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I've recently been accepted into the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Florida for the Fall 2014 semester. I'm older than most students: I'll be 30 when I start there, with 2-3 years left in my degree plan, depending on internships, etc. I'm currently trying to decide whether to change my major to Civil Engineering with a focus on environmental, or keep my major as Environmental Engineering.
I'm more interested in working on the environmental side of things, but I'm worried about job opportunities after graduation. I've been looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site and the projected job growth for civil engineers is 20% as opposed to 15% for environmental. More worrying are the projected number of jobs, with an estimated 55K+ openings for civil vs. a disheartening 8K+ for environmental.
My feeling is that with a civil degree I could possibly still get the same jobs as someone with an environmental engineering degree, and fall back on a job that's not quite what I'm looking for to get more experience for a year or two if I have to.
My questions are: what's the market like right now for someone with a degree in Environmental Engineering? Are there related fields with jobs not being taken into account by the BLS that would make my chances of finding a job greater? Will a civil degree offer me the same opportunities as an environmental? Money isn’t a huge concern for me, I’d be happy starting at around 45K with the potential to earn around 70K+ after gaining more experience. Thanks for any help.
You can't control your future by looking at stats.
If you are really undecided, check out a few schools and drill down to the actual classes you will have to take to complete the two degrees. Which classes/degree sound like they would yield the most transferable skills and knowledge?
I hate to break this to you, but current market value for entry level engineer is about $40k/yr.
You should go for environmental. The reason being there are far fewer people with environmental engineering degree than civil. Also, demand for environmental engineers are increasing every year. Landfill design, for example, has been seeing a surge in demand.
I've never made more than 25K a year, so that's all gravy anyway. Seriously though, those low projected job numbers just have me a little freaked out. I know I should pursue environmental, since that's what I'm interested in, but a lot of the reason I'm doing this is to have a decent job after I graduate. I don't want to become one of those statistics that are hunting for a job in their field years and years after graduation. That said, I will be aggressively pursuing co-ops/internships while in school. I chose UF over UCF (I was accepted by both) because it's a more widely esteemed school, and has a higher ranked engineering program, but internships/co-ops seem more widely available in Orlando than Gainesville, so it's a trade off it seems.
Environmental isn't much better. If you're lucky you'll land a job a a state or federal agency, or if really lucky, maybe selling equipment in the clean water industry for a while. Remember that most Environmentals work for Civil firms. Environmental is pretty specialized if you only study that. Back in the 90's I can remember many EnivEng's that got laid off after the remediation projects dried up.
As a dual-degreed engineer I can tell you you'll be better served with a BS in Civil (dual program Civil/Environmental if available) combined with something like an MBA or JD. A person like that can almost write their own ticket. A bigger plus is you will likely at some point be able to gain the skills to go out on your own and not have a boss. That's the best option for young people today. Count on yourselves and not someone else. You have to be a pretty special person though to handle both engineering school and law school though.
If you stay in engineering alone I'd say it's pretty likely that you'll experience at least some unemployment in the future, even if only for a few months. Happens to a lot of engineers due to the supply/demand thing.
Don't buy into the BS that you will be well versed to do anything either. While it may very well be true, and likely is, corporations will cubbyhole you after 5 years at a place. I've had past prospective employers think I couldn't handle the technical aspects of a job because I never sold their "widget". Nonsense. Nothing is that specialized. Any engineer only needs about 6 months of intense technical prep to get up to speed on a technology if it's related to their field. Gimmie a drawing and I can technically dissect anything. And even if not, if they've mastered a more difficult field (say electrical, mechanical, etc.) it will probably take them even less time.
My experiences with civil/environmental engineers are that they work long hours (14-16 hours), compete for the "lowest bid", are often away from home and unless they are a partner in a firm, they are vastly underpaid due to the federal bidding structure. P.E. license is critical too, if you stay in the consulting field - something to think about. Combine it with something or avoid it altogether, otherwise you will likely be disappointed.
I've recently been accepted into the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Florida for the Fall 2014 semester. I'm older than most students: I'll be 30 when I start there, with 2-3 years left in my degree plan, depending on internships, etc. I'm currently trying to decide whether to change my major to Civil Engineering with a focus on environmental, or keep my major as Environmental Engineering.
I'm more interested in working on the environmental side of things, but I'm worried about job opportunities after graduation. I've been looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site and the projected job growth for civil engineers is 20% as opposed to 15% for environmental. More worrying are the projected number of jobs, with an estimated 55K+ openings for civil vs. a disheartening 8K+ for environmental.
My feeling is that with a civil degree I could possibly still get the same jobs as someone with an environmental engineering degree, and fall back on a job that's not quite what I'm looking for to get more experience for a year or two if I have to.
My questions are: what's the market like right now for someone with a degree in Environmental Engineering? Are there related fields with jobs not being taken into account by the BLS that would make my chances of finding a job greater? Will a civil degree offer me the same opportunities as an environmental? Money isn’t a huge concern for me, I’d be happy starting at around 45K with the potential to earn around 70K+ after gaining more experience. Thanks for any help.
I am an Environmental Engineer with a Civil & Environmental Engineering degree.
I would go for the Civil though it's not a huge difference.
The Civil will open up all of the different doors to you, including Environmental. Environmental only will close the door to a few fields, namely Transportation and Structures.
