Civil Engineering Career Advice

[dannybananie]

Hi Everyone,

I’m looking more or less for career advice. I graduated in 2011 with a bachelors in civil engineering with an emphasis in water resources engineering. For the past 6 years I have worked for a consulting firm focusing primarily on environmental compliance but also field inspections. I started my masters in civil about two years ago (about 2/3 complete) and passed the October 2017 PE exam. I have been trying to transition more towards site development or municipal engineering. I’ve begun teaching myself Civil 3D and am at a moderate skill level in basic 2D AutoCAD. The interviews I have had focusing on entry level positions in site development or municipal engineering place a heavy emphasis on professional experience in Civil 3D as well as professional site development work which I don’t have. Any advice on tacks I could take where I have educational experience but my professional experience is somewhat unrelated?

 

[matt267 PE]

could you take a Civil 3D class at a local community college? That will help bridge the gap between self taught and professional experience in Civil 3D. 

 

[utilityeng]

Hi Everyone,

I’m looking more or less for career advice. I graduated in 2011 with a bachelors in civil engineering with an emphasis in water resources engineering. For the past 6 years I have worked for a consulting firm focusing primarily on environmental compliance but also field inspections. I started my masters in civil about two years ago (about 2/3 complete) and passed the October 2017 PE exam. I have been trying to transition more towards site development or municipal engineering. I’ve begun teaching myself Civil 3D and am at a moderate skill level in basic 2D AutoCAD. The interviews I have had focusing on entry level positions in site development or municipal engineering place a heavy emphasis on professional experience in Civil 3D as well as professional site development work which I don’t have. Any advice on tacks I could take where I have educational experience but my professional experience is somewhat unrelated?

I was in the same boat about 4 yrs ago, except I worked in the mechanical engineering field and wanted to switch over to civil. I made bookmarks for every county and municipality career website within 50 miles of where I lived, and applied for everything I thought I had a chance at for 2 years straight. It was an uphill battle as I had zero experience in civil engineering and had never used AutoCAD - so I knew I had to stick with entry level positions and was prepared to take a pay cut. Finally, after two years of searching I had a great interview with a local county utility dept. and landed a job as an entry level utility engineer. That was in June of 2016. I've taught myself Civil3D since then, and now I'm the go-to "expert" for Civil3D in the office, simply because I'm the only one who knows how to actually utilize it! 

At least where I'm located, I've noticed all of the older engineers in the county aren't willing to learn C3D. That's fine by me - job security. Anyway - if you have access to C3D (students get 3 yrs free), youtube is a great resource, as well as the tutorials that come with the program. I worked through most of the tutorials, and when I desired more information on a particular function, I consulted youtube. Additionally, the AutoDesk C3D forum has been a great help to me when I get stuck on something. In the end,what you need to know will all come down to how you plan to actually using the program. It's massively complex software, so your job may only require you to know a small percentage of its functions, and those will be heavily dependent upon whether you're actually creating designs or not.

One word of caution with municipality work, be prepared for a hefty pay cut if you're coming from the world of consulting firms. However, the benefits and work/life balance make up for it in my opinion. If that's what you're interested in doing, I'd suggest scouring the career websites like I did and applying for everything that fits your requirements, even if you think you may be under qualified for the position.

 

[dannybananie]

I was in the same boat about 4 yrs ago, except I worked in the mechanical engineering field and wanted to switch over to civil. I made bookmarks for every county and municipality career website within 50 miles of where I lived, and applied for everything I thought I had a chance at for 2 years straight. It was an uphill battle as I had zero experience in civil engineering and had never used AutoCAD - so I knew I had to stick with entry level positions and was prepared to take a pay cut. Finally, after two years of searching I had a great interview with a local county utility dept. and landed a job as an entry level utility engineer. That was in June of 2016. I've taught myself Civil3D since then, and now I'm the go-to "expert" for Civil3D in the office, simply because I'm the only one who knows how to actually utilize it! 

At least where I'm located, I've noticed all of the older engineers in the county aren't willing to learn C3D. That's fine by me - job security. Anyway - if you have access to C3D (students get 3 yrs free), youtube is a great resource, as well as the tutorials that come with the program. I worked through most of the tutorials, and when I desired more information on a particular function, I consulted youtube. Additionally, the AutoDesk C3D forum has been a great help to me when I get stuck on something. In the end,what you need to know will all come down to how you plan to actually using the program. It's massively complex software, so your job may only require you to know a small percentage of its functions, and those will be heavily dependent upon whether you're actually creating designs or not.

One word of caution with municipality work, be prepared for a hefty pay cut if you're coming from the world of consulting firms. However, the benefits and work/life balance make up for it in my opinion. If that's what you're interested in doing, I'd suggest scouring the career websites like I did and applying for everything that fits your requirements, even if you think you may be under qualified for the position.

Thank your for the reply! Your switch from mechanical to civil seems much more drastic so I'm glad it worked out for you. I have access to Civil 3D through the company I currently work for. I've been watching/working through videos from LinkedIn Premium and Lynda which I believe LinkedIn purchased a few years ago.? If you need to learn a new program, I recommend that service. 

 

[utilityeng]

Sounds like you're on the right track then. Does your consulting firm do any work for local municipalities? If so, I'd try to forge some relationships with the individuals you come across.

Most of our design work is outsourced to consultants with whom we have a revolving continuing engineering services contract. The in-house engineers design the smaller jobs and act as project managers for the large projects that consultants are assigned to.

Since gov. projects are sometimes a large chunk of consulting firms work loads, I've found that the consultants are often interested in poaching talent from the gov. to obtain our inside knowledge & contacts. It's definitely a great position to be in.