<p>I'm an incoming freshman in the college of engineering program. I currently plan on being a Civil Engineer, and I hear there are a LOT of people with that major. Which would make finding a job very hard. I'd like to do structural work (maybe environmental) and I was wondering how hard it is to get an internship (and subsequently a job). I'd like to get one my first year, so I can be well on the way to guaranteeing a career for myself soon after I graduate. Any advice?</p>
<p>It’ll be pretty difficult to get one after your first year. You won’t be a civil engineer yet; you’ll just be a “general engineer.” Try government places though, especially since you want to do Civil. I got an internship with the WVDOT after my freshman year, but it didn’t really pay enough that it would have been feasible had I not already had a place to stay there.</p>
<p>Yeah, civil is one of those disciplines where it will be difficult to get something that really interests you from an engineering standpoint early on. Getting a job won’t be difficult if you perform well, are an interesting person, and work to separate yourself. But of course that’s how it is for all disciplines :-)</p>
<p>how’d tech help you with job placement your senior year/graduation, chuy?</p>
<p>Starting my freshman year in 2006, I went to every Engineering Expo in the fall and career fair in the Spring just to get the experience of going and talking to the reps every year and resume writing ect. I still have a few more semesters until I graduate but basically they told me my freshman year for a lot of things that they give priority to juniors and seniors even if you have the best grades and experience. It makes sense too from their point of view. </p>
<p>But the best thing you can do for yourself is keep going every year fall and spring and just talk to whatever company interests you (there are over 200+) so that over the next year you know what to focus on and prepare for and what type of experience to get that they don’t give you in the classroom. In addition, you will already know a little bit about the company and that shows when you talk to them. One of the key things is having your research done about the company that interests you, that shows them you really are interested which gets them more interested in you. </p>
<p>Also you will be prepared for all the types of questions they ask and what they look for ect. If you do well then you should have no problem getting an internship the summer after your sophomore year. </p>
<p>4 years of doing that will go a long way. </p>
<p>A lot of the top internships/companies require a 3.0 which is unfortunate for myself and many since a 3.0+ in Engineering is no easy thing but a lot of internships and lesser known companies don’t have any requirements. </p>
<p>Also when it comes time to apply for internships, read the wording clearly some say “Must have” and some say “prefer”. Apply anyway if it says “prefer” and sometimes they give it to you if you have great experience and an excellent interview.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the experience along with interviewing + people skills is what matters most. GPA is only important for graduate school or your first job when it comes to Engineering. After that it, it’s all people skills and real world experience + job experience. A GPA between a 3.0 and 3.5 is enough in engineering and that alone is hard to get for many at tech since beyond that it’d be clear you did nothing else but study 12 hours 7 days a week which is actually not attractive for jobs.</p>
<p>Experience is what will help you no doubt in the long run. I’ve seen so many over acheivers go straight in line for google and microsoft, boeing, lockheed, ect. and ignore the lesser known companies. It’s funny that for a lot it’s so easy to walk up and talk to them but those other’s there’s lines to talk to the Reps.</p>
<p>Sure the name helps, but it’s also super competitive. It might be more worthwhile to pursue less competitive internships to gather tons of experience so you can apply for a more competitive job close to graduation with all this experience under your belt. </p>
<p>I’ve interviewed for a lot of jobs, worked a few jobs when taking a year off and I’ve found that sometimes it does help to put a job you did in High School or early college years down the road on your resume that showed leadership experience even if it’s not technical or came nothing close. I was a surprised when I got asked questions about being an RA over 2 years ago when I was considering taking that off my resume since I was running out of room to put other jobs + technical experience on there.</p>
<p>So yeah, just some tips for you coming in that i’ve noticed over the 4+ years I’ve been at tech. Hopefully for you, the economy will be better by the time you graduate. </p>
<p>I’d consider minoring in Computer Science or Business since those two play an important role in almost any company or organization where you would do Civil Engineering. Only do that if you are interested because that could be attractive on a resume and help land a good paying job.</p>
<p>yeah, I’d imagine having at least a CS minor would do wonders to set you apart from other civils (and other types too, to be fair) that think they’ll never have to touch a computer or write a program.</p>
<p>Oh, and learn statistics. Just do it. You’ll thank me later.</p>
<p>Since I’m not in Civil I’m not sure to what extent they use computers, but I’ve met students in a variety of different engineering majors here and they usually have to take at least one programming course usually in C or C++. </p>
<p>I don’t think you need the degree of knowledge to write sophisticated programs but a minor certainly would bring the ability to write small programs or parts of programs and having that knowledge and a civil engineering background could do wonders for your particular field/concentration or project if there is a need for specific scripts, programs, web pages ect that focus on the civil engineering aspects whether it be calculations, stress tests, ect. </p>
<p>I know matlab is used a lot here, in CS we don’t use it but I know in ECE/CPE (what I switched from)it was used a little bit and it’s used more in ME, Aero, and Civil I think unless they changed. AutoCad or some kind of Cad software seems obvious too unless that changed.</p>
<p>Actually the most important thing to learn how to use for the widest variety of jobs is excel. If you can do vlookups and write macros and the like effectively it’s going to help you just about anywhere. There’s no class for it, but if you screw around in it enough you’ll learn a lot.</p>