Last year I chose Civil Engineering as my major. That was my freshman year and i just wanted to have something down. Now I'm leaning towards another direction. Before I make a decision, I just wanted to some opinion from others. Are there any civil engineers here? How do you like this profression? Is it hard to find jobs after you graduate?
You forgot. 3. Add more rebar. 4. Before you start calculating see if there is a table out there. 5. Most important. Architects and contractors will always drive you crazy.
Don't worry about how well you build something, some chemical engineer is going to blow it up anyway.
Old joke: What's the difference between civil and mechanical/chemical engineers? Mechanical/chemical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.
Average Engineering Starting Salaries Civil: $44.3K ChemE: $53.4K EE: $54.4K ME: $51.7K Petroleum: $59.9K
I remember back in the 80's and early 90's civil engineers couldn't find jobs (kind of like chemical/petroleum engineers who were working at the grocery store because they couldn't find a job). I remember at the pharmacy I worked at, we hired a new pharmacist who had a masters degree in civil engineering. He went after his pharmacy degree after he couldn't find a job using his civil engineering degree.
What else are you looking at? I'm a Mechanical Engineer from UT and I love it! Engineering is not as difficult once you get past the first year or two. You start to get the hang of it and make friends...pretty fun...at least my experience was. Jobs are plentiful right now. Most of them are with the city for developing roads, airports, bridges, overpasses, etc. Talk to your career center and listen to some seminars and presentations from ASCE or any other organization to get a better idea.
I'm thinking about switching to what i have alot more interest in...Computer Engineering more specifically hardware engineering. I'm alot more interested of what/ how computers are made than how to build a bridge. But I don't really know. Yeah also as some of you guys said, I don't see myself getting a decent job with my degree in civil engineering and actually being happy with it.
I am an EE by major, but I work in software. I started off in college as a Mechanical Engineer, but changed majors after finding out how many different things you could actually do with an EE degree. There is a lot of math involved with an EE degree. I was actually one class away from a math minor. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably get a business degree then either get an MBA or go to law school. It really depends on if you are a good problem solver. That has been my experience with being an engineer. The job requires problem solving skills, and an aptitude to "think outside the box."
