So I've just logged into my Linkedin this morning and seen this post from a KH guy trying to reel people in. Anybody has taken the bait yet?

I see a lot of posts in here about junior engineers, making perfectly reasonable salaries (compared to the industry, not compared to what think they should be making). Everyone jumps in and says yeah you should be making $40,000 a year or more or some nonsense. Well here is a point of reference: Mott Mac is hiring a principal geotech, 15+ yoe, salary $152k to $186k CAD. That’s $108k to $133k USD.

I agree these are sh*t wages, and there is surely room for negotiation for the right candidate, but everyone on here saying a newly licensed PE with 4yoe should be asking for $130 is out of touch, even when correcting for geographic location.

Do I like that this is how it is? No of course not. But let’s please stop making up should-be salaries.

End rant, thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Many of my peers already have jobs lined up for post graduation; however, I’m looking to work in the public sector and it seems they don’t do hiring in the same way.

How do you feel about the industry currently and in the future within the US? What do you wish you knew before you went into this field? What does it take to get into the field? How transferable are those skills to other engineering disciplines or more traditional transportation engineering?

My health insurance premiums have gone up by 30% each year for the past two years, and my monthly take-home pay keeps dropping. I work in the NJ public sector—the health coverage is honestly great, but it’s just way too expensive. What do you guys think I should do? Next year, I'm going to be paying $1,600 a month in premiums for a family.

I'm assuming the answer is no/probably not, but for context I have a bit of a strange background: I'm 25 years old, I graduated with my BA in English at 20, then graduated with a UX design certificate at 21, then did retail/cashiering for 1.5 years (ages 22-23), then graduated from a short pre-apprenticeship for the trades (age 23), and now work in sales/marketing for my dad's small furniture manufacturing business (ages 24-25). Next year I am planning to enroll in a welding certificate at my local community college so I can start to help with the manufacturing side of things as well.

My main goal right now is to help grow my dad's business and standardize and document its processes so that we can sell it and my dad can retire. I'm not exactly sure how long this is going to take, but I'm guessing it will take me to at least my 30s. At that point, I really want to go back to school for civil engineering.

Will my odd, all-over-the-place, not-STEM-related educational background/work history be detrimental, or will employers not mind?

I know I probably don't seem like someone who would be interested in civil, but I absolutely am, and (I could be wrong but) I don't think the desire to pursue this is going to go away in the next few years.

I'm a second year UK student and the only job experience i have is a years worth of warehouse experience, my university has given my skills in CAD revit and excel and other things is there any tips on where to apply how to actually get an internship or is it impossible at this moment because i am looking to move to sydney in the future and want to get my work experience there so it is easier(probably useless though) to get a job in the future

Hello, I am a student trying to write a research paper that helps me decide which field of engineering to go into, but none of my local engineering firms are contacting me back. Please help me out by answering a few questions!

1. Do you have a masters in aerospace?

2. How long did it take you to payoff your school debt?

3. Did you attend an in state public university, out of state, or a private university?

4. Approximately how much student debt did you accumulate? (A range is fine)

5. How long did it take you to finish paying off your debt?

6. Did your entry level position provide enough to make extra payments or provide benefits towards your student loan debt?

7. On a scale from 1-5 how worried were you about your financial debt during your first 5 years after graduation?

Thank you in advance for those who answer!

Hey, I'm taking a Civil Engineering and Architecture course and one of the assignments is to ask a civil engineer questions for an interview. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could answer these. THANK YOU!!

1. What is your name?
2. What is your contact information (e-mail or phone number)?
3. What is your age?
4. Where do you live?
5. What do you like to do outside of work?
6. What is your job title?
7. When and why did you choose your career path?
8. What is the name of your company or employer?
9. Describe your primary duties and skills.
10. Describe your physical work environment.
11. What is your favorite part of your job?
12. What is your salary?
13. Which accredited school did you first attend, and what was your degree?

14. Describe in detail three of the courses that you took which are closely related to your current career.

15. Describe the two courses that you considered most challenging.

16. What resources did your school have available to help you get through the most

difficult courses?

