<p>Hey guys, I know there have been several posts about this subject but I had a few questions that weren't addressed in the previous posts. </p>
<p>I am a Junior at Lamar University currently studying Construction Management. I am really considering going in to Civil Engineering. I keep hearing that with a Construction Mangement degree it takes several years of making a $30,000 a year salary before I get to make any decent money. Is this true? Can you guys name some starting positions for someone with a Construction Management degree v. someone with a Civil Engineering degree? I am hearing so many conflicting facts about Construction Mangement that I dont know what to believe. If someone could lay it out for me that would be awesome</p>
<p>Civil engineering will leave you with more options. With a construction management degree you can work in construction management. Civil engineering includes: geotechnical, structural, construction management/engineering, transportation, water, materials, etc. </p>
<p>When I went through my co-op interviews I interviewed for 5 or 6 construction management positions. None of them would turn away civil engineering majors, several asked specifically for civil. You can get entry level jobs for more than 30k/yr with either. Just about any intern/co-op, at a decent place, can make that with no experience or degree.</p>
<p>CivilEngr pretty much summarized my thoughts. A headhunter just called me this week and told me her client, a construction management firm, preferred to have those with degrees in engineering.</p>
<p>Marcus, I’m not quite sure what you’re asking. Are you looking for titles? Job descriptions?</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn, the short answer is no. The long answer is that it can benefit you, depending on what role your company plays in the construction team. For contractors, like a steel erector for example, it will help because those companies do require engineering for various tasks. A “pure” construction management firm (ask if you don’t understand what I’m trying to differentiate) does not do any engineering. When it is required, it is done by sub-contractors or the owner’s engineer of record. This may be simplifying things a bit too much, but a CM’s job is to coordinate and manage the construction process, not to design anything, whether it’d be permanent or temporary.</p>
<p>It really varies more depending on what you work on rather than what degree you get, except for what CivilEngr stated in post #2 of this thread. If you get a civil engineering degree, you can get positions in both the civil engineering “realm” and the construction management “realm.” If you get a degree in construction management, it’s only the latter.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to figure out with the job titles… they can be misleading on their own. My entry-level job title in a construction management firm was “project engineer,” which is the same title that the engineering firm performing inspections on my project gave to some of the senior engineers. We performed entirely different tasks and had vastly different payscales.</p>
<p>I’m asking for job titles so I can do more research on jobs I can get with each degree. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’m looking for something good about the Construction Management path. If I do decide to switch, it’s pretty much two wasted years of time and money on a lot of classes. My parents are willing to support me financially through whatever I decide to do, and I’m willing to start over if a Construction Management degree is sort of useless. </p>
<p>Another thing I should mention is that the program I’m in is switching from gearing the degree more towards engineering to more towards business. So I will be coming out with a business degree instead of what started out to be an engineering degree. </p>
<p>I should ALSO mention I have zero interest in design. I hope to work in project management regardless of the degree. </p>
<p>I’m sorry I’m just kind of stressing out about all this, but give me the harsh truth!(if it is harsh) </p>
<p>It’s not that a CM degree is useless. It’s just that it’s less flexible. Then again, that’s under the assumption that you have an interest in the design side, should a position become available. </p>
<p>From the job postings in CM that I’ve seen, they usually ask for an architecture, engineering or construction management degree. You usually don’t see companies asking specifically for civil engineering unless it’s a heavy civil contractor.</p>
<p>Hey guys just, i am just a bit confused…, does’nt construction management come under civil engineering as an offered program for majoring in grad?? Here are you talking about doing cm from a management school ?</p>
<p>There are also construction management majors in some schools. I usually see them housed in the engineering school, but not always. Those that aren’t are less technical and focus more on the project management aspects.</p>
<p>if you have no interest in designing building and calculating how they will structurally hold up and be safe, then stick with construction management. yes a civil engineering degree will get you a CM job, but if you dont want to design buildings then you are waisting like 15 classes that you could be doing management on. for instance a construction manager will:</p>
<p>depending on your job site and how long you have been working there,
meet with your crew in the morning. tell them what to do, you can also expect to organize some trades and get them where they need to be when. you can head to your office and meet with your civil engineer about designs that were made and that you have to implement. head over to payroll and deal with the issue of someone not signing in properly. head back to your office where you call around and get material ordered for your site, or let companies know on the next job you have coming up that they can bid on. or perhaps go back to the construction site and deal with other peoples mess ups about the building process that happened in the morning. basically you work with others to get the blueprints up in an orderly fashion. you would have control over the 36 storey highrise and the stages of construction that it goes through. </p>
<p>i wouldnt say that a construction management job will be $30,000 for several years. probably starting at $40,000 and within a few years $60,000. its not uncommon for GOOD managers to make 100,000. by good i mean able to solve other peoples problems and run a smooth site without delays in the building process.</p>
<p>civil engineer will probably start at $50,000 a year and you can do the same job. but most civil engineers will not want to do that type of job with the schooling that they have had. civil engineer wage will probably surpass your wage more quickly.</p>
<p>a CM is probably on the job site more than the civil engineer.</p>
<p>I’d have to disagree with civil engineering wages surpassing construction management wages. For the guys at the top, I typically hear $200k+ in NYC. Another headhunter (different from the one I mentioned earlier in this thread) contacted me about a position that would offer between $140k and $200k (also in NYC). I could be wrong, but I don’t remember seeing or hearing salaries in that vicinity for civil engineers.</p>
<p>When I started out, I received a salary that was on the high end of the range for civil engineering graduates.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if taking civil engineering classes is a waste for a construction manager. Some of it has been helpful for me, and I’ve seen some jobs that specifically ask for somebody with a civil engineering degree. It’s nice to learn some of the construction management things in school, but it’s by no means a requirement.</p>
<p>I am also struggling with deciding which major to go into. I am ultimately interested in eventually becoming a construction manager. It seems as if civil engineering would be a better overall degree with more flexibility; however, I am more interested in the aspect of becoming a construction manager, not necessarily design. Will a degree in construction management open these doors for me? I am willing to do the hard work associated with engineering, but I don’t exactly get tickled when I look at the course list for engineering. I do however get excited when I look at the class list for construction management. I know I would enjoy the construction management courses more, but that doesn’t matter as much for the overall outcome. I also worry a bit about job security in times when the economy is down and there is not such a demand for construction. Is there anyone on this forum with a construction management degree who has seen the ups and downs of the construction industry? </p>