# Is the job prospect for civil not looking good?



## driedupfish (Jul 10, 2010)

I am an undergrad in civil. I've heard the current job prospect for civil engineering isn't looking very good, especially in the structural side. So I am tempting to switch out. I am equally interested in mechanical and civil, however, my gpa wasn't good enough to get into mechanical. So instead I am considering transfer into General Engineering with a secondary field in Automotive Engineering or Robotics. Which one has better job prospect (civil or general engineering)?

General Engineering curriculum in my university consist of the following subfields:

* Automotive Engineering

* Bioengineering

* Business Systems Integration &amp; Consulting

* Civil Engineering Structures

* Communications and Computer Systems

* Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing

* Computer Science

* Construction

* Control Systems

* Engineering Administration

* Engineering Marketing

* Environmental Quality

* Manufacturing Engineering

* Nondestructive Testing &amp; Evaluation

* Operations Research

* Quality Control

* Rehabilitation Engineering

* Robotics

* Theoretical &amp; Applied Mechanics

Like I said, I am equally interested in both of these engineering disciplines, I am looking to compare which one has better job prospect.

Is here another field of engineering that is similar to MechE, that I can look into?

Another question: If I choose to stay in civil, which primary field has better job prospect (structural, geotech, environmental, construction management..etc) ?

By the way, I attend the University of Illinois.


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## ELEPE (Jul 10, 2010)

How about petroleum engineering. Big $$$ and lots of demand.


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## MGX (Jul 10, 2010)

I'd be shocked if U of I offers petroleum engineering. I thought only universities in the South have those programs.

Personally I love manufacturing, but chose civil because I don't think buildings will be outsourced due to our legal system. I've found that I really like construction and stuck with it. I think the best prospects would be to major in civil and get into construction project management ASAP.

However some oil companies will hire mechanical and civil engineers then train them to do petroleum engineering. If you'd like to do that focus as much as you can on mechanics, soils and geology and be sure to take at least chem II.


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## EM_PS (Jul 10, 2010)

driedupfish said:


> I am an undergrad in civil. I've heard the current job prospect for civil engineering isn't looking very good, especially in the structural side. So I am tempting to switch out. I am equally interested in mechanical and civil, however, *my gpa wasn't good enough to get into mechanical*.


They really have diff gpa requirements for diff engineering disciplines? Or are you referring to specific subjects more germane to mech program?



driedupfish said:


> Which one has better job prospect (civil or general engineering)?General Engineering curriculum in my university consist of the following subfields:
> 
> * Automotive Engineering
> 
> ...


I would probably say the general engineering angle could lead to more job prospects in present economy. Just be aware however, that once you stray from civil, a 'general' degree is unlikely to allow you to still consider civil opps at all IMO.


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## driedupfish (Jul 11, 2010)

EM_PS said:


> driedupfish said:
> 
> 
> > I am an undergrad in civil. I've heard the current job prospect for civil engineering isn't looking very good, especially in the structural side. So I am tempting to switch out. I am equally interested in mechanical and civil, however, *my gpa wasn't good enough to get into mechanical*.
> ...


y'know, general engineering really sounds like a made-up engineering major. I am only interested in it because it offers a broad list of sub-fields that I can look at. Its Automotive Engineering and Robotics secondary field sounds interesting. But I am not sure if the job prospect is any good for this field. I mean, wouldn't you, as a prospective employer, would rather hire a mechanical engineer than someone with a degree in general engineering focus on automotive engineering, because this discipline is so unheard of?

I think with civil I'll have more job opportunities. However, automotive engineering or Robotics seems really interesting. Although I also like civil.

I am currently In civil, I have been approved to transfer to general engineering. It is really down to which one has better job prospect.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jul 11, 2010)

I really mean no offense by this, but if you are interested in automobiles or robotics, you should save some money and go to a trade school/community college. If your end goal is to work on automobile design, you need a mechanical engineering degree and if you would like to work in robotics, you need an electrical engineering degree.

