I have a degree in biosystems engineering and work now as a civil/water resources engineer. I’ve been in the work force almost 4 years now and I was planning on getting my PE soon, but I’m not motivated in the slightest because I can’t decide if this is the career for me.

I have had one career switch, from the LD private side to the more public side of water resources (still a private firm but more public clients, more like my major, didn’t make me feel like I was losing my soul as much) and it’s been a huge improvement, but still I am feeling the same restlessness I’ve seen many other civils post about in the civil engineering subreddit. Lower compensation (comparatively to other engineering careers)for hours worked(45 avg), constantly stressed about budgets or winning work, and the overall consultant side of things being more demanding.

Is there any other type of engineering I could switch to? I had an ecological engineering specialization with my major. I am a registered EIT. Just trying to figure out what my skills are transferable to within this career field/my major. I already have skills in project management and team supervision, as I was given a lot of responsibility in my first job out of school. Interesting in other types of engineering and also non engineering related careers. Any advice is much appreciated!

I have over 10 years experience across 4 companies. My salary is close to 3x when I started, but I am essentially the same low level employee I always was.

Every single time I get "promoted", the person above me gets promoted. Does my salary change with the "promotion"? No. Do I get any new resources? No. Do I have any new ownership of tasks/responsibilities? No.

All of us that started around the same time at my current gig are now "managers" except, our old managers are now "senior managers", a role that didn't exist when we began. Nothing changed except we now are accountable for budgets that we don't control and our superiors bill liberally.

Is this the norm? I'm at a mid-size company in a major city. Really starting to feel like I'm in the twilight zone when I address this with superiors and feel like I'm getting gaslit about the situation.

I just want to know what various other agencies use since I have seen contractors construct things incorrectly with north facing down.

Hi, I have been looking for a new job for the past 4 months or so. I am currently employed, but unhappy with the experience I am getting in the public sector and wanted to make a move into private. I had some success getting interviews a couple of months ago. I made it to the final round of interviews for 2 positions that someone else was selected for, and I made it to a final interview for another position, but the company now is saying they need time to figure things out on their end.

I am looking for an early career water resources position, but recently no postings have been showing up. I was wondering if anyone here knows if their company has been posting job openings recently? I was thinking the holidays may have slowed it down temporarily, but I'm also nervous the election results may negatively impact my job prospects long term.

Hey, I applied to a bunch of internships (all transportation focused) (one of them is a big company I got a referral for) back in October, I've only heard back from 3 (all rejects) and im seeing that my friends are getting their offers right now. Am I cooked or should I wait a little more?

Hi,
Can please someone know, where I can find files to upload here in Civil 3D for UK road/highway design criteria. Or I can just use the default AASHTO standards for UK road design.

https://preview.redd.it/y976dvrjb32e1.png?width=1087&format=png&auto=webp&s=29db4503843a6776656a1b59fb86968568ee171e

Thanks

Hey everyone, I’m a current freshman in college going for civil engineering. I’m currently in the gas utility field, as an actual install guy, my question is what sub discipline do I follow to continue in this field as an engineer. I’ve talked to a couple of professors and my uncle who is a Water Resource Engineer and none of them have a proper answer. Some say water resources are a good option because they deal with hydraulics and fluid mechanics. But we just learned about transport engineers and they deal with utilities.

I know I have 3 more years of college and that’s plenty of time to decide and get the right classes, but I’m 28 so I’d hate to study the wrong classes then get pushed into a discipline I don’t particularly want to follow.

Also does having experience on the installation side of things have any benefit when applying for engineering jobs or internships?

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask, but it seems like an appropriate sub.

I recently received offers for multiple grad schemes from the same company. Two offers in wastewater/water network modelling, and one in transport planning.

I’m definitely interested in both roles, but I’m interested to hear anybody’s thoughts on what might be more beneficial for my long term future. I’m wondering which of the two roles would create a broader range of options for me later on in my career/allow me to create a broader set of skills. Im hoping this question makes sense!

