<p>what are the civil engineering courses like? it seems more humanities oriented than other engineering degrees. also what are the job prospects out of college. what do you do and how much do you make</p>
<p>Uh... what do you mean by humanities-oriented? It's not. It's about mechanics of materials, design using steel and concrete, structural analysis, dynamics... It's engineering. It's not like you're writing essays.</p>
<p>Most of what I do, I mentioned in your other thread. For salaries, look at the annual salary survey that CE News does:
"2008</a> Salary Survey"</p>
<p>Prospects out of college are good. Lots of jobs for civil engineers, more in some regions than in others.</p>
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what are the civil engineering courses like? it seems more humanities oriented than other engineering degrees. also what are the job prospects out of college. what do you do and how much do you make
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<p>Yes it is very humanity oriented, and pretty much just like a liberal arts degree, you learn too much useless stuff that you could learn on your own... :p ><</p>
<p>On the pay side, I was out doing recruitment for the place i work for, and starting salary for this year is 61k. This is los angeles metro area.</p>
<p>I'm also curious as to what you mean by "humanities oriented." </p>
<p>Job prospects are fairly good and stable. You can get a job in every corner of the world. Mankind isn't going to suddenly lose its need for infrastructure so there's always something to do. Designs typically can't be easily reused from project to project so you do get repeat business.</p>
<p>Pay varies. I'm in NYC and I've heard of offers anywhere from mid 40's to mid 60's (including signing bonus).</p>
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I've heard of offers anywhere from mid 40's
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I honestly haven't heard of anyone who got offers in mid 40's here. Even Caltrans start at $55 in LA area.
But this is sad... I think this is one of the reason why I think CivE field is too saturated... There is more supply than demand and it drives down the starting pay.</p>
<p>It's not saturated. We've talked about this before. There are jobs all over. Maybe localized markets are more saturated than others, but even in Los Angeles, my old company is still hiring.</p>
<p>45K is plenty to live in a non-Los-Angeles city. Starting pay is going up. Look at the statistics.</p>
<p>Yea, I'm not sure it's a supply-demand issue. I used to work at the $45k company as an intern and I think it's more of a business model decision more than anything else. It historically has a high turnover rate with many employees leaving for bigger and better things after a few years with the company. What makes this work is that the company is well known and highly respected in its field, so it doesn't have too much of a problem attracting employees. The problem is keeping employees on board long term since it seems they always get better offers later on.</p>
<p>I doubt supply far exceeded demand since the department doubled its size during the year and a half I was there.</p>
<p>By the way, the $45k figure is from almost 2 years ago. It might've changed since then because business was increasing rapidly when I left.</p>
<p>CE was NOT oversaturated as of the spring: Engineering schools were gettng flooded with employers looking for grads. Career fairs had more companies then students.</p>
<p>Pay is low because I dont believe a CE can do as much independently as other engineering grads.</p>
<p>I have found that CE is less intellecturally challenging tha ME both in school and on the job.</p>
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I have found that CE is less intellecturally challenging tha ME both in school and on the job.
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<p>This varies highly with the specific job that you're doing. Some civ gigs are more intellectual than others.</p>
<p>Check it out: In demand, apparently, despite the lousy economy.</p>
<p>There's definitely less independence in civil engineering. On my current project, there's approximately 100 stakeholders right now (including consultants, contractors, clients, etc). Each firm has a part to contribute so if you can't work with others, you're not going to make it. Is this why pay is lower on average though? I'm not sure.</p>
<p>The demand for civil engineers in today's economy probably varies highly by sector. If your main clients are luxury high-rise developers, times are going to be tough. If you mainly work on government projects, things are going to be okay. New York state recently announced plans to build a $16 billion bridge.</p>
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If you mainly work on government projects, things are going to be okay.
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<p>Thank you for being optimistic. These days you are the few rare ones. BTW, CA just announced they need a loan for $7B to make it to the end of the month. Same with Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Massachusetts</a> looks into federal aid - Oct. 5, 2008</p>
<p>Gov</a>. Schwarzenegger asks Treasury for $7B loan - Oct. 3, 2008</p>
<p>In the long run, the outlook is good. What civil engineers produce isn't something that modern society can survive without.</p>
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The demand for civil engineers in today's economy probably varies highly by sector. If your main clients are luxury high-rise developers, times are going to be tough. If you mainly work on government projects, things are going to be okay. New York state recently announced plans to build a $16 billion bridge.
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<p>The thing about civil engineering firms is that the larger, more established firms have built a lot of flexibility into their business models. We typically do a lot of private work, and when the private work is more lean, we segue into government work and defense work. We're also starting to get into the international markets. Savvy companies roll with the punches.</p>