I would say that the job prospects for a General Engineering graduate are slim to none. Civil may not be good right now, but it is probably the least cyclical of the engineering majors. The recession has really hurt mechanical and electrical engineers because they tend to design stuff for large and/or expensive machinery...which is the first stuff to get cut from the budget in an economic downturn.


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## EM_PS (Jul 11, 2010)

wilheldp_PE said:


> I would say that the job prospects for a General Engineering graduate are slim to none.


I don't know about that...most gen eng grads end up in a manufacturing role (non-design) - product engineer, line engineer, qa/qc, packaging engineer, etc - plastics, metal finishing, automotive supply, etc. Its nowhere near the level of a mechie, or electrical, chemical etc, but this guy's just looking at availability of prospects (I think) - and of a certainty, those 'engineer' positions are all over the place, from 10 person plants, to interstate corps. I do think it (gen engineering) would be a bit of a cop out unless grad school is an option.


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## Supe (Jul 12, 2010)

If outsourcing is a big concern, then robotics and automotive are not two fields you really want to consider...


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## Dleg (Jul 12, 2010)

^Agree. I graduated mechanical in 1990 (yep, got the chops to do M.E., unlike you lowly civils.  ). Even then it didn't seem like there were all that many opportunities in manufacturing. But there were far more then than there are now.

(By the way I am now civil/enviro - my school talked me out of switching to civil during undergrad. So one lesson of that would be to make sure you get a degree in a field you actually want to work in, and try not to "think" your way into something else that seems more marketable, or, like me, you'll end up with a degree that you wish you didn't have)



driedupfish said:


> I was told I need at least a 3.85 gpa to get into mechanical.


^Yikes! I never would have made it in ME with those requirements...


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## Santiagj (Jul 13, 2010)

3.85 thats *freakin crazy talk*. I graduated with my B.S.C.E. with a 2.71 gpa, rounded up thank you very much. One lesson I learned is that I'm not good at chemistry. The norm at my university was a high C low B gpa for all engineering majors. Having the low gpa didn't stop me from getting a masters or getting my PE as soon as I could so I wouldn't read into it much.

That seems weird to me though. I guess it is because I was accepted into the engineering curriculum when I first enrolled for undergrad. I never had a gpa target I needed to hit. Once in the engineering program we had to maintain a gpa higher than 2.0 and could not pass an engineering course or pre-requisite unless we had a C or better. I thought that was pretty much standard.


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## Capt Worley PE (Jul 13, 2010)

Civil engineering is a lot more portable than mechanical, and there are a lot more jobs out there, in my experience. I was out of work for two years looking for a mechie job within commuting distance after I got laid off in the '01 recession.


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## MechGuy (Jul 13, 2010)

Is the General Engineering program you mention even ABET accredited? I doubt that it is. If it's not, don't even think about switching. Trust me, that's a huge mistake that will haunt you in the future. Take it from a guy who did just what you are talking about and took years to fix with a Master's down the road in order to take the PE exam.

I don't understand this whole 3.85 GPA thing just to get into ME. You shouldn't need a certain GPA to transfer into a major. You simply take the classes required for that major. If you can pass all the classes required, there should be no problem, right? I know lots of MEs who graduated with GPAs much lower than 3.85, myself included.

As others have said, if you are interested in automotive engineering, you might as well get a mechanical engineering degree. Auto engineering classes are usually electives that MEs can take in their junior and senior years.

I think it will be hard to do anything with that General Engineering degree... stick with either Civil or Mechanical and your future job prospects will be better.

Good luck!


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## ALBin517 (Jul 13, 2010)

Santiagj said:


> 3.85 thats *freakin crazy talk*. I graduated with my B.S.C.E. with a 2.71 gpa, rounded up thank you very much. One lesson I learned is that I'm not good at chemistry. The norm at my university was a high C low B gpa for all engineering majors. Having the low gpa didn't stop me from getting a masters or getting my PE as soon as I could so I wouldn't read into it much.
> That seems weird to me though. I guess it is because I was accepted into the engineering curriculum when I first enrolled for undergrad. I never had a gpa target I needed to hit. Once in the engineering program we had to maintain a gpa higher than 2.0 and could not pass an engineering course or pre-requisite unless we had a C or better. I thought that was pretty much standard.