Any thoughts/answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I’m a current sophomore in college and I’ve gotten two internship offers, one from a small company and one from a medium sized company both in the Chicago suburbs. Here is the breakdown of both. I’m leaning towards the small company because of the pay and I liked the people I would be working with more but is there anything else I should take into account

Small:

• design internship with transportation team (most interested in transportation)
• $23/hr
• 40 hours a week in person
• smaller projects

Medium:

• general civil internship (probably design focused)
• $19.50/hr
• bigger projects that I would be more interested in
• 40 hours a week in person

Serious question from Canada, but I assume applies to USA also.

How is it that no matter how bad grid power interruptions get during storms, the cellular / internet data system seems to keep working? It was this way in the old days, too, with landlines.

I don't think I have ever had those systems not work perfectly, even when power is off everywhere, and for hours. (OK OK in Canada Rogers had a big outage a while back, but that was not storm-caused).

Are all those devices reliably backed up by batteries? Even if they are, aren't the cables connecting them just as vulnerable to wind damage as power lines?

Been applying to jobs and careers and I’m seeing a large influx of transit and railway jobs and projects??? Why is that every job that’s hiring is only in this sector? Vertical construction and large scale heavy construction has come to a standstill? How long will it be like this?

Hi guys! Has anyone had any experience with high frequency vibrations on multistage pumps (lowara sv in this case). Recently had shaft seal replaced and since putting back together its got a high frequency vibration. Still pumps fine but doesn’t sound quite right. And help would be appreciated!

I'm fairly confused how I can pivot towards water resources, river restoration, hydrology, or civil with a water focus if I already have a B.Sc. in Biology finishing at a 2.8 GPA. This was 3 years ago too... Needless to say, I feel pretty stuck, with little hope to get into a graduate program.

I've been doing environmental/research-based technician jobs since graduating however, which I've been told by employers shows good experience at least, but it's definitely not civil engineering experience. Closest I've gotten is some riparian surveying and monitoring. I took a lot of math courses too; loved Calc, Statistics, and Physics, probably more than my actual Biology courses, apart from Genetics/Evolutionary Biology, which coincidentally can become math heavy.

Anyways, as it turns out, scientists often don't really create much change; a lot of it is just describe/prescribe what should be done, and what will happen if/if not. I want to actually create solutions. Where do I go from here? Second Bachelors? Maybe some good grades in community college classes to show grad schools I'm not a liability? I don't see any engineering firms hiring biologist, but maybe I'm not looking right. Would love to hear if anyone was in the same boat.

Greetings engineering subreddit.

Im sure plenty of people have posted here asking “will I get in?” “Is it worth it?”. I’ve always appreciated engineers because they are brutal honest. If I had good grades In high school. Did poorly in college. Dropped out and haven’t done school in 10 years. When I went to my local community college they said my college grades were so bad even if I retook the class and got an A I wouldn’t get in. I just want to know. Is she right? Is it that competitive ?

I’m a sophomore in college and have been thinking about next level education after college and what that may look like. I’ve got an interest in civil engineering and more so water resources but really anything related I think is amazing and I would enjoy working on. It’s not really in my capabilities to switch to civil engineering so I was hoping I could do a masters post graduation but based on preliminary research it doesn’t seem like it would be an amazingly easy path. My issue currently is my math skills are a little lacking but I am willing to put in the work to make this happen because I know how big of a difference this could make for me career wise. Just wanted some thoughts/opinions/advice on the matter.

If not possible what other options would you guys suggest?

CE’s in construction, environmental, conveyance, geotech - how is the market in Richmond VA? Is there a lot of current/future projects out there? Do you like living there?Seems there was a CSO job recently finished up there. Considering a move there but not seeing a lot of pay ranges although seems VA has recently passed salary transparency recently not sure if it caught up. Cries in current salary transparent state - as it makes filtering so much easier Currently, 7 yoe. PE, project management cert. ~115k , M/HCOL. Seems Richmond housing is starting to get up there and not sure the move would make sense financially. Anyways have enjoyed all my visits there and curious on thoughts? Thanks!

I graduated recently with a BS in CE. I’m currently in an Environmental and Water Resources Engineering program, but am looking to transfer to a more suitable program for me that’s labeled “Environmental Engineering”.

Both programs are from ABET accredited universities, but I prefer the environmental one as course availability is much better.

Both have similar topics, but the environmental having a little more variety that expands to air and soil as well, and less hydrology and also no thesis option (to me this isn’t a big deal).

