<p>I graduated in 2012 with a B.A. in Geography from the University of South Carolina. Immediately after graduating I found a job working for a county government doing GIS work, got married,and had a beautiful, healthy daughter. The only problem is that working for a small county government doesn't leave me with much opportunity for growth. I deal with engineering firms on a daily basis. Most of the time just exporting GIS data for them to use. I have applied for a couple of other positions titled "Associate Engineer" or "Engineer Technician" both of which had to have GIS experience. For both jobs, someone with a engineering degree was able to beat me out. But to cut a long story short, I am wanting to transition from GIS over to engineering but I am not sure how to proceed. My geography degree only required general education math and no other classes related to engineering. My GPA is not the greatest, only about a 2.7 when I finished undergrad. I honestly didn't realize how important my degree would become until after I graduated and tried to just skate through undergrad with as little effort as possible, but now that I have a family, being able to provide for them is my number one goal which is one reason why I want to go into engineering. There are TONS of civil engineering jobs available in my local area. So what would be my best course of action?? I am just looking for some advice.</p>
<p>1)Start completely fresh from the bottom...go to a technical college with an engineer transfer to a 4 year school?
2)Take supplemental courses post undergrad to make me more desirable for a masters in engineering?
3)Online engineering degree? I know this can be frowned upon, but I do have to maintain a full time jobs as well.</p>
<p>I do have an application pending for an Associate Engineer with a public works department which utilizes a lot of GIS, so fingers crossed on that one!!</p>
<p>I would recommend that you put some effort into trying for the masters in engineering route. Ideally, you will take a few classes beforehand, and take a few remedial classes during the degree. You might be able to shave a year or two off the process, and of course you end up with a Masters degree rather than a Bachelors.</p>
<p>Absolutely, see if you can take the prerequisite mathematics at a local Community College. My guess is that given your added maturity and motivation, you will do much better in your math courses than the first time around.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the replies! I agree that Masters is the way to go! Now to just research what needs to be done to get me there! Any advice is still greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Classes you will definitely have to take:
Math: Calc I, II, and III; Differential equations; Linear Algebra
Physics: Physics I and II
Engineering: Statics and dynamics, Fluid mechanics, Materials science</p>
<p>The math and physics, you can probably save some money on by taking at a community college. The engineering classes may or may not be offered at one, so make sure your community college credits do transfer. As for the rest of the civil engineering classes, you will simply have to ask the graduate program what they want out of you. Chances are, you will have to take a few more classes, and you will have to take some remedial courses during the degree. Either way, it should be faster (and cheaper) than the 5-6 years it would take to start from scratch and get to a masters degree.</p>
<p>Do you have any programming experience? Another possible career path is to take software development and IT courses and attempt to get into a more technical software development or IT position that in the GIS area. With the right course work, a degree wouldn’t necessarily be a strict requirement. (I actually know someone who has followed that career path with a Geography degree and GIS experience.)</p>
<p>I do have some programming experience and general IT experience. In fact, I had considered taking courses and getting certifications to make me more desirable for an IT career but I feel that engineering would strike my interest more. I wouldn’t mind staying on the GIS track but the local job market is extremely limited for GIS users and the salaries are low.</p>
<p>Neo - Thanks for the advice, I am planning on contacting a graduate program and see what I can do to make myself a better candidate.</p>
<p>Once I get done with all the prep work for the masters degree, I need to find a graduate program to attend. Working full time and having a 15 month on baby is going to keep me limited. Are there any good master degrees online? I know bachelors are frowned upon but with so many people working full time and going for a masters there has got to be some good EAC/ABET accredited programs out there. I was looking at NC State’s engineering online graduate degrees, but they are not accredited and I wouldn’t be able to get licensed in my state, unless I did an education evaluation option and even then I don’t want to be uncertain because my B.A. is in geography. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend an online program, but you can always take night classes, go to school part-time, etc. There’s honestly no easy way to have multiple commitments without it being a bit of a stretch time-wise. Just find a way to work around it…</p>
<p>Well I seem to have hit a brick wall. I sat down and spoke with a graduate program director at the University of South Carolina. We were going to see what classes I would need to take to prep me for the MS program. Only problem is they do not offer ANY evening classes when it comes to civil engineering. My location is in Columbia, SC. My wife and I just bought out first home, we closed on 6/13/14. She is in school for elementary education and works part time as a server. So you can see I dont have an option to quit my full time job to pursue the daytime courses for civil engineering. Even if I was considering getting a 2nd bachelors, they dont have any evening classes. </p>
<p>My end goal was to be licensed P.E. in South Carolina, which requires a degree from an ABET accredited university. I was hoping to get a job at SCDOT as a civil engineer that way I could stay on the state retirement plan, which I am on now, as well as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The graduate director at USC told me he really did not know what I could do. </p>
<p>A major reason for wanting to switch to engineering is the money side of it. I love sciences and math of course but the money side is what was really luring me to it. Like what sacchi said, does anybody else have advice for successful career paths from geography or GIS? I am sick of people thinking that all I do is make maps. </p>