I always heard: "If you are getting better than a 2.5 in your General Ed then you are not spending enough time on your engineering classes."


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## EM_PS (Jul 13, 2010)

Dleg said:


> driedupfish said:
> 
> 
> > I was told I need at least a 3.85 gpa to get into mechanical.
> ...


i'm guessing that's either urban legend, scholarship based, or honor society based. I highly doubt every mech grad from U of IL graduates magna cum laude...unless they have 5.0 gpa scale or something


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## driedupfish (Jul 13, 2010)

EM_PS said:


> Dleg said:
> 
> 
> > driedupfish said:
> ...


Maybe I wasn't being clear, one of my advisor mentioned that one needs at least 3.8 to transfer into mechanical from another major(as an undergrad). I think the reason our mech program is so tough to get into because it's very popular and there aren't many seats left.


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## benbo (Jul 14, 2010)

^^^

I believe what this fellow is saying.

At some schools, certain engineering majors are under such demand that entering Freshman first have to get into the school, then meet additional requirements to get into the major. I think they call these "impacted programs." Berkeley EECS is notorious for this.

I imagine they have similar requirements for those attempting to transfer in from other departments.

OTOH I don't know if they will let you just take classes if you aren't officially admitted to the major.


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## MechGuy (Jul 14, 2010)

You should be able to take any class you sign up for, and I would think that if you can pass the classes listed in the ME program, the university should have no reason to bar you from obtaining that degree. You could take the necessary classes for say a semester or two, and show the ME department heads that you have no problem passing those classes. I would think they would then officially let you in the program to obtain the degree.

If they don't, it sounds like a pretty shitacular school to me.


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## Dleg (Jul 14, 2010)

What would be a worse school, one that limits the number of students in a class, or one that allows as many in who want to join? Freshman physics at my school had 350 people in it, and a professor that could barely speak engrish. That's pretty "shitacular" in my book.

Not that I think there's any reason to require a 3.85 GPA to get into a particular degree (M.E. in particular .... sheesh), but schools have to be selective to some degree, in order to keep their classes manageable and provide a decent learning experience for those who are paying tuition.


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## MechGuy (Jul 15, 2010)

Dleg said:


> What would be a worse school, one that limits the number of students in a class, or one that allows as many in who want to join? Freshman physics at my school had 350 people in it, and a professor that could barely speak engrish. That's pretty "shitacular" in my book.
> Not that I think there's any reason to require a 3.85 GPA to get into a particular degree (M.E. in particular .... sheesh), but schools have to be selective to some degree, in order to keep their classes manageable and provide a decent learning experience for those who are paying tuition.



I agree to an extent that large auditorium classes suck, but I went to a large school and that was common for freshman level classes. It sucked but that was life at a school of 40,000 students.

But even in first and second year engineering classes, I highly doubt you would see as many students taking statics and thermo as you would see in a physics class. And you would see even less after those classes because half of the people who take those initial engineering classes don't pass and are weeded out.

I think that the difficulty of the engineering classes themselves will be enough to keep class size manageable. If you can pass the classes, you should be allowed in the degree program without any magical GPA just to get your foot in the door.


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## Supe (Jul 15, 2010)

It was the same way when I was at Ohio State. While the GPA to get into the program was attainable, Honors students and Athletes got priority scheduling, as do students officially enrolled in that major, and they went down the line based on GPA from there. So the odds of you having a low GPA or not being enrolled in that major and just sitting in on a class that was part of the standard engineering curriculum would have been damn near impossible. 56k students on campus at that time...


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## EM_PS (Jul 15, 2010)

our worse gpa mandate was the requirement for min C avg (2.0) in core classes like physics &amp; calc before going on to the higher level stuff - of course this was not a Big 10 school either fwiw.


