<p>Ive been somewhat interested in civil engineering but i cant seem to get a good grip on exactly what they do. Is it a broad field that encompasses a lot of things to do like construction, road work, evironment, etc?</p>
<p>Also how are civil engineering jobs? Are they generally good hours, good potential for income? Do civil engineers have good starting salaries and are they in high demand?</p>
<p>civil engineering is the best engineering major out there .</p>
<p>it TRUMPS all other engineering disciplines</p>
<p>it is better than electrical, mechanical, chemical, nuclear, petroleum, comp sci.</p>
<p>it pays more, more jobs, more respect
in short everything is bright and sunny, and there are no negatives about civil engr.</p>
<p>SAKKY, I DARE YOU to tell me i'm wrong</p>
<p>Unggio, I'll tell you that you're wrong, and I'm a civ, myself...</p>
<p>There are a lot of good points, sure, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it highly trumps every other engineering discipline. I love it, and the pay's good, but it's by no means higher than any other discipline. In fact, it's one of the lowest-paying engineering disciplines. Also, you have to deal with the wazooloads of people who like to insinuate that civil engineering is the "dumb" engineering... as you plug through advanced math and finite element programming like any of the engineering mechanics folk... So I wouldn't call that "respect".</p>
<p>Still, prospects are very good for civil engineering. People will always need roads, and buildings, and utilities, and transportation systems, and civil engineers will always need to provide that. Civ's pretty difficult to outsource, except in rare occasions, since whatever you're building needs to be custom-fit to the area you're building in, and requires some pretty extensive fieldwork, which makes outsourcing to other countries fairly cost-prohibitive. That, plus the sheer volume of business that's demanded from governmental bodies, and the fact that governments are much more likely to buy American for their bridges and buildings and such, ensure work for American civ firms for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Unggio's way wrong about the whole "no negatives about civil engineering" thing, though...</p>
<p>It was only a matter of time before aibarr weighed in on the situation. While I may not be in college yet the just about all the engineers here in the Bahamas are Civ. TONS of work oppurtunities here with all the hotels they are building and all the infrastructure improvements that need to be implemented over here. My opinion, which pretty much means nothing, is do civ if you want to and it suits you. I don't know how accessible hey are to you but just talk to some local civ engineers and find out from them about the pay, hours and life in general.</p>
<p>PS Aerospace Engineers are the best</p>
<p>Civil engineering is probably the safest of the engineering professions out there. As aibarr said, it's difficult to outsource, and there will always be jobs for you. There are plenty of opportunities in state and local department of transportations, not to mention all the private firms. At all the job/internship fairs I've been to at my (engineering) school in NYC, about 4 out of every 5 companies do civil work, with chemical engineering being the rarest.</p>
<p>Pay is definitely not the best compared to other engineering majors, but then again, engineering in general typically doesn't have the best pay. If you want to get rich, go into business and finance. Civil engineering is best for people who actually love civil engineering. Oh, and as far as I know, engineers typically don't get overtime pay; we're usually salaried employees.</p>
<p>So what is the actual work like? It's a very diverse field, with specialties including structural, geotechnical, environmental, traffic engineering, and construction management. Personally, I've worked in the construction division of the state dept of transportation, and now in a transportation engineering firm; they're very different. </p>
<p>I'm a 3rd year civil engineering major right now, and I have to say I love it, so defintiely look into it if you're interested.</p>