|
Civil Engineering checking in. What I do now: I design high voltage transmission lines (69kV and up) for a consultant firm. Life after school: Been really good so far. Job has been stable and fun. I wouldn't change my job now but in a few years I will want to do something different. Would I pick something else: Hell no. It is a terrific industry, it was awesome classes in college, it is fun everyday. The cool thing: I can seriously do a whole crap load of other stuff easily. I would suggest civil engineering to anyone who even thinks they would like it at all. There are so many disciplines and opportunities everywhere for you.
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2009 05:03
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 15:48 |
|
|
My civil degree was 132 hours. I did it in 9 semesters. I had to take Calc 1,2,3 linear Algebra, diffy Q, Physics 1, 2, chem 1,2. Most people I know take 5 years to do their degree, typically with one semester on co-op/internship.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2009 02:43
|
|
|
DNova posted:Diffy Q? That's the most retarded way to write it I've ever seen. It's Differential Equations not Differentially Quations. DifEQ...better? grover posted:The FE exam is a hard test I hope you are not serious... The FE is freaking easy. Buy the review books, go through it, pass. It is seriously easy. The worst part was waiting 2 hours to start the second half. The only people who think it is hard is bad engineers(who don't pass anyway) and lazy people who don't give a drat. spwrozek fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Nov 5, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2009 00:41
|
|
|
grover posted:The thing about the FE is that every question on it is trivially easy... if you know how to do it. If you can't answer the 2 minute problems in 30 seconds, you're doing it wrong. The breadth of the test is so expansive that it's difficult to know how to do it all, though. Everyone gets their area of expertise as a bunch of gimmes, but knowing all the OTHER areas is tough- that's why there's a 40ish% failure rate. I took it 8 years after I graduated college, way overprepared, and left about 2 hours early, scoring well into the 99th percentile when I took it. But I recognize that it's a bitch of a test- I mean, it's 8 hours of marathon test-taking. That is fair enough. I agree with you and think being 8 years out would make it more difficult. I would add one thing is that the problems that you know you have no clue on guess and go on (thermo for me). You are probably not going to figure it out so no point in wasting time.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2009 03:02
|
|
|
hobbesmaster posted:I think some people have no interest in how things work and don't want to tear apart everything to see how it works. To these people engineering must be incredibly difficult. Not all engineering is mech/elec... I have have never 'torn something apart to see how it works'. There are a lot of engineering disciplines out there. I also agree that being an engineer is easy. My job is really pretty much design, make clients happy, answer stupid construction questions...repeat.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2009 18:04
|
|
|
lightpole posted:An engineering degree simply lets you skip the apprenticeship and go in as a journeyman. I have to call some BS on this statement. This is not 1970... You cannot just start working some where and then sit for the PE after your 4-5 years of experience. You have to get an engineering degree from an ABET school, then pass the FE. You then become an EIT and realistically then start your "Journeyman-ship". The degree doesn't met you skip anything because there is no other way to get to the next step.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2009 05:08
|
|
|
Thoguh posted:You're confusing what he's getting at. He's referring to being an apprentice/journeyman in the union for the "Station Engineers", which sounds like they are pprobably electricians. This is totally distinct from being a PE/FE or anything like that. I don't agree with you on me being confused. He said the engineering degree lets you skip an apprenticeship. I don't think this is correct. You cannot become an apprentice and then become an engineer, you have to go to college and get a degree. I feel like this is talking generally not specifically about the "station engineer" (which all of them at the power plant I interned at in college were former electricians in the plant that had put in the time).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2009 00:47
|
|
|
grover posted:He's not talking about tradesmen becoming engineers, he's talking about engineers getting jobs as tradesmen (like electricians, plumbers, welders, etc), which traditionally go apprentice tradesman > journeyman tradesman > master tradesman. This is what I was trying to get at. Although I am not aware of any states that let you sit for the PE without the degree. We have a guy at work who is a PE but can't acquire it in any more states because he has no degree (he is 63 - he was an apprentice and then sat for the PE).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2009 01:13
|
|
|
A Winner is Jew posted:It will also cause you to save your sanity as 80-90% of drafters* are loving retards that will still not draw poo poo right after you correct them for the 5'th time so you're better off just doing it yourself. This mostly applies to mechanical engineers, somewhat to electrical engineers, but 100% for architects and civil engineers. You could not be more correct. Drafters are the most annoying people. We have maybe 2 drafters that are worthwhile (I usually fight tooth and nail to get one on my project). Most have community college degrees of ITT Tech degrees and cannot think at all. You have to write EXACTLY what you want on drawings and then check it over and over. It is frustrating. You are also right that you would be better off doing it by yourself but the budget would be blown up on every project (double the charge rate and all...) fatlightning posted:I am about to graduate with a BA in Econ and a math minor. I am going to enroll in the civil engineering program at my school the following semester. Will my econ degree be of any use to me once I graduate with a BS in CE? I would say it is not going to help at all. If you plan on getting into management you may be able to use some of that knowledge in the future. I would take zero more math classes (assuming the calc you took was 1,2,&3). As a CE you really do not need complex math unless you are going into crazy theory based stuff. My one professor always said now don't be telling the ME's we are using addition and subtraction over here. Until you get into masters level classes the math is pretty simple. With that said welcome to CE the options are endless to whee you want to go.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2009 23:03
