/r/civilengineering
A community dedicated to Civil Engineers and those aspiring to be. Please read the rules before participating.
Civil engineering: Building and maintaining infrastructure.
/r/civilengineering
I’m looking at possibly moving from Dallas back to New Orleans and trying to understand some of the firms in the market. I have 2.5 years of experience in municipal roadway design. I’d like to stay in roadway design but wondering if anyone has firms they know of that do roadway work in the Metairie/New Orleans area.
Hello everybody,
I have been working in the DOT sector for 3 years now. Specifically in bridge maintenance… I hate what I am doing and this does not feel like engineering in my eyes. I am not learning anything, the job is so boring, and the pay is just 👎🏼. I feel like I studied 4 years for nothing.
My question is, if I have no prior design experience but am really interested to do it, will my 3 years of experience in “maintenance” help me at all? I am specifically talking about salary and position.
I guess a follow up question:
If there is something I should pay for “class wise” which software should i invest my time and money in?
Please feel free to share some of your own personal experience or any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I am an EIT working in Florida on the coast doing wastewater. I graduated recently in Env Eng and have 6 months of experience, with an additional 3 months in stormwater from an internship. Additionally im taking the Env PE exam in a couple months.
Im looking to move to central florida around summer next year and there are many stormwater jobs available. Would working in stormwater hurt my opportunities if i choose to work in wastewater again and vice versa, does it make sense to switch if i can help it?
What is the fastest way you use to develop collision diagrams ?
First time posting on Reddit. I interviewed for an Office Engineer I position at HNTB on November 20th. I answered the questions well and have experience in the construction industry that they inquired about. The interviewer says that they will get back to me in two weeks which will be on December 4th. My question is if they are interested in me, would the wait time for a response be shorter, or is that a sign that they are not interested in proceeding with me. Any help from anyone who interviewed with HNTB or is/has been employed by them would appreciated. Thank you.
I’m a new graduate in civil engineering from Thailand and might move to the U.S. on a spousal visa. How hard is it to find a job in this field there? Do you know any Thai engineers working in the U.S.?
I’m preparing for the FE exam and looking for a testing center in Asia. Any tips to help me get a job or other steps I should take? Thanks!
Hello guys does anyone has lecture notes for phy 102 I have a test after tomorrow , and I didn’t really study well , anyone can help me!?
(24M) with an architectural engineer degree. Currently working for a GC on a State project under a big 4 construction consultant as a field engineer . I’ve been looking to leave and I got an offer from the consultant side to work on the same project as an inspector. Wondering if this is a good move as I would be getting to a much larger company with better resources and chance for upward mobility and growth. Is this a good way to get my foot in the door? Any tips for speaking to my current manager about switching jobs and still being on the same project despite different sides? The offer is much better pay and overall benefits.
When is sufficient for s278 , s108 and 38 schemes
Hi everyone, I'm in my last year of civil engineering and starting to write my Bachelor's in February. I had a tough time with the company because they had trouble defining the topic for me. I'm planning to write my final thesis with a company that specializes in deep piling system foundations based in the Netherlands. They're interested in a pile foundation for a bridge abutment they have. They have a unique piling system on the market that they want to prove and compare with existing ones. They also want to figure out what would be best, cheapest, and sustainable for this case. I'm looking for help in how to specify the topic, how deep, and how accurate it should be. I have four months to finish. Thanks in advance!
Is a Canadian structural engineer just a CAD that CADs
For our undergraduate thesis, we need to gather data every 10m road segment. Can you recommend a device/tool/application we can use to accurately measure this distance without disrupting traffic?
Welcome to the weekly "Miserable Monday Complaint Thread"! Do you have something you need to get off your chest? Need a space to rant and rage? You're in the place to air those grievances!
Please remain civil and and be nice to the commenters. They're just trying to help out. And if someone's getting out of line please report it to the mods.
I've recently moved to Australia as a civil engineer with Road / Infrastructure/ Transportation background. I need help to get access to some of the related AS (Australian standards) such as AS 1141.17 , AS 2758.5 , AS 2008 , AS 2891.5 , AS 2891.2.2 codes. I also have a few general questions regarding the differences between said standards and other international standards like FHWA for example.
Thank you in advance.
I’m posting this on behalf of my husband; we are based in the UK. He has a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from India, worked for various construction companies in the UAE over the course of five years, came to the UK and completed a Masters degree in construction management (2020-2021) and then immediately after finishing that we got married (2021). He then moved to my town where there weren’t any job opportunities in his field so he has since ended up working in various other fields such as security and driving jobs. He now wants to get back into civil engineering but not sure where to start as he has been out of the field since he came to the UK and has no experience in the UK. What are the best ways to get back on track? He’s open to doing courses etc to bulk up his CV and get more knowledge but we’re not sure what else he can do practically. Appreciate all advice!
