<p>im graduating this fall from CSU Long Beach, a local state school. mediocre grades 3.1 gpa, no GRE yet. </p>
<p>i'd be interested in starting my own firm specializing in some type of water engineering. im taking hydraulics right now, it's fairly interesting. maybe after 8-10 yrs of experience along with my P.E. license, i'll be prepared to run my own engineering consulting business.</p>
<p>my professor recommended I go for a master's in water resources.<br>
i would like to live in the bay area preferably as soon as i graduate with my bachelors. i know i can't really make it into berkeley or stanford. but will it hurt my future job prospects if i go to a state school for my master's degree? i.e. San Jose State University i also plan on applying to Cal Poly Obispo, but for quality of life reasons, i'd like to live in the bay area as soon as i graduate.</p>
<p>Rheidzan, aibarr, MaineLonghorn any advice?</p>
<p>Running a consulting engineering business is quite hard. The margins tend to be thin and you end up spending a lot of your time bidding for work. Competition in consulting is very fierce. </p>
<p>As an aside, I know one mechanical engineer who attended a bid meeting for HVAC work on a construction site. When he showed up at the bid meeting, there were over 100 firms trying to bid on the same work (trying to get bid documents at the construction trailer on site). He reported this to his supervisor and was immediately let go as his firm was counting on this work to keep going. </p>
<p>A lot of consulting engineering work is ‘lump sum’ meaning that if you go over the budgeted hours, you won’t get paid and may end up losing money on projects. Cost control is a very important aspect of the field. Funny how engineers agree to limit their hours on projects? I don’t see law firms or accounting firms doing this or for that matter most any other profession. </p>
<p>It comes down, I believe, to being recognized by your peers as an expert in whatever field you want to consult in and being able to compete effectively in whatever market you are in. </p>
<p>I don’t believe it turns so much on academic credentials per se.</p>
Just FYI, water resources is one of the most highly bureaucratic industry to be in. It’s mostly government, and so if you’re interested in the field, just work for a gov’t agency. They possibly pay higher than if you own your firm and has a supreme job stability anyway. Look at LADWP, LACFCD, Riverside FCD, OCSD, LACSD, Cal DWR, IEUA and other local water agencies. My sister’s director at a small/mid local water agency (located far in the inland empire) is already pulling more than 200k with 17 or so experience.
So… Why would you want to make yourself miserable by opening your firm again?</p>
<p>Water industry, in my experience and observation, ties closely with politics. I guess opening your own firm is not impossible, but it’s all about connection and your pedigree.
Connection - Work your way up and get lots of experience and connection.
Go to the best schools (preferable ones that has a good public policy program - eg ucla, usc, cal, and stanford) and get a masters, work 8 years and get the D. WRE designation and go into water politics. You’ll probably be able to network and get some clients thataway…</p>
<p>Should I get a master’s in water resources engineering straight out of undergrad? or go for a master’s in public policy?</p>
<p>also my undergrad GPA is kind of low, would it be better if i got strong grades in my masters degree for civil engineering first before applying for a master’s in public policy at a top school? ( this means i go for 2 master’s degrees)</p>