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I heard it becomes a pain after the novelty wears off. Which apparently takes about a week.</p>
<p>Business attire has definitely changed since I got out of grad school in 1986. I always wore nice dresses or suits, and DH ALWAYS wore a tie and dress pants. This week, DH is doing work at a big engineering firm’s office in Dallas, and none of the men wear a tie, even.</p>
<p>Maine is VERY casual. People would look at you oddly if you dressed up too much as an engineer.</p>
<p>When I interned at an engineering firm, I don’t remember anybody wearing ties except for the president, one of the VP’s and whenever someone had a meeting with a client.</p>
<p>I’m wearing my CK suit today. The guys wear ties, sometimes suits, when there’s a client meeting. So yes, there are some places where business attire hasn’t completely relaxed. (As a personal rule, though, I don’t wear makeup at work, and I always wear my hair pulled back in a ponytail, and I wear glasses instead of contacts. I’ve found that when I doll it up, something goes a little haywire with my male coworkers. I save my Pretty for special occasions.)</p>
<p>Might be nice, sometimes, sure. We’re a polished-looking group, and clients are always impressed. The downside of “nice” is very apparent, though… No jeans, no spaghetti straps, nothing low-cut, no sandals, <em>ever</em>. No dressing up on Halloween. Holiday parties are formal. Your desk must be kept clean at all times. You may keep some photos and small personal mementos on your desk. Keep your books straight.</p>
<p>Pushpins may be aluminum-milled, red, black, white, or clear.</p>
<p>I’m not kidding.</p>
<p>So it’s really cool to look professional… but yes, there are downsides to it, and it does get really old pretty fast. I miss the days when I was in diagnostics and could wear boots, jeans, and a button-down or plain t-shirt every day, but on the other hand, we didn’t get nearly the respect as professionals that I get now at my current company. At my old company, we were treated kind of like plumbers or electricians by our clients. Here, we’re treated like lawyers or doctors by our clients. There are pros and cons.</p>
<p>if i end up being architectural engineer when i grow up i wanna visit ur office aibarr. LOL. since i’ve always had this obsessions with nice rooms and buildings XD</p>
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The china olympic stadium was mainly designed by foreign engineers and designers… so there’s work… just not in US…</p>
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We have to… just in case the media gets in my face b/c there’s a pipe break that creates a huge sinkhole and swallows a firetruck… >.<</p>
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<p>That’s one project. There are multitudes of projects that are swinging back the other way.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where you get this “American civil engineering is doomed” paranoia, dude. American civil and structural firms are pretty much at the forefront of the industry. England has Arup, but the States has Thornton-Tomasetti, Skidmore Owings Merrill, CH2M Hill, Walter P Moore… I’m not going to freak out about outsourcing today.</p>
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<p>So mandrel test and video inspect your pipes before you put 'em in service and you’ll be okay! ;)</p>
<p>Choosing a college major isn’t always easy. You’ve raised some great questions about what you’re looking for in a career. I work in the aerospace industry. If you are looking for an internship or job in aerospace I suggest you check out [Defense</a> | Shipbuilding | Aerospace Jobs at Northrop Grumman](<a href=“Jobs - Northrop Grumman”>http://jobs.meetngc.com/). I love working for them and have had some amazing opportunities.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Aerospace, and it’s probably too late for the OP to change his major. Anyway, here’s my view:</p>
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Computer Science majors have a pretty easy time of finding a job right out of college, and their starting salary is much higher than many other majors. However, this comes at a price: Older CS majors are far more likely to get laid off/fired than older civil engineers (or older accountants, doctors, or lawyers), and you always have to keep up with whatever programming language, operating system, database, etc. that is in style.</p>
<p>Civil Engineering has good long term job prospects due to population growth and aging infrastructure, but the short term job prospects are terrible (due to the housing market crash and reduced construction activity). It’s incredibly hard to get your foot in the door, and you’ll have to get a lot of internship experience and extracurricular engineering work (Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge, etc) in addition to maintaining a solid GPA. Even then, a lot of it comes done to luck, and you’ll have to network like a pro and be willing to relocate anywhere in the country to get that first entry level job.</p>
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The pay for Civil Engineering is similar to that of many other engineering majors. From: [url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Median salary for Civil Engineers: $74,600/yr
Median salary for Mechanical Engineers: $74,920/yr
Median salary for Industrial Engineers: $73,820/yr
Median salary for Electrical Engineers: $82,160/yr
Median salary for Biomedical Engineers: $77,400/yr</p>