<p>So I am currently a junior civil engineering major at Louisiana State University. I have just received an internship with a construction management company for the summer where I will be working in the field. After getting this internship, I have starting questioning whether I want to work as a civil engineer (more design) or go into the construction management side. I don't think I would like sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day as much as I would enjoy getting outside in the field from time to time.</p>
<p>So here are some of the questions I have...
-Is the pay in construction management similar to that of a civil engineer?
-Which career path would be best for the long term as far as promotion opportunities and maximum salary?
-Do all civil engineers deal with just the design or can they work their way into a management role?</p>
<p>And I apologize for my ignorance as I currently have no experience in either field just yet. I am just stuck between the two career paths and would like to gear my CE electives toward one or the other my senior year. </p>
<p>I am also a junior in CE. I just finished my first term of my schools co-op program. At the office I was working at I was able to experience both sides of it. I was doing around 70% office and 30% field. I personally enjoyed the field work the most. I start to go crazy if i’m sitting in front of a computer to long. Allot the guys where I am, who do the out of office stuff, don’t have engineering degrees just experience. I know there are engineering field positions out there though. I can’t say much about salary differences. Hopefully Ken will see this post and can help. I do know that just because you work in construction management does not mean you are in the field. You can still be in the office all day putting together bid packages, getting permits, scheduling, and so on.</p>
<p>I plan to do my emphasis in geo-technical engineering. I have been interested in this for awhile and have been asking allot of questions about the field. Allot of the engineers I talked to said this field often requires more field work than some of the others. Allot of job posting I have seen say some field work required. I am hoping for a job where I can do both design and field work. Doing things like geotech investigations out in the field/lab then come back to the office and do some design.</p>
<p>Sorry, I missed this thread. I usually catch these construction management threads, but this one slipped through the cracks.</p>
<p>Construction management salaries are similar, if not a little higher than in civil engineering. The latest BLS numbers appear to reflect that. Then again, it is a bit more stressful in CM than in civil engineering. </p>
<p>Both civil engineering and construction management will have their own promotion opportunities as they’re different fields with different tracks. As far as a salary ceiling, I can say that my boss makes somewhere between $200k and $250k. Perhaps somebody else can fill you in on the civil engineering side.</p>
<p>Yes being in construction management doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the field. There are quite a few positions in our home office where the people do stare at computer screens most of the day.</p>
<p>If you have any questions at all about CM, don’t hesitate to send me a PM. Include your email in your PM if you would rather correspond through that.</p>