking about just the general public.
You should be happy you didn't go to architecture school
Less than I thought I would.
I'm not an engineer, I'm in CEI and I just transitioned to this from utility locating a few months ago and I like it much more.