Jobs for the Major
How this major affects a job search
Engineers are focused and determined individuals. They go to school to get knowledge that will help get them a job, and that's what'll happen if you get a civil engineering degree. This degree will allow you to jump between different fields of engineering if you want to, or you can latch onto coastal engineering and never let go.
This flexibility transitions to your work week, as well. In-office workers will typically have a normal nine-to-five type of schedule with the occasional overtime required. If you choose to take a job out in the field, such as overseeing the progress for current projects, your hours are likely to be much more varied.
You'll learn how to handle budgets, place orders, improve plans, and oversee other people's work, all of which are valuable job skills to have. You'll be successful as long as you don't go to the middle of nowhere, where the average town puts up a new Dairy Queen once a year and throws a big party for it.
Not that there's anything wrong with Dairy Queen. It would just look minuscule in the shadow of, we dunno, creating a new skyscraper in Manhattan.
Common Career Fields
Coastal Engineering: Coastal Engineers find themselves specializing in areas that are on or very near water…obviously. One of the important areas that these engineers have influence on is that of flooding and coastal erosion, which includes working with marshlands. Sea walls and other flood deterrents are the business of these folks, so if you live near the ocean and have any sort of protection waves lapping up against your door, you've probably got a Coastal Engineer to thank.
Construction Management: With your formal education in civil engineering, you'll be qualified to be a major part of any construction team. The Project Manager and Construction Manager positions are often filled with engineers that have experience running construction projects. Even if you don't score the manager position, many civil engineers serve as consultants to the many people on these projects. This won't give you the bragging rights for being in charge, but it does come with a nice payday.
Environmental Engineering: Environmental Engineers are seeing a growing trend in demand because most developed countries are finally addressing the issues that were ignored for so long. These days, companies can't get away with just dumping all of their toxic sludge into a river, so they bring in environmental engineers to help them develop different ways of handling their environmental issues. This could be anything from where to establish the foundation for a new site to determining an established company's environmental impact.
Geotechnical Engineering: Let's say an engineer is brought on a project to design a new building, but after he draws up the plans for it, he's unsure of whether the shape and size of the building will be stable in fifteen years because of the area it's set to be built on. This is where Geotechnical Engineers shine.
They swoop in and study the soil and rock foundation (geology) of the area and can determine the projected stability of the project. If you've ever been to a house where the doors don't shut properly because the house is slowly shifting, you've seen the work of either a sloppy geotechnical engineer or a project manager that didn't hire one.
Transportation Engineering: These engineers work in areas with many people because their specialization is based around folks needing to get somewhere. They're brought in to help develop transportation systems like buses and trains, as well as deal with areas of high traffic. Successful Transportation Engineers are able to prevent massive traffic jams from occurring naturally, or can at least reduce them to manageable levels. Unfortunately, none of these guys seem to exist in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and pretty much any other big city.
Urban Planning: If you've ever looked at the layout of a city and wondered, "Why would anybody make a city that way?" then you're probably from Boston. On the other hand, if you're walking around a town and find that it's laid out quite nicely, you might want to pay homage to the Urban Planners. These engineers work to keep their towns or cities efficient, as well as pleasing, to the community. They do this by working with any potential construction groups to ensure everything works out best for the area.
Wastewater Engineering: Like several of the other engineers listed here, Wastewater Engineers are heavily invested in environmental issues, with their specialty lying in human waste production. They build systems that efficiently dispose of and recycle sewage. Although not an initially glamorous job, these engineers are unsung heroes. This field takes care of a major issue that exists both in the developed world and especially in underdeveloped nations.
Current unemployment of the major
5.5%Percentage of majors who get a higher degree after college
35%Stats obtained from this source.