|
|
|
dayman posted:
Civil is on the low end of the totem pole. Oh well, I personally don't give a poo poo what other engineering disciplines think about us. dayman posted:That being said, I'm in my last semester in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program at UMass Amherst and I'll soon be employed as a foreman at a large construction firm. Hope your job is solid. A lot of my friends that work at Granite and Kiewit have been laid off. Engineering comes before construction and until we see a turn around in the design sector the construction sector will be hurting. It will be interesting to see what happens after the stimulus money is gone (although none of our clients have seen a dime or want any for what we do). dayman posted:My experiences with CE are as follows: Group work yes all the time. While knowing CAD is helpful. It was only helpful in maybe 4 of my undergrad classes. Realistically you *should* never use autoCAD. You have CAD techs who have a charge rate of at least 1/2 of yours. It is not feasible to have engineers do drafting work. You may use a CAD modeling program (I use PLS-CADD, POLE, Tower daily, CIVIL 3D may be used for road modeling (very cool program btw), etc) but you should not be producing the final project drawings. dayman posted:-Pick a concentration early on. There are a ton of jobs that come under the heading of "Civil Engineer" but the big areas are Structural, Geotechnical, Environmental and Transportation. Research these areas early and find the one that interests you the most. Then take classes that will prepare you for the chosen area. It will make you a lot more marketable in your chosen area once you graduate. Word of caution though, Structural and Geotechnical both all but require an MS to work on anything fun so if you go into either with a BS be prepared for some CAD jockey work. I agree with this (also add the the list Water Resources and Construction). I disagree that you need an MS to do anything in Structural and Geotech though. I concentrated in structural and had 4 job offers that were all very cool (false work, off shore oil rigs, waste water plants, transmission lines) although I did take grad level steel design and foundation design(soils). Like I said above you will do little CAD drawing work... dayman posted:-Get interships. Seriously, an internship with this firm is the only reason I'm getting a job right now in this economy. Work an intership during the summer before both your junior and senior years, do not skip this step! This is the best advice you can give to anyone. I had so many interviews based on two internships and good GPA that I had to turn some down because I had no time for them. I will also say if your school is worth a drat they will have a good job fair (read 150-300 companies minimum) and go in your freshman and sophomore year. Odds are low you will get anything but you will make contacts. People remember who you are and it will help you in your 3rd and 4th year. dayman posted:That's about it. I've absolutely had a blast during my time in the college of engineering. It really changes the way you think about and view the world in profoundly positive ways. Honestly it makes me feel like a superhero sometimes to look at problems that most laypersons would just resign themselves to not understanding and be able to apply the skills I've learned to dissecting, analyzing and finding a solution for them. Yes Yes...we are all nerds who can solve any problem our family has and will design your barn/house/garage....etc
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2009 00:36
|
|
|
leo_r posted:This seems like a good place to ask. Personally, when studying abroad I feel you should take zero eng classes. Get all of the generals done in your year overseas. Just go out and enjoy the rest of the world, explore, see new things and have a good time. To me that is the reason to go abroad.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2009 00:42
|
|
|
slorb posted:Is there a reason you need to be tested on material totally unrelated to your specialty to be licensed in america? It seems strange to me. Like others said this is just the first step. You take this 8 hour test at the end of school and it basically proves you have studied the required engineering classes and can think and work like an engineer. The test is easy. Just buy the study book and go over the whole thing. I suggest taking the specific test in the afternoon. You just studied all of it in school so it is fresh, you don't remember some random calc 3 stuff. Two type of people fail this test. Idiots who really shouldn't pass and are bad engineers (you all know people like this) and people who are smart but don't review and study and are blown away by the content and time constraint. (ftr I studied and finished both tests in 2:30min)
|
|
#
¿
Dec 4, 2009 02:26
|
|
|
Jesschen posted:Yes, I co-op'ed and I would HIGHLY suggest anyone do the same. It may set you back from graduating on the "four year plan", but you graduate with a year of experience under your belt and the knowledge is invaluable. What you learn in class becomes vibrantly illustrated in a real-life setting. And, sometimes, you learn more than you ever expected to by getting hands-on experience. I completely agree with this. Also there is the option of finding summer internships. You can work for 4 months and then be right back to school. I did two back when I was in school and ended up with 4 offers and 3 turned down office interviews (this was fall of 08...aka the beginning of the end of the economy). You are a fool not to do a co-op/internship. Also there is *no way* to get done in 4 years where I went to school. Need 133 credits (16.625 credits a semester...F that!). So you might as well slow down and intern/co-op.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2009 23:11
