<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Is anyone here working at an Environmental Engineering firm?</p>
<p>I was wondering if I could find out what a typical day is like at one of these firms? What do you work on? How much is fieldwork? Is it easy to get one of these jobs?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I have worked at an Environmental Engineering consulting firm. It does have a lot of field work, mostly pertaing to collecting drilled soil samples, sampling silt, stormwater, ocean water, air samples, taking measurements etc. , visiting worksites, and consulting with clients. There is a lot of meticulous report writing, especially on environmental regulatory reports. These reports can be pollution assessments, environmental impact reports, chemical reporting to govt. agencies, or environmental data reports written for cities & counties. There is also a lot of creative problem solving that is done for industry, for example working on ways to increase chemical recycling, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, etc.</p>
<p>If you have an EIT certificate, you will have an easier time being hired as an entry level engineer, doing more report writing and meeting heading up projects for clients. </p>
<p>Good technical writing skills are essential. Also, consultants are expected to have 40 hour Hazardous waste operations training, EPA EPCRA, RMP, CERCLA and SPCC, HM-181 haz mat'l transportation training, and be familiar with all EPA regulations for air, water, and hazardous waste. This training can be obtained through any of several private firms. </p>
<p>More info on required some of the EPA, DOT, and OSHA required training</p>
<p>Hazardous</a> Waste | Wastes | US EPA</p>
<p>PHMSA</a> - Training & Outreach</p>
<p>OSHA</a> FAQs - HAZWOPER</p>
<p>DOT</a> HM-181 Basic Hazmat Employee: Tech Transfer</p>
<p>EPA</a> Training Programs</p>
<p>thanks for the response UCLA Band Mom</p>
<p>has anyone else here worked at Environmental firms? I'd really appreciate the input.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>anyone else?</p>
<p>nobody from environmental engineering here? :(</p>
<p>I wish I could help. My neighbor is an environmental engineer (Lafayette College) and is employed by one of the large German corporations -- can't remember which ones. He works out of his home here in the semi-rural Hudson Valley, and takes 2-3 day business trips around the country and to Europe once a month or so. Other than that I couldn't say.</p>
<p>I don't remember if I or someone else gave this website to you already or not: The</a> Sloan Career Cornerstone Center</p>
<p>I met an environmental engineer from Florida once who works for one of this country's biggest EnvE firms. One thing that stuck with me is that during hurricane season, he has worked up to 100 hours per week. Of course, that's not the norm during any other time or at any other location. I think he does a lot of design work for water treatment plants if I'm not mistaken.</p>
<p>For my project, we recently hired an environmental engineer to do some testing for us. This company does a lot of work checking for mold in drywall, checking the cleanliness of water, and a bunch of other stuff for buildings under construction. </p>
<p>I also know an environmental engineer whose career has focused on the construction administration side of environmental engineering projects (such as water treatment plants). My guess is that there are far more people involved with design than construction services and administration and EnvE, but it's just that my perspective is skewed working on the construction side of things.</p>
<p>It seems to be that jobs can be so different within environmental engineering that it's hard to say there's a typical day. I am surprised at how few environmental engineers there are on this board. It's one of the up and coming fields, perhaps having the second best growth potential, next to biomedical engineering.</p>
<p>Recent ChemE Graduate here that went to EnvirE firm.</p>
<p>My job entails collecting samples from polluted sources. Samples range from soil gas, groundwater, gas samples themselves.</p>
<p>Have to test samples ranging from
1) VOC - Volatile Organic Carbon
2) TPH - Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons
3) Herbicides/Pesticides/Organics
4) Heavy Metals
5) Dissolved Metals
6) Radioactive material</p>
<p>Pretty much what UCLA band mom writes is what I have to do. I have to write compliance information for our clients and make sure they do not get a NOV (Notification of Violation).</p>
<p>I begin my OSHA training next week (started just this week). I also have to do LPS training with Chevron since I am working with their Environmental Management side.</p>
<p>I think the reason why environmental engineers aren't that many is because environmental engineers usually come from two fields, either civil or chemical. A lot of the civils do go into environmental engineers but few chemical because the pay is better being a process engineer then environmental engineer. </p>
<p>However, if you love what you do and have a passion for it, do it, so I do environmental engineering.</p>
<p>Weird note. I went to UCLA for chemical engineering and UCLA band mom explained my job (strange coincidence). </p>
<p>To UCLA band mom:
Did you see the beach balls at commencement? I smuggled those in. Fun times.</p>
<ul>
<li>TB54</li>
</ul>
<p>Yes I saw the beach balls! :D And they were the best part of the ceremony, as far as I was concerned. </p>
<p>Congratulations to you on your graduation. And enjoy writing all of those EPCRA, CERCLA, SARA312, TRI, Phase I and II EA's, Stormwater, SB14, SPCC, and Haz. Waste Biennial Reports!</p>
<p>Hi TB54,</p>
<p>thanks for your response. Was it easy getting a EnvE job? I'm concerned because i'm in environmental engineering so I don't have the option of process engineering.
thanks!</p>
<p>Sorry for late reply. </p>
<p>It's not easy getting your first job period. </p>
<p>(With respects to the recession, most people are having a hard time getting a job. However, the recession has not really affected the engineering sector so this information is irrelevant.)</p>
<p>You need to stand out as an individual and show why you want this job and how in your college career you've made an effort in accepting the role of an environmental engineer. This might be through EIT or even internships or research, etc. </p>
<ul>
<li>TB54</li>
</ul>
<p>One nice thing about Environmental Engineering is that it is recession proof. companies are required to follow EPA regulations no matter what shape the economy is in, so for exemple, when aerospace or microelectronics layoffs occur, the Enviro people are usually exempted. (I know this from 25 years of personal experience in both industries). Also, the Enviro regulations get tougher to meet every year, so the demand for talented people is always there.</p>
<p>When I worked at an Enviro consultant, I noticed that many companies who hired me had Enviro engineers that paired their skills with Safety, treating it as a dual position. Other companies combine Enviro with Facilities or Chem Lab. departments. It's a mixed bag, the larger companies are the ones with dedicated Enviro departments, and the smaller companies pair it up with something else.</p>
<p>With the news of the recession popping up more often, I decided to search for this thread.</p>
<p>I was thinking that with the bad economy, people would spend more time worrying about finding a job than worrying about the environment. Therefore, there will be less environmental jobs. Is this the case? I only have a few internships under my belt so I have no idea how this works.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was thinking that with the bad economy, people would spend more time worrying about finding a job than worrying about the environment.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If there <em>is</em> an impact on the number of jobs due to a possible recession, it will not be because everyone decided to sit in a circle and worry. It will be because there's a general slowdown of positive economic growth and fewer projects requiring the use of environmental engineers will be initiated due to lack of funding.</p>
<p>Actually, bad economic news has little or no effect on enviro eng jobs. The environmental regulations don't go away just because the economy is down, so the required work is still there. If manufacturing companies close down, the enviro engineers are the last ones out the door, because the environmental site remediation etc must be done before the site can be resold. If contracts are lost, the production engineers may get laid off, but there is no effect to the enviro engineers.</p>