2 examples: firstly, I’ve seen projects that had utility markings and other ones didnt, yet both projects got approved.
Shouldn’t you always know exactly where utilities are underground so you don’t build on top of them?
Second example, I’ve seen some projects have transport assessments and ground surveys but others didn’t
All of these projects were part of road 278 schemes or minor works
To me, it would make sense to have all this information as it seems important.
I’ve always held a somewhat negative opinion of engineers who spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. The shallow self-promotion, the cynical ploys for attention, the constant overstatement of accomplishments: I find all of it very off-putting. In my general experience, a good rule of thumb for the quality of an employee is if they have a minimal LinkedIn footprint—they’re simply too busy doing good work or living their lives.
I have too many first-hand experiences of colleagues who (on social media) appeared to be at the top of the game, name-dropping, and bragging about their important contributions, who in real life were basically worthless and, as it turned out, were just auditioning for getting recruited to another job.
Interested to hear what this subreddit’s thoughts on the subject. I almost look at Reddit as the anti-LinkedIn because people will share, anonymously, their true feeling and experiences. Do you all find value in LinkedIn, or do you have any similar stories of useless colleagues milking their LinkedIn reputation for cheap advancement?
Hello All - I am working on an application to sit for the Washington State PE. One of the prompts I need to respond to is “Defining perfomance specifications and functional requirements”. This is a pretty easy prompt to respond to for the work I did in design engineering. However, In my current role I’m a project engineer for a heavy civil contractor. Typically specifications or functional requirements are provided by a designer. I think I’ll need to get creative with my answer but I’m struggling.
Any help is greatly appreciated! This is my last prompt before I can submit my application
Does it go by cost?
I'm at a career crossroads. I have a BS and MS in Civil Engineering, and I've always been interested in both civil and computer engineering, even taught myself programming on the side during my time at uni.
I started my career in transportation infrastructure and maintenance at a mid-sized company, but some time ago made the switch to a Software Engineering role, specifically in IT/software infrastructure (was the only available role at that time) in a very large company. Mostly because of $$$. The pay increase was more than double, also I knew chances to do career switches like this didn't come often. I applied to one of the special career switch programs and got in.
The tech job is fine, personally I am doing very well, not challenging at all. But being in a monotone office from 9-6 is dehumanizing and also, in my opinion, I'm not doing any "real" tangible engineering. Kind of miss doing some field work. Also agile and scrum 💀 and tech nerds are truly boring. Additionally the AI takeover is getting scary.
I'm kind of worried that my resume is starting to look a bit all over the place, with experience in both civil and software engineering. I could definitely stick with my current job, but deep down, I know I'd be happier if I could find a role that somehow combines both fields. I've been thinking about the energy sector – like oil, mining, or renewable energy. I'm really into mega projects.
I'm not sure if anyone else has gone through a similar situation or if it's even worth considering. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy where I am right now, but I can't help but feel that I could be even happier. I don't regret making the switch to tech, though.
Usually in companies, how does it go? My guess is You design a road, then send drawings for preliminary check to the client , if he likes it then you send it to council for tender ? I
Then if they approve., it’s detailed design stage am I right ?
What information can be “not 100% correct “ at prelim design as many drawings have incorrect pavement depths I’ve noticed but get approved anyway
I am a civil engineer and I will be renewing my H1b in 2025. How likely that it will be approved during the trump administration? I know that this country needs a lot of professionals in the construction industry ?
Hi, why do we need to know the oven dry basis of relative density of aggregate? Isn't saturated surface dry aggregate usually what's added to the concrete mix anyway? Or are there times when oven dry aggregate is added to the concrete?
I've never worked in the field, just in school right now. So I'm wondering how common it is and in what cases it's oven dry added instead of SSD to the concrete mix.
Thanks!
Is there any benefit to a double major in mechanical and civil? I’m a junior undergrad civil engineering major I switched this summer from mechanical cause I wanted to do more work within environmental or architectural engineering, however I also might want to go into patent law after getting some experience in the field. I’ve heard that mech e is better for patent law and I’ve also learned that there are some ways to be a mech e and do environmental engineering. However, I’ve really enjoyed my civil classes more than mechanical yet some classes in civil engineering sound interesting (ex. Thermodynamics, Fluids II, Dynamic Systems and Controls). I also have undergrad research experience that involves Python heavily and I enjoy coding which aligns more with mech e and matlab applications etc. As I approach my senior year I want to know what my plan is and if I am going to do another year to double major. Any advice is appreciated.