However, I’m concerned that having only environmental in the title would limit me to only that if later down the line I wanted to get out of environmental (more specifically wastewater) and explore other areas of water resources. Like from W/WW to H&H.

This is funded by scholarships/grants, and they don’t care if I switch after explaining it’s not super feasible to continue at the current uni I’m at.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

How did your exam go? Please remember your confidentiality agreement.

…for “stroad”?

First, “street” and “road” are synonyms by any reasonable definition so the attempted linguistic contrast dissolves like toilet paper at the slightest scrutiny. Any minor differences in connotation are not widely understood or universally applied. If you insist they have different meanings, you have taken too many planning classes, are an even bigger pedant than I am, and are surely even less fun at parties. Seriously, go ask your neighbor whether a street or a road should have more driveways and they will say, “get the hell out of here before I call the cops”

Second, “stroad” isn’t a helpful descriptor. Are we talking about an arterial with poor access management? A collector with a speeding problem in need of a road diet? Then say that! Calling any poorly designed road a stroad just makes one sound like an armchair urbanist who has read too many transportation engineering blog posts.

Finally, enough with the portmanteaus! They make my ears hurt. The handful of usemanteaus does not justify the flood terrilogisms. Our existcabulary is perfdequate without resorting to bastumbles like “stroad”

Civil engineering or 2 year energy systems/ instrument tech program

I'm 22 currently a water operator and part time student at my community College. My employer has given me the opportunity to either send me to a 2 year instrument tech program at my community College, or help me finish and pay for the remaining 2 1/2 years of my Civil engineering degree

Both careers have my interest. The way I found about instrument tech is the company would contract out guys to come and work on our vfd's at our well house.

Im having a hard time deciding.Seeing what you guys would recommend.

Hi all,

I'm doing partial on site monitoring of an old government building renovation project I designed a while back. The building is very old so lots of changes and additions as the project advances. My problem is the contractor is very difficult to work with and overall very aggressive. Anytime there is a change or addition, he is on our backs with emails after emails saying we aren't doing our jobs adequatly and insulting our work and intelligence (all professionnals I mean, not just structural).

I know everyone is doing good work and he is mostly playing it up to get more money, or trying to make us slip, but he is really getting on my nerves and it is starting to tire me out because of all the additionnal exchanges I need to have to defend myself. The past months have been terrible working with him and I'm not sure how to handle him anymore. Do you guys have any insights on how to deal with someone like that?

The following sums up my current situation/state/thoughts:

1. I've spent my career working in aerospace on remote sensing software and systems. My last project was an open-source radar image processor that I think can be used to perform hydrological analysis. I think it'd be interesting change to work on the application of the data instead of the sensor.
2. If there's a specific thesis that can be teased out from the vague idea above, I'm thinking it'll take a semester to graduate. I have existing coursework credit from an abandoned PhD.
3. Other degrees: BS and MS in electrical engineering.

Assuming there's an MS thesis in my idea above, what, if any, career prospects in civil engineering open up with said MS?

Thanks in advance for the responses.

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing for the Engineer, Water Resources Written Hurdle exam with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) (Exam Code: Ex-1684).

If anyone has taken this exam before, l'd really appreciate it if you could share any study materials, resources, or preparation tips you found helpful. I'm in urgent need of relevant materials to prepare ASAP.

Thanks so much for your help!

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from my home country and am currently pursuing a Master’s in Transportation Engineering at CCNY. I also have one year of experience as an Assistant Civil Engineer with an engineering firm in NYC.

Despite applying to numerous companies for entry-level positions in transportation engineering, I haven’t received much response, which has been causing me to overthink my career prospects. I’m worried about whether all my education and efforts will go to waste.

Can anyone help me or guide me in securing a job in transportation engineering? I would be extremely grateful for any assistance, advice, or recommendations.

I am moving into project management at my company, and am really struggling with it. I feel like the new responsibilities are getting to me, and I’m being pulled in all directions. I keep dropping the ball on things, and don’t feel like I’m doing a very good job. Organization is definitely not my strong suit, and clearly this is a role that requires you to be on top of many different things.

Does anyone have any tips on ways to stay ahead of things? The pressure is killing me.

Thanks