<p>I am a junior in civil engineering. First off do the civil engineers who do the designs go out to the projects or are they always in the office. One of the reasons I chose civil engineering is because it sounds like a career where you could work both in and out of the office. </p>
<p>If I choose a specialization within civil other than construction management would I still have opportunities to work is the field or will I primarily be doing design? </p>
<p>I am starting to pick my classes that go towards my specialization within civil. I would rather specialize in one of the areas other than construction management if it would still allow me to work in the field.</p>
<p>I am not against working on design I just want to be able to see what I helped design being built. I really want to do some of both.</p>
<p>Are the jobs that get you out of the office entry level or something you would get with more experience?</p>
<p>ken285 can tell you more about construction management.</p>
<p>New engineers are often sent out to look at jobs to gain experience. Experienced engineers also go out to inspect buidings.</p>
<p>In our structural design firm (a Mom and Pop business!), we often inspect the jobs we design as they’re going up. If the owner pays for Special Inspections (required by the International Building Code for a lot of projects), we have to go to the site pretty often.</p>
<p>Our liability insurance company likes it much better when we inspect the buildings we design, because the inspections lessen the chances of big problems coming up later.</p>
<p>Even if you choose to go into construction management for a career, you don’t have to concentrate in that in school. Yes it would be helpful to get your foot in the door, but not necessary at all.</p>
<p>Working in construction management instead of engineering will give you a greater opportunity to work a higher percentage of your time in the field. There are some positions in CM that are mostly based inside offices as well.</p>
<p>I’m interning at an EnviroEng firm right now, and there is definitely a lot of field work to be done. A lot of the PM’s even go to the field, meet with clients, etc…</p>
<p>I can’t think of a specialization within civil that doesn’t require a lot of field work…so go with what you like doing.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the replies.</p>