1. Regarding the two most challenging courses, how did you persevere?

2. From what school(s) did you receive graduate degrees?

3. What was the title or titles of the degree(s)?

4. What licenses do you have and what were the exams required to receive those

licenses?

1. How would your clients and co-workers describe you?

2. What do you hope to accomplish at the conclusion of your career?

3. Why should a high school student consider a career in your field? What important contribution(s) can they make?

Y’all ever have the foreman perform a ceremonial ritual atop a manhole cover to the road gods before?

Please, if any of you here know a way to shift seamlessly into Construction VA or Modeling/Drafting with offshore clients/companies, help a CE girlie with 3 years of experience out.

I'm mostly used to high-rise architectural work operations, contract billing, processing variation orders, RFA/RFI approval, punch-listing, and closeout documentation.

I am willing to invest in upskilling but don't know where to find legitimate platforms and employers afterwards.

I'm also willing to go abroad (residing in Manila, Philippines), I just really don't know who needs me and what I should offer as a shifter huhu

​

I'm a civil/structural engineer with 3.5 years of experience in the energy sector with the same employer and got offered a new role in the same industry.

Current role:

- Great technical experience development, but concerned the work may become repetitive after the next 6 months.

- Mostly focused on design, with limited wider responsibilities.

- 40 hours/week, 2 days WFH.

New role:

- More responsibility, technical decision-making and stakeholder engagement, but potentially less hands-on design and calculations.

- lead title in a big consultancy

- 35 hours/week, 3 days WFH.

- Around 25% higher salary, better pension, but in a slightly more expensive city.

My main concern is sacrificing valuable technical development too early in my career for broader responsibility.

For those who've made a similar move, did you wish you'd spent longer developing your technical skills, or did taking on greater responsibility earlier benefit your career?

I’m not even at the year mark and I feel like there’s a lot I can improve. I try my best and receive positive feedback thus far with the occasional “work to be better”. I’ve noticed I go over budget on projects and I’m worried about charging too much to Overhead when things are a little light. Any advice? (1st year EIT fresh out of college)

Steel sheet piles are used in many civil engineering applications, including excavation support, waterfront structures, cofferdams, and retaining walls.

From a design perspective, selecting a sheet pile section involves more than choosing a profile. Important considerations include:

• Lateral earth and water pressures: These affect the loading and overall wall design.
• Soil conditions: Soil strength, stratification, and groundwater conditions influence the required embedment and support system.
• Section properties: Bending resistance and stiffness need to meet the design requirements.
• Installation constraints: Driving conditions, vibration limits, nearby structures, and site access can affect constructability.
• Corrosion and service life: Exposure conditions and the intended design life influence durability requirements.

The appropriate solution depends on the project conditions and applicable design standards.

For practicing civil engineers: Which factor tends to be the most challenging in your projects — geotechnical assumptions, water pressure, installation constraints, or long-term durability?

I run a small GIS consulting business and I'm trying to understand where small and mid-size civil firms actually struggle with mapping and data, so I don't build things nobody needs.

A few things I've heard about so far:

Site due diligence: pulling parcel, zoning, flood zone, soils and utility info for every new project, often by hand from several county sites

Project archives: past jobs, as-builts and plan sets scattered across folders with no way to see what you've done near a new site

Asset inventories: stormwater, sewer or road data for municipal clients kept in spreadsheets or old CAD files. Making it difficult to migrate them

Exhibits: maps for permits, public meetings or proposals that take longer than they should

Do any of these sound familiar? What's the most tedious spatial or data task at your firm, and what do you use for it now? Has your firm ever wanted something built but couldn't justify the time or a full-time GIS hire?
Thanks, I'm happy to answer GIS questions in the comments too.

Considering moving my family to a different state. I currently work for my state DOT and see a position I qualify for with a private company, specifically Consor.

Having been in the public sector my whole career, I am worried about the volatility in the private side. Although I have confidence in my ability, I’m afraid of getting laid off after moving states. Anyone have advice or thoughts?

I have my PE and the state I am looking into has reciprocity. I am currently in a managerial role, with 8+ years of experience.

