<p>I have been fighting in my head for a while between Civil and Industrial Engineering. I'm into second year of Civil but those are just general classes that can be still applied towards Industrial. It is not too late to change field so I need your help. Which would be considered more STABLE specially in this economy when construction industry is down (civil oriented). Looks like Industrial has wider spectrum of work and more chances to find a job. Also Industrial can easily lead to management position, as I heard, since industiral engineer has a good knowledge how to cut costs, providing effective business plan with designed technical solutions to it, pretty much like management positions. I like both, but afraid that Civil won't have that many jobs, specially in down economy. What are future factors for both?</p>
<p>I started in civil but am now a junior environmental engineering major. My understanding is the job outlook for certain areas of civil are better than others. I’ve heard that structural and construction management have been hit hardest. If you go with civil you should definitely be able to find a job but may have to work a little harder to find one. I don’t think that’s enough of a reason not to major in it if you enjoy it. The job outlook for environmental engineers is good so you could do civil with an emphasis in environmental or water resources. In the end I would pick which ever sounds more interesting. Have you compared curriculums to see if the classes an IE takes look more interesting than CE?</p>
<p>As a side note doing a co-op program or as much internship as possible will make finding a job much easier for either.</p>
<p>Civil engineers are expected to grow 24%.
[url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#outlook]Engineers[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#outlook]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Civil engineers hold more jobs than other engineering disciplines (except software engineering, but some might not count that because it’s not like traditional engineering).</p>
<p>I’d go for civil if I were you.</p>
<p>I would worry more about which field you prefer rather then future job outlook. Both have pretty good job prospects from my understanding.</p>
<p>As others have noted, the long term projections for civil engineering is a significant increase. However, the construction industry will always have small hiccups here and there along the way, so I’d agree that it’s less stable than other fields.</p>
<p>Any major can lead to a management position. All fields have management staff, or am I misinterpreting what you’re trying to say?</p>
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The other way it can be looked at is there is more competition for those positions, as it seems like you’re referring to positions where it’s not required to have an industrial engineering background.</p>
<p>Those projections were made right before the housing crisis hit. The construction industry is in absolute shambles relative to 2007 and the next 10 years are very uncertain for that industry. </p>
<p>Industrial Engineering does in fact have many more job opportunities right now and for the foreseeable future, and I’m talking only about jobs related directly to industrial engineering. There is official data that backs this assertion up. Even going off the optimistic pre-recession O*Net and BLS reports, civil engineering job openings were expected to occur at a 1.35/1 ratio as compared to industrial engineering. However, the NCES’ latest reports on degrees by field of study show that civil engineering degrees were handed out at 4 times the amount that industrial engineering degrees were handed out. This means that, compared to CivE, there are many less IE students competing for close to the same number of job openings. </p>
<p>In the 2-3 years since the latest data was compiled, the construction industry has severely contracted while the trend in businesses both large and small continues to move towards using the types of quantitative analysis that IE’s use in order to compete and make better decisions. </p>
<p>IF you are more interested in civil engineering then go that route because life satisfaction should be the ultimate goal. Despite all those numbers, the general consensus is that you’re not going to be homeless as a CivE major. You’ll probably have a more difficult time finding a job and the pay won’t be that great, but it’s better than being a sociology major. </p>
<p>Here are the links to the data:</p>
<p>[17-2112.00</a> - Industrial Engineers](<a href=“http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2112.00]17-2112.00”>17-2112.00 - Industrial Engineers)</p>
<p>[17-2051.00</a> - Civil Engineers](<a href=“http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2051.00]17-2051.00”>17-2051.00 - Civil Engineers)</p>
<p>[Bachelor’s</a>, master’s, and doctor’s degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by sex of student and discipline division: 2007-08](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_275.asp]Bachelor’s”>Bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by sex of student and discipline division: 2007-08)</p>
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Do all the jobs labeled “Industrial Engineering” by the BLS actually require a degree in IE?</p>
<p>^^^^I dont think they do. Many industrial engineering jobs dont require a degree in industrial engineering usually mechanical or chemical will suffice.</p>
<p>Industrial Engineering have way better job opportunities than civil engineerings. Industrial engineering also have more salary increase potential and higher pay since you can land more program management jobs. There are so many reasons why Industrial engineering is better, I won’t go into them.</p>