|
|
|
Blindeye posted:Civil engineering student graduating in a week checking in. I've addressed some of this before in the "secrets of your major thread so I'll break it down again here for your help. If you are in design do not expect tons of field time. Not to much to look at when the location is an open field or a river with no bridge... quote:- We have to dabble in everything. Civil engineers on a project often have to cross over into understanding a lot of other topics, so to summarize: When I worked at a power plant I didn't give a crap about the HVAC or generator. Except to look up how much it weighs and then design concrete/steel/soil for it. quote:Fluids, oh god fluids. It gets worse that rivers and natural bodies of water are nearly impossible to make good assumptions for, it's often based on intuition. Plus you'll learn after all the standard fluid mechanics stuff about precipitation and statistical storm profiles and watershed reactions over areas generally several thousand acres, it sucks, you'll wonder what god would think statistics and fluid mechanics should ever mix outside of a research paper. Because of this there's often as many grad students and undergrads doing fluids as there are fluids professors Fluids not so hard. Models are hard to make with anything in nature. But there are a lot of programs that can be used to help with modeling. quote:Structures. Starts off with moment and shear diagrams, truss analysis and the like, then you get to matrix analysis of beams, stiffness and flexibility matrices, rigid offsets, plastic analysis and suddenly you are in over your head. Design classes are interesting, easier, but heavy on codes to understand. Then you learn for analysis things like Timoshenko Plate Theory and Finite Element Analysis and your mind is blown. Personally this is where I concentrated in school. I went to a university that is much more in to practical knowledge and not tons of theory. Plate Theory and Finite are typically 500 level courses... quote:Materials. No, Materials science majors often do not learn about asphalt, concrete, or glu-laminated wood beams. That lovely honor falls on you to learn, because no one else uses these materials nearly as much. Asphalt is only important if you are in transportation. Concrete is all of spec 3, 4, 5K psi. Glu-lam is easy to pick out of a table fyi. quote:Programming. No, this isn't kind C++ and MATLAB they taught you freshman year, this is Fortran, still the standard for Civil Programs. That high-end finite element analysis system is running via the oldest programming language. CS and EECS students laugh or weep at you if you mention you have computer modeling and do it all in Fortran. Then you find out a civil engineer who can program in Fortran gets paid 2-3x the amount a EECS or CS major would get paid if he was hired to program a Civil program. The (few) people in Civil not scared off by this will find permanent employment and make more money in one day than most engineering majors will in three. Shocked that Fortran is even taught anymore at some universities. quote:Geotechnical Engineering. This is a relatively small sect, they only outnumber fluids people here. You spend hours testing dirt over and over, or playing with dirt in the field. Soil and rock mechanics are key, but have fun being the initial lynchpin for an engineering project -- nothing else goes up until you finish your work. Arguably the most important part of any project. Tough field because of so many variables in soil. quote:Environmental Engineering. Thought you escaped bio and chem? Think again! You'll need to understand atmospheric plume models and other contaminent discharge scenarios, then a lot of legalese. Then you have to learn wastewater and drinking water treatment, chemistry will sneak up really fast. There's also biological processes, biological treatments, etc. Lab work here is similar to a microbiology lab, pray you don't break a micropipetter. If you are civil and want nothing to do with enviro then you can pretty much take one class that covers wastewater and drinking water. quote:Construction Management. Part business, part running around a site yelling at people, and the reason people make fun of us often. These people have more free time because they study more general concepts and their work is a lot less time consuming except the one class where they have to learn estimating materials (count every beam in the blueprints for a building, I dare you). They'll get the highest-paid jobs starting off in a decent economy, but do the least engineering. They still are hard workers though when given direction. For the civil Engineer that does not want to design. Easy stuff. Most schools are starting to make a separate degree for CM. My wife has a degree in CM and she does all of the above. Some places would rather have a civil in the position but it would only be to understand the design process more. quote:Transportation and Surveying. Not offered at my university, but many schools have them, also specialist stuff. Transportation is probably the biggest discipline in Civil. Surprised it is not offered at a public uni. quote:Job experience is key, that includes internships. Engineering firms love having interns, and you will learn much more in the field than in the classroom often as for most businesses theory has to be put aside and special techniques are used to solve problems quickly. Get internships in school for sure. I take by special techniques you mean design programs. Also remember that you can really only get in depth in ONE discipline. If you try to do a bit of everything you will have a harder time finding a job because you don't have enough knowledge in a certain discipline to be useful.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2009 02:57