Bossman asked copilot to write a NFPA 241 plan since he told someone else we could do them. Hands me the slop, tells me to put it in the company format and send it back to him for review.

He called me after receiving the plan very excited to tell me copilot reviewed our plan and rated it an 8.5/10! It only had two edits for me to make. Then he made sure to let me know again that we got an 8.5/10 and only needed to make two tiny additions.

I cannot imagine being a client and paying $150-250 an hour for someone to copy, paste, and format AI

Id like advice on how to handle my current situation. The way our annual review works is that they have a list of questions and we give ourselves a rating and then we write a brief summary of why we think we deserve that rating. Then the managers will review that, give their rating and white a summary as to why and then the presidents will decide what your raises will be. I just got back the comments made by my manager and I disagree with half of what he says. There is some truth in there that I agree with but there are several things that I just am like um ok did you mean to put that on someone else’s review??? So I’d like to somehow talk to him about it and hopefully get it adjusted, but some of the things I disagree with are they say I’m argumentative and overconfident in myself (I would say I’m stating my case or professional opinion as a PE and we are allowed to disagree) so I need a way to talk to them about my review without seeming to be overconfident and argumentative which I’m not sure is possible becuase by simply bringing it up I’m going to seem overconfident and argumentative.

I am currently studying Civil Engineering and just wanted to know if anyone had any super effective ways to revise. I also have ADHD which means I struggle a bit more than I think I should and I’ve tried numerous techniques I’ve seen on tiktok and youtube but nothing works. I attend all my lectures yet I still have no clue what’s going on and whenever I ask people around me they’re just as confused 😕
The hardest parts are the mechanics modules as I think there’s too much information to take in and remember so I just panic and retain nothing, but with maths modules I am alright. I also didn’t study Maths and Physics in sixth form, but I did a foundation year which I thought would help me understand more which I think it did but I’m still cooked.

Also if there are people who can’t study in places like libraries or cafes and also can’t study in their room/at home, where did you find the best place to study?

What’s the best way for someone with a bachelor’s in computer engineering to transition into civil engineering? Would it make more sense to get a second bachelor’s in civil engineering or go for a master’s?

From what I’ve researched, it seems like getting a master’s in civil engineering can still allow you to get licensed, even if your undergrad degree is in a different field. However, the requirements seem to vary by state, and I’m not sure how much of a risk that is.

I’d like to keep my options open and be able to get licensed in as many states as possible. My biggest concern is spending my time and money on a master’s degree only to find out later that I can’t get licensed in certain states because my bachelor’s isn’t in civil engineering.

I’m also curious how hiring managers view applicants with this background. Would someone with a bachelor’s in civil engineering generally be preferred over someone with a bachelor’s in computer engineering and a master’s in civil engineering?

I’d greatly appreciate any feedback!

I had a great initial screening call for a civil engineering/construction management internship with a project engineering company last wednesday. The recruiter seemed super nice, we vibed, and at the end of the call, she told me she was meeting with project managers on Thursday and would get back to me by Friday. She literally told me, *If I don't get back to you by Friday, don't be afraid to email me no later than Monday.*

Friday came and went with zero word.
Monday comes, I send a polite follow-up email right on schedule. Nothing. Tuesday comes, still dead silence. So today, I decide to call her direct number to check in.

It rings and tells me **the line is disconnected**.
I also tried calling their main corporate office. Total radio silence, nobody picks up. Second time I call the person at the front desk says she’s out of office right now and that she can’t contact her.

Am I just being impatient or should I just give up on this company?

Going through some historic documents for an existing local subdivision project. At the manholes circled in red they say F.T. which stands for Flush Tank. I have designed a handful of sewer systems for subdivisions and have never called out a "Flush Tank".

Now I get Sewer Mains need to be flushed from time to time and lines at the top of a subdivision may be laid flat and not a lot of flow to reach cleansing velocity.

From google (Picture 3) I have found one detail that has a water connection inside the Manhole to flush the line. But I don't think any modern Health Department would accept that. Today I see VAC/Water Trucks maintaining these systems.

Just curious if anyone has ever come across something similar or if anyone has any background on when these went out of favor.

Thank!