A civil engineer is responsible for building many of the structures you use every day. Buildings, roads and bridges are just a few of the everyday things civil engineers spend their careers designing and improving. This type of engineering, in particular, is a very specialized field, and employers really appreciate highly trained and educated professionals. What should I know when considering a degree in Civil Engineering ?
- Civil engineers specialize in creating structures such as bridges, skyscrapers and roads.
- Civil engineers can make anywhere from $44,000 and $60,000 a year in the beginning of their career.
- Trained civil engineers are often remembered after their career is over by the structures they’ve left behind as their life’s work.
What do civil engineers do?
Civil engineers are the puppeteers behind any road, building, or water system in every place of the world. They plan, design, construct, and maintain all of the major structures we take for granted every day. Before anything is built, a civil engineer gives the okay as to whether the structure will be functional and whether would be safe for people to use on a daily basis for decades to come. Civil engineers can be found throughout history, making structures tourists travel the world to see. The ancient Roman Coliseum, the Vatican, the Aztec temples, the Taj Mahal, and the Egyptian Pyramids were all once just a planned idea in an engineer’s head. Engineers can be employed by a contracting construction company, architectural firms, governments, or they can travel as consultants. This one type of engineering is broken down into many different specialties. Civil engineers usually choose to specialize in planning certain types of structures, such as large buildings, water systems, foundations, transportation systems, town layouts, individual houses, airports, ports, railways, mines. At the end of the day, a civil engineer is successful when their creation stands the test of time, lasting as a functional piece of society for many generations.
What training is needed to become a civil engineer?
Building a bridge that will accommodate millions of commuters a year is a big, complicated job, so training is essential for anyone who wants to work as a civil engineer. Any professional working as a civil engineer has at least a bachelor’s degree, if not a master’s degree. Engineering is a very specialized field, and employers really appreciate highly trained and educated engineers. At the bachelor’s degree level there is the choice to major in civil engineering, but this is not completely necessary to work as a civil engineer. Many civil engineers have a degree in mechanical engineering, or mathematics and then end up working in civil engineering. Engineering degrees can be earned at a traditional 4-year university, or by earning an associate’s degree at a 2-year vocational school and transferring to a bachelor’s program. At the master’s level, most civil engineers will become more specialized. Graduate training isn’t necessary to work as a civil engineer, unless an individual wants to work as a professor or spearhead university research project.
What is the career outlook for someone with a degree in civil engineering?
The field of civil engineering is expected to have average growth among the many different professional fields. With the general population growth, there will continue to be a need for civil engineers to design and construct transportation systems, water systems, and building complexes to accommodate a bigger populace. Also, there is a need for civil engineers to help in maintaining the facilities already in existence. Finding a job really depends on an engineer’s area of specialty and geographic location. Larger cities will most likely have the greater amount of jobs, but they will also have more people completing for jobs. Unfortunately, civil engineers are at the mercy of the ebb and flow of the population’s desire to improve the structural capacity of their communities. Civil engineers with a master’s degree or PhD can also try to get a faculty position in a university to teach the next generation of engineers.
How much money do civil engineers make?
The yearly salary for civil engineers can vary by work place, but it really hinges on the level of education a professional has. Civil engineers with a bachelor’s degree are considered entry-level professionals and they make an average yearly salary around $44,000. A master’s in engineering boosts the yearly salary by about $5,000, to $48,000. Engineers with a PhD, obviously, make the most, with an average yearly salary of $60,000. Of course, these are the averages only and can vary greatly by the experience of a professional and the type of workplace. Public engineering firms, for instance will probably pay less than private firms.