Civil engineers compete with degreed people in civil and sometimes environmental engineering for jobs. Environmental engineers on the other hand, compete with degrees in environmental engineering, civil engineering, environmental science, environmental studies, geology, chemical engineering, and sometimes even Biology.
What does all that mean? Not all that much, but something to be aware of.
What's the market like?
So-so to not great. I would tend to say Environmental and Civil have similar job outlooks since they are often both services provided by the same company.
In this particular field, Civ E is the best degree to have. If you need to later, you can get a Masters in Environmental to concentrate.
My last company was a large ENR firm and they started EE/CEs at 45K, straight time for overtime.
My initial inclination is to tell you all of the fields (except for structural) are the same in pay and demand and to go with whichever one you like best. You'll figure some of that out in school, but what do you think environmental will be like? That's my side so I can tell you about it.
My experiences with civil/environmental engineers are that they work long hours (14-16 hours), compete for the "lowest bid", are often away from home and unless they are a partner in a firm, they are vastly underpaid due to the federal bidding structure. P.E. license is critical too, if you stay in the consulting field - something to think about. Combine it with something or avoid it altogether, otherwise you will likely be disappointed.
That's 70 to 80 hours a week!
I have worked with a few guys who do 60+ regularly, but that is kind of their choice to increase their billability hours, or maybe they are stuck as a PM for a crappy client. But that's not too common.
I would say Environmental is generally the lowest stress, lowest hours, lowest pay.
Civils work more hours I believe, especially structurals, but they get paid a little more.
Also, there's a dichotomy in what you said. If you get a low bid contract with the state/city, it will be lower stress, lower hours. If you get a contract with Pfizer, it will be higher stress, but you get to bill higher rates.
In my experience engineers make good money. You just have to get in the door somewhere (as is the case with any job). Even if you start out low, you have the potential to make more, AND overall you'll have a higher income than without it.
I agree go for civil.
My cousin is an engineer in Detroit, has a large home, 4 kids and his wife is a SAHM. I'm sure cost of living is cheaper there than other places, but that's still really good IMO to have a large enough salary to support all that and still go on vacation around the world.
Civil,
Remember this country's infrastructure is old and needs to be rebuilt, In Florida the next boom is just about to blow open making it one of the hottest place's on earth literally with the baby boomers aging daily looking to get out of the cold climates and with all their brainy ideas and some still have money there going to want a Florida their way not the old way so tear it down and rebuild will be the motto lots of work for CV E!
Good luck,
Environmental isn't much better. If you're lucky you'll land a job a a state or federal agency, or if really lucky, maybe selling equipment in the clean water industry for a while. Remember that most Environmentals work for Civil firms. Environmental is pretty specialized if you only study that. Back in the 90's I can remember many EnivEng's that got laid off after the remediation projects dried up.
As a dual-degreed engineer I can tell you you'll be better served with a BS in Civil (dual program Civil/Environmental if available) combined with something like an MBA or JD. A person like that can almost write their own ticket. A bigger plus is you will likely at some point be able to gain the skills to go out on your own and not have a boss. That's the best option for young people today. Count on yourselves and not someone else. You have to be a pretty special person though to handle both engineering school and law school though.
If you stay in engineering alone I'd say it's pretty likely that you'll experience at least some unemployment in the future, even if only for a few months. Happens to a lot of engineers due to the supply/demand thing.
Don't buy into the BS that you will be well versed to do anything either. While it may very well be true, and likely is, corporations will cubbyhole you after 5 years at a place. I've had past prospective employers think I couldn't handle the technical aspects of a job because I never sold their "widget". Nonsense. Nothing is that specialized. Any engineer only needs about 6 months of intense technical prep to get up to speed on a technology if it's related to their field. Gimmie a drawing and I can technically dissect anything. And even if not, if they've mastered a more difficult field (say electrical, mechanical, etc.) it will probably take them even less time.
My experiences with civil/environmental engineers are that they work long hours (14-16 hours), compete for the "lowest bid", are often away from home and unless they are a partner in a firm, they are vastly underpaid due to the federal bidding structure. P.E. license is critical too, if you stay in the consulting field - something to think about. Combine it with something or avoid it altogether, otherwise you will likely be disappointed.
Listen to this poster. He knows exactly how the engineering field plays out.
Be particularly wary of the cubbyhole trap. It can kill your career - I speak from experience in that regard. I have a decade of experience designing mechanical packaging for radar systems... which is completely useless in today's world since there's simply no demand for it anymore. Crossing over to some other field is impossible since every "experienced professional" job these days requires 3 to 5 years experience in that specific niche (designing automobile side panels / cable harness materials expert / combustion design expert / etc.) often with other nonsense thrown in on top, such as: specific CAD program experience requirements, specific quality control program requirements (6-Sigma vs. TQM vs. whatever.) Long story short, my resume may as well be blank as far as nearly all employers are concerned, and my mechanical engineering degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on anymore.
I would STRONGLY avoid going into any STEM field if you live and work in America these days, but if you feel that you must, getting something else with it, such as something law or business-related, may give you a fighting chance to survive. The only engineering field with any future in this nation as far as I can tell is software / network security with a Top Secret clearance. You can, in theory, get a job easily at NSA, Fort Meade, etc. with such credentials and experience... but that's about it. Everyone else is disposable.
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