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## MechGuy (Jul 15, 2010)

Supe said:


> It was the same way when I was at Ohio State.


I'll keep my comments on how shitacular OSU is to myself  Ohhowihateohiostate. GO BLUE!

ha!


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## driedupfish (Jul 18, 2010)

It kind of sucks that my school has such strict admission criteria for getting into Mech. Kind of makes me want to transfer to another school. However, let me first say that I like it so far in Civil, it's not like I want desperately to get out. But I just want to be in mechanical slightly more. So if I was admitted into both I would go for mech.

I am currently attending University of Illinois, which has a pretty good engineering program. I don't think there are other schools within Illinois that has a comparable engineering program. Also, a good portion of my tuition is covered by financial aid. I whether not look out of state because I don't want to pay more for out of state.

what do you guys think? Better to stay or go somewhere else?

or maybe I can get a degree in both.


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## Riceman (Aug 5, 2010)

if you're a civil grad in the next year or two, you're dead in the water. stay in school til government hires again


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## IlPadrino (Aug 6, 2010)

MechGuy said:


> You should be able to take any class you sign up for, and I would think that if you can pass the classes listed in the ME program, the university should have no reason to bar you from obtaining that degree. You could take the necessary classes for say a semester or two, and show the ME department heads that you have no problem passing those classes. I would think they would then officially let you in the program to obtain the degree.
> If they don't, it sounds like a pretty shitacular school to me.


I didn't think it was that strange that schools limit who can enroll in what classes beyond the General Engineering coursework that was common to all disciplines.


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## Engentek Group (Aug 24, 2010)

From a Headhunters opinion

just my three pennies....

First forget about the job market of today that will change soon. First figure out where you want to go then chase your dream. What do you want to do for a career that makes you look forward to Monday mornings.

Second the college and your gpa only matter for entry level engineering positions. After 3-5 years employers care less about your college and gpa and care about your project track record. Now granted using the alumni angle helps sometimes but that is more about personal chemistry than ability to engineer.

Regarding the Gen Eng degree I would shy away from that. The one area that mangers get very sticky about is they want a BSEE, BSME, or BSCE (also structural, fire protection, nuclear, etc..). They are very definitive about this. For instance if you're a Project Engineer with a BS Construction Management you could have a hard time working with some companies, they want the BSCE. In fact, we had a very experienced candidate (15+yrs same project experience) get rejected because the FEDS demanded the BSCE degree on an overseas project. So be careful and keep the end in mind.

There are many engineering areas out there that will thrive in the future..Don't overlook nuclear energy( 20 years of neglect means real short on talent), energy transmission (our grid needs work), data center design (ME's greatly needed and the cloud is growing), transportation design...I could go on and on.

Stay flexible and keep an ear for the pulse of your industry. Civil, especially for residential and commercial projects are slow today but somebody has to design the sites for all the new reactors going in over the next several years or the federal projects being built today.

Don't over analyze, you cant always engineer your future. Unfortunately they don't hand you a crystal ball with your diploma either. At the end of the day trust your gut and just go for it!


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## Chucktown PE (Aug 24, 2010)

For what it's worth, Clemson has an excellent Automotive Engineering program as a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Also for what it's worth, we had to have at least a 2.75 to get out of the freshman general engineering program and into a discipline specific engineering program at Clemson. I started as a ME and transferred to Civil.

As far as job opportunities go, I think Civil will be one of the most stable in the future. Our nation's infrastructure is crumbling beneath our feet due to neglect, there are not enough engineers graduating from school to backfill the ones that are retiring, and the country can't do without water/wastewater treatment, roads, bridges, etc.

Even with the economy the way it is I have been approached about a number of different job opportunities.

Just do what you enjoy and success will follow.


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## picusld (Aug 24, 2010)

In addition to getting BSCE I would also look into the state requirements for obtaining your professional land surveying license. I know very few individuals who do this and it is something that I may pursue myself. In PA it is only 10 surveying credits on top of the BSCE to sit for the SIT exam.

Could be very usefull if you do anything with development.

Just food for thought...


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