[Jblood]

Like the title says, I want to hear from those of you who have a civil engineering degree. I plan on pursuing a degree myself at Florida State University. Basically I have chosen this field because it seems like it deals with infrastructure and there is always more of it to be built (not to mention a government to pay for it) and was wondering what you guys think about your career. I would like to know if you like it, if you would have chosen something else or what. Also what schools did you guys go to? And am I correct in my assumption that it is mainly in infrastructure? Do you guys work mostly with governments or what? what types of projects do you guys work on?

Thank you in advance for any input, it will be rather useful in finding out what exactly this field entails but I think i have a decent idea.

-John

[RAAB3485]

Originally Posted by Jblood

Like the title says, I want to hear from those of you who have a civil engineering degree. I plan on pursuing a degree myself at Florida State University. Basically I have chosen this field because it seems like it deals with infrastructure and there is always more of it to be built (not to mention a government to pay for it) and was wondering what you guys think about your career. I would like to know if you like it, if you would have chosen something else or what. Also what schools did you guys go to? And am I correct in my assumption that it is mainly in infrastructure? Do you guys work mostly with governments or what? what types of projects do you guys work on?

Thank you in advance for any input, it will be rather useful in finding out what exactly this field entails but I think i have a decent idea.

-John

I was going to school for this degree for a while. I was going to Colorado State University. Long story short, I hated it. I got a job at a civil engineering firm while I was working towards it, and essentially, I did a lot of soil density tests, concrete density tests, and dealt with angry construction workers much more than I would have liked (we were always an inconvenience to them). Essentially I had to lug a huge hunk of lead that encased a radioactive element to measure soil density (weighed about 50 pounds) in one hand, and a 5 gallon bucket with a sledgehammer, a metal stake, and a metal plate in the other hand (weighing about 50 pounds) around construction sites all day long, all summer long. While working this job, I was working along side another guy who had just graduated from CSU with the same degree. To an outsider, the only difference between the guy with the degree (him), and the guy without it (me), was that he had a cubicle back at the office and I didn't (I'm sure he was getting paid more than I was, but I have no idea what he made).

Now granted, he had just graduated, and was at the very bottom of the totem pole, but I decided very quickly that it was most definitely not going to be a career path I would enjoy. When I first enrolled in the Civil Engineering program, all I was seeing was dollar signs, which contributed to my choice. With that info in mind, if I had it to do over again, I'd have gone to be a mechanical engineer or chemical.

As my good friend who is a Mechanical Engineer put it, "Mechanical Engineers design Missiles. Civil Engineers design targets".

[red96jeep]

my grandfather was one back in the 60's working on building roads around the baltimore area. i was gonna go to school to be one until my school decided i was too stupid to do that even though i had taken four years of engineering classes in high school and know more about that then i do my current major. but you can also do other things as well such as building roads, dams, overseeing construction projects, working in environmental fields the list goes on and on basically, do a google search and many jobs will pop up.

[heyitsme]

[NEVERSWEAT]

Originally Posted by red96jeep

my grandfather was one back in the 60's working on building roads around the baltimore area. i was gonna go to school to be one until my school decided i was too stupid to do that even though i had taken four years of engineering classes in high school and know more about that then i do my current major. but you can also do other things as well such as building roads, dams, overseeing construction projects, working in environmental fields the list goes on and on basically, do a google search and many jobs will pop up.

I see why the popcorn is flowing. I better get some also. You will not find a Construction Project Manager position on Google that does not require a certain set of skills ( like years of work experience complemented by a resume of successes) and a nice degree to accompany it.
I think we call many of those positions you speak of as laborers. I was a laborer for awhile out of San Burdu L-783. I worked for Parsons and Flour.. doing many grunt jobs you mentioned. I have an education but not in Civil Engineering. That job paid for my edu. I did not get to run construction projects.. that wasn't even a consideration. They were Engineers and older salts that had decades of experiences with the companies. I did density, compaction testing -lot of concrete work of every kind and was a gopher for millwrites, iron workers, sod busters, carpenters, teamsters and pipe/steam fitters so I was exposed to and worked with a cornucopia of trades. And tothink, I didn't even have to sleep at a Holiday Inn.

[JoeyOPA]

Civil Engineer here. Graduated from PITT. You are correct when you say that civil engineer is mostly infrastructure, but the other main specialties you can do with degree is Highways (roads design and traffic), Structural (bridges or buildings), Municipal (water/sewer), Water Resources (stormwater/runoff), Construction Management and Site Development (does a little of everything). You can also go into the testing/inspection side of it as a few of the people above stated.

Its a pretty stable career but tends to be high hours/stress with average pay and environmental regulations make it harder to do your job every year. If I had to do it again I would have went for Electrical Engineering. You have more diverse job opportunities in electrical and less tree huggers yelling at you.

[sharpie]

I work in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering here on campus. Most people love their jobs here, though they're on the cutting edge of renewable energy, transportation surfaces, hybrid energy, and general structures. One of our faculty-members oversaw the building of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge in Northern CA, another is currently overseeing the new Bay Bridge near San Francisco. About 100% of the faculty have state or Federal grants, and about half work with the NIH while the other half work with Caltrans.

[unlimited4x4]

I am a geotechnical engineer. It falls under civil engineering. I graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1999. Post #2 did not give the career a chance. He was a construction and materials technician. I did that as well as a geotechnical and environmental technician during college for the field experience. It is invaluable experience. Most geotechnical firms will also do environmental consulting and construction materials testing. My firm does all 3. As a geotechnical engineer we do deal with alot of infrastructure for city, county and state departments. But there is also commercial and private sector work too. A well balanced firm will have you doing a good mix of all. I enjoy my job. There is a alot of time in the office, but since we do our work early in the project schedule, you will find yourself on construction sites quite a bit also. We do site preparation reccmmendations for the soil as well as assist in designing roadways, bridges, culverts, building foundations, ponds and sinkhole remediation. I also do some surveying and have found a niche for surcharge monitoring, both of which keep outdoors more. There are multiple disicplines that fall under civil. PM me if you have any questions.

[Chris_]

The city I work for has had tons of trouble finding traffic engineers. It's all civil engineers applying who aren't really qualified for traffic engineering; they know very little about signals, etc. We had one position open for so long that the city just closed it, because they figured we did long enough without the position, we'll see if we can afford to do without the position entirely. They had applicants, but none were qualified as traffic engineers.

[_Kyle_]

I'm gonna watch this thread.

I'm at the University of Toledo going for Civil Engineering with a Business Minor. I'm taking a slightly different route and joining the Army ROTC and gonna try (no reason I shouldn't with my grades and everything else) to get into the Army Corp. of Engineers and probably make a career out of that.

[unlimited4x4]

KYLE, if your going into the ACOE's, look into specializing in finding and destroying unexploded ordinance. It's in high demand due to development of land previously used by the army as bombing ranges. Here in florida there are 700+ sites that need to be remediated. Look up Odyssey Middle School in Florida and you will see what I mean. Total job security, your outside and you get to blow things up!

[_Kyle_]

Originally Posted by unlimited4x4

KYLE, if your going into the ACOE's, look into specializing in finding and destroying unexploded ordinance. It's in high demand due to development of land previously used by the army as bombing ranges. Here in florida there are 700+ sites that need to be remediated. Look up Odyssey Middle School in Florida and you will see what I mean. Total job security, your outside and you get to blow things up!

Hmm, that'd be something to consider probably. I'm a ways away from that though...lol. Few years of college left.