CIVIL ENGINEERING – APPLYING SCIENCE FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANKIND
Disciplines: Water, sewer, storm, transportation, geotechnical, structural, construction, coastal,
environmental
Additional Necessary Skills: familiarity with other types of engineering (mechanical, electrical,
etc.), management, finance/budgeting, permitting, legal, communications (understanding your
audience/customers’ expectations, public speaking, clearly conveying your project/skills/company),
environmental and regulatory requirements.
Civil engineers are often the project managers of large projects, involving other engineers,
architects, planners, landscapers, and communication specialists
General Advice:
 Try to get as much experience as possible in the first 5 years, find what you are passionate
about, and choose 1-2 specialties (e.g., treatment processes, construction, pump systems,
pipelines, coatings and corrosion, computer modeling, regulatory requirements, etc.) that
will become the focus of your career. Decide whether you enjoy the technical or the
management side more, and focus on developing those skills. If you choose management,
specific technical skills are not as important as management/people skills, but you should
have a working knowledge of almost all technical areas associated with the type of
engineering you are practicing.
 Get your EIT (Fundamentals of Engineering) ASAP. Get your PE as soon as you are
qualified. It will make a huge difference in how potential employers view you, in your
career earnings, and in your qualifications to manage others.
 A Bachelor’s degree (B.S.) is essential to practice basic civil engineering, particularly in the
public sector or in development services. A Master’s degree (M.S.) is essential for
management and for most consulting firms (it provides you with the in-depth skills you need
to excel in your specialty).
 Maintain a work-life balance, but demonstrate your commitment to your career.
Employment Advice:
 Civil engineers are employed in the public sector (federal, state, local), in consulting, and in
private development
 Internships and jobs with public agencies or consulting firms while you are still in school
develop valuable skills, make you more employable upon graduation, and help you decide
what you enjoy most. Starting your career in the public sector will likely give you a broader
range of experience than you would likely get in a consulting firm. More experience =
better engineer.
 Create a LinkedIn profile, and keep it up to date.
 Get “To Whom It May Concern” written references from professors, employers, and other
significant people in your life as you go through your career. Employers do read those, and
your character, motivation, and trustworthiness are just as important as what you know.
 Public sector jobs may have slightly lower salaries than private sector jobs, but the benefits
are often comparable or better, and frequently include good retirement benefits (pensions)
that are often not available in consulting.
 Remember: your “customers” are why you have a job as an engineer, whether those
customers are the clients of your consulting firm, the public, the regulatory agencies you are
working with, the customers of your public agency, or your coworkers.
Some public sector job sites:
www.apply.govjobstoday.com
www.waswd.org/jobs
www.awcnet.org/Jobnet.aspx
www.kingcounty.gov/audience/employees/careers/jobs.aspx
www.governmentjobs.com
Current “Hot” Topics in Civil Engineering:
 Knowledge and proficiency in using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
 Low Impact Development (LID)
 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Programmable Logic Controller
(PLC) programming
 Stormwater design and regulatory compliance (NPDES Phase 1 and 2 Permits)
 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
 Use of mobile technology (GPS, iPad, etc.) for project documentation
 Lean Engineering
 Water, sewer, storm, and roads for public sector jobs – many retirements will be occurring
in the next 5-10 years, so there will be good job opportunities to learn from these senior staff
members to increase your job knowledge more quickly and assume future leadership roles.
Our society depends on this infrastructure, so job stability is better than in more specialized
fields and you can likely get a job almost anywhere in the world.
Professional Societies – get involved and volunteer (helps you develop as a person and an
engineer, and provides you with professional contacts):
 American Society of Civil Engineers
 American Water Works Association (drinking water)
 Water Environment Federation (wastewater)
 American Public Works Association
Continuing Education:
 Read the journals from the professional societies that you belong to (usually on your own
time). It will help you stay informed about current and hot topics, and may lead you in a
new career direction.
 Find a mentor in your organization, especially one that you can work closely with so that the
mentoring is an integral part of the work day instead of having to make separate time for it.
 “Publish or perish” isn’t just for academia – make presentations at conferences about your
projects as often as you can – it helps develop your presentation skills, it demonstrates your
commitment to your career, it makes you more well-known professionally. Preparation of
your paper and the verbal presentation is usually done on your own time, but it is worth it
because your company will send you to the conference (you might not get to go otherwise).
 Attend conferences to hear about new technologies, new topics, new products – and to
network with others
 Attend training in non-engineering areas – this is really important (management skills,
written and oral communication are often not taught in college)
 Take responsibility for your continuing education – no one is going to tell you to do it, but
you will be expected to stay informed about your profession.