Hello, I am currently in my junior year studying Civil Engineering. I do well in school and so many things seem interesting but I don’t know which path to take. I plan to finish my undergrad in Civil Engineering for sure, but lately I’ve been debating picking up a Master of Science in Computer Science after graduation. Is this a good idea? Do computer science and civil engineering mesh together well or would I be better off simply mastering in Civil Engineering or another branch of engineering? I’ve also debated picking up a physics minor because the course material seems interesting but I don’t think i’ll get a lot of ROI from a minor and don’t want to waste money.
Double majors actually hurt your chances of getting a job in many cases. Read some of my other posts on this, there are many. In your case, however, it could make sense ULTIMATELY if that is the direction that you want to go.
I had a mid-career structural engineer working for me that was quite interested getting more involved with the computer programming of some of our codes. Because of his extensive background in the engineering side, he could easily pick up what was needed for the code to do. A programmer (only) expert would require a lot input from an experienced engineer to get the principles correct and the needs and desires of the engineering community to produce what we needed. My guy did not go back to get a MS but instead to certificate level classes that were directed at the type of programming that we required. He became a very valuable asset but it did limit is ability to grow as a structural engineer as he really wasn’t doing structural engineering work.
If this kind of work is what you seek, I would recommend you not go with the MS but go a job doing civil engineering and see where it takes you. You need that knowledge before you can really brank out, if that is what you want.
The thing you must realize is that when you look for a job, you will be picking ONE field. That one field may be a combination of majors (don’t confuse majors with fields of endeavor in the work a day world). The trick is to figure out what you want to do with your career and take the classes that make you the best prepared person for that career.
My daughter’s friend started out as civil engineering but switched to Computer Science and graduated in CS. I’m not sure it works well together, and it seems a lot of work. Pick the work you want and go with the major.
It would probably be better to finish as soon as possible and find a job with your Civil Engineering degree. After a few years, you can see if the software direction is a better choice for you and then might be the time to get a Masters in Software Engineering (not necessarily CS). In the meantime, if you have some open electives, take some CS courses to gain some additional experience.
Been there, done that (BS CE, BS CS, MS CS, and MS IE). In fact I got into computers by programming calculators with structural and other problems. When handheld BASIC pocket computers came along I did some serious miracles on them, mostly statics and concrete, and LOTS of surveying. Of course that was 35 years ago 
Today you may be able to get a job with a company that actually does civil engineering related software. Not a very wide field, I know. Otherwise, it’s not quite related and you’re probably going to have to choose one or the other.
Appreciate the input guys. They both seem like really interesting fields which is why i’m having trouble deciding which one to focus on. Hpuck35 and turbo93, in your experience which did you prefer? I know it’s a loaded question and I plan to look into it further on my own, but all advice is greatly appreciated.
It’s not really a question of what I preferred. I graduated Civil Engineering in my birth country of Elbonia and there were simply no jobs. None. So I had to change to something ‘cool’ which was CS. So, while I’m psychoanalyzing myself here, let me reveal that I’m really a very creative person. In this sense, Civil Engineering was too restrictive, what with building codes and materials and costs and pesky clients and the such. I would have done very well in Architecture (I did have a number of courses and studios). At the end Computer Science and now Human Factors Engineering won me over because I can express my creativity in so many ways.
Engineering, as I see my colleagues, not so much. Their stuff is more ‘limiting’ by nature (in the sense that they have more things to worry about, i.e. hardware, mechanical, systems) while software wise and especially the human machine interaction part it’s a lot less ‘restrictive’. Their stuff is generally harder, obviously so take the quoted words with a grain of salt. They have spec sheets and protocols and the like to deal with while we MMI designers/coders have a lot more of a clean slate to work with.
So, if you like problem solving and big puzzles, engineering will be best, if you like to do your own thing and be creative, CS may be best.
Hey I appreciate all of the input. Now have a new curveball. I’ve leaned away from physics and narrowed it down to a civil engineering major with a minor in either biomedical engineering or comp. sci. Thing is I talked to my advisor today and they told me that a lot of the biomed minor reqs line up with my tech electives. This means I only have to take 12 additional credits for the biomedical engineering minor and can graduate in 4 years still. A computer science minor would require 40 additional credits as there is no overlap except for calculus. I’m interested in both but am leaning towards the biomedical engineering minor right now as i’ve always liked biology and it wont cost me much time or money. Computer science on the other hand would take 3 additional semesters. I’m not sure it is worth it at this point. Does that sound like a good combo?
Neither one is worth it - take my word on it.
Civil engineering is a very wide field, and you would be better off to (a) take a programming class or two and (b) take electives that complement what a CE does. I would think Industrial Engineering would be far more applicable to CE than either CS or BME.
I did two undergraduate degrees back to back, CE and CS (the CS was four semesters) and really the idea of a true Renaissance Man (or Woman) is overrated. My wife did a double major in parallel, CS and Statistics. Didn’t help much in job hunting.
In liberal arts the amount of intermixing makes a lot more sense, but in engineering, not quite as much if you’re not adding value. And value is useful electives and good GPA :). Even if you could combine BME and CE, the scope is so narrow it’s not funny. My wife spent a decade working in pharma manufacturing and there’s some interesting engineering issues when you design a plant. But this is beyond specialization…
I actually really appreciate the idea of a Renaissance Woman/Man … but don’t think studying two science fields does that. Maybe pure math and physics would head in that direction, or a friend’s child who’s doubling in engineering and violin or some such thing … so in general I have to agree with @turbo93 .
The thing is this… Everything in life is too specialized today. Anyone with a double major who thinks they’ll do both… well… not really. Let’s say you graduate CE and CS double major. Then what? will you go for the Hail Mary and get a job at a company doing CE software? not many of those in the grand scheme of things, so you pick one vs the other. After a few years, if you don’t use things they may fall off the wagon. But it really depends.
My older daughter is a grad student in architecture and I find that I remember stuff from my CE days 35 years ago a lot better than I do remember my CS from 30 years ago. I guess I partied more during CS than during CE :).
Even in my current role I’m using both CS and Human Factors but invariably everyone sees me as CS. When I switch to HF mode everyone is surprised. If you work for a large company you get labeled pretty quickly as one or the other. In a smaller company you don’t have the luxury so…