Urban planner interested in civil engineering career

[nrschmid]

Good Evening!

I currently work as an urban designer for a civil engineering firm in Houston. I have a BUP from UIUC and over the past decade have worked on +200 projects in five states. I spent half of college in architecture school before earning a non-design based urban planning degree. I taught myself site design, including streets and lots, and am currently the main land use designer at my firm where I design subdivisions, master planned communities, and town centers. This is my second job working at an engineering firm, although the first employer where I work directly with civil engineers on a daily basis.

I am considering pursuing a Masters in Civil Engineering degree because I want to go further in the actual design of communities, not just platting and conceptual plans. I would like to learn paving, grading, stormwater/detention design, utility planning, road alignments, etc. I have an informational interview at UH's Civil Engineering program tomorrow (http://www.cive.uh.edu/programs/civil-graduate/master-mce). As I do not have an accredited undergraduate engineering degree, I would have to finish a three year masters. I would continue to work at my employer as full time planner while pursuing the graduate degree part time. I am gunning for a senior position with managerial responsibilities as a planner, so I doubt I would be able to do more than one course per semester, and taking the maximum time of five years to complete degree. I have discussed this with my direct supervisor (also a planner) and my company offers tuition reimbursement. Before I even seriously apply to the program, I will have a talk with the owner of the company (a civil engineer) and find out what my options are upon graduation and if they would hire me as an E.I.T.

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself to this forum. If anyone has general questions, comments, suggestions, please let me know! I am also interested in other chat rooms/discussion forums on the civil engineering profession. Thank you again!

 

[new_injuneer]

I have a similar background. Two things strike me about your post.

One is that if you want to do land/site/road development, I don't think a Masters would help you that much. Civil Engineering Masters are more helpful when geared towards technical pursuits, such as Structural and Geotechnical, and even environmental. Of course, others here have much more experience with that field than me, but I don't believe Civil Masters programs have classes geared towards that. More tangential.

The second thing is that if you do the masters, you may not be able to sit for the EIT and thus the PE. You need to check with the state of Texas. In other words, if they are making you do an extra year, you might as well do the bachelors. In my opinion, the undergrad courses would be more helpful than the grad classes in site development. It will teach you CAD and things like head and fluid mechanics and how to design a retaining wall if need be.

 

[new_injuneer]

Another thing to add is that I fully endorse what you are doing.

If you can get the CE degree and eventually earn some experience with designing sites and HEC-RAS and AutoCAD, I think not only could it help your upward mobility, it could help you branch out if times get lean in planning.

 

[dymobs]

I am a licensed PE in Texas. If I recall they let you take the EIT with any engineering or engineering technology degree. You can sit for the PE if you have a BS+4 years experience, or a Master's + 2-3 years experience.

It is all on their website, but I recall needing less experience if you have your master's to take the PE. I dont see why they wouldnt let you sit for the EIT with Master's only.

 

[solomonb]

Let's focus a little more crisply here. In my opinion, you will do better to get a BSCE than a Master's degree. I don't know your academic background, however, you should be able to get a BSCE in 3 years, which will allow you to take the EIT and PE exams with the requisite amount of experience. I think that is a better track than going for a Master's degree-- at least at this juncture.

I am all for advanced graduate education, however, to get where you want to go--i.e., design subdivisions, learn roads, water, drainage, getting a BSCE is a better approach. I suspect that your owner will concur as well.

Check out the Texas board web site-- it will tell you what you need to know. Good Luck!