|
|
|
slorb posted:Anyone think its worth putting together a real OP for this thread? I'm not sure enough people would use it. I pretty much disagree with the article... I know many engineers on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle. I know no terrorist engineers. I guess we would have the "skills" needed?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2010 03:54
|
|
|
BeefofAges posted:Just because a lot of terrorists are engineers doesn't mean that a lot of engineers are terrorists. true, but I feel like this is some sort of connection the article is trying to draw.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2010 05:30
|
|
|
KaiserBen posted:You'd be surprised. As a field engineer, I've met plenty of steel-mill workers, and most are certainly guys I could (and do) get along with. Keep an open mind and talk to people, you'll learn a ton about good design from the user's perspective. Also worth noting, on my last project, ~50% of the people on the customer's side of things that I had contact with had at least a BS in engineering. I wish more engineers understood this. I really think that engineers should be required to have some field work if they are going to design. I worked construction for 6 years (HS and College) and it really opened my eyes to what is good and bad about designs of A&E's. The experience is not exactly applicable to what I do now in design but those experiences have stuck with me to look at my design from a construction stand point.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 5, 2010 03:16
|
|
|
SubCrid TC posted:What kind of engineering do you do? Yup this. We have lots of drafters in our office. I could not imagine farming it out... communication is hard enough on drawings when it is face to face. The class may allow you to get come work but most of our drafters have 2 years from ITT or wherever... (most of them I could draft circles around though taking only 2 class in college)
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2010 02:07
|
|
|
Dominic R. posted:I hope this is the right thread to ask this in Become a civil engineer. If you want as much field time as possible then concentrate on construction management. My wife is a cm and did two years on site, now she is in the office for the last 2 years. Really though it depends a lot on what job you get though. My last job I did the same thing as this one. I spend as much time in the field as I want now though. E: if you want to work electrical maybe not the best field. Although I am in and out of substations and work on EHV power lines all day. spwrozek fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Jul 11, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 01:58
|
|
thanks
|
If they don't pay mileage you just take it as a write off on your taxes.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2013 04:08
|
|
|
Do an internship over study abroad. It is the number one thing we look at when hiring someone out of school. Has someone else taught them about the real world and did you learn something. They give you a good reference and away you go.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2013 01:50
|
|
|
I was considering an either or situation. I would rather have the internship if I was looking for a job out of college. I had 2 and they opened every door for me to this day.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2013 06:17
|
|
|
Frankston posted:Question for the mech engineers in here, or any other discipline if you want to chip in: how much of the math that you learnt getting your degree do you find yourself using on a regular basis for your job? I started my college course this week and naturally it's very math-intensive, and I can't help but picture myself in 5 years time sitting in a cubicle spending all day solving equations and poo poo. As a civil, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is really all you need. All the equations you learn in class are important so you understand what the programs are doing and if you are getting real answers. There are plenty of times where I do a quick moment check by hand but only on simple things. You can't do real finite element analysis by hand anyways. Oh yeah just be sure to remember everything you haven't done for the PE exam 5 years from now.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 6, 2013 00:45
|
|
|
^^that is crazy that you never even heard of it. Most states have stopped allowing people to sit for the PE without the four year degree. But you could possibly sit for both exams back to back after you graduate. Also you will never get reciprocity from other states that require a degree if you don't have it.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2013 03:37
|
|
|
I would hit up a job fair that schlumberger (may have misspelled that) is at and get an interview. They were hiring like crazy in 08 when I finished school. They were looking at mechs and civils but I think you could fit in. If their program is the same you spend 3 years in the field with 7 other dudes in bum gently caress north Dakota. Working poo poo hours for a lot of money. After that you get into a better roll. It seemed like a good deal back then but I didn't go that route.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 8, 2013 03:03
|
|
|
I have worked with quite a few people who have been in the army or marines and then went to engineering school. They come out at 30 after serving 8 years. I would say you will be fine to go back and become an engineer.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2013 03:29
|
|
|
6 min per question. Also if you take the civil structural you have 7 required code books plus it is good to have the CERM and the practice exams. So yeah a suitcase is actually needed to get the stuff there.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 11, 2013 15:01
|
|
|
You can take whatever you want. The key is that once you pass you agree to only work in an area of competency and not stamp anything otherwise. It doesn't matter because your stamp just says registered PE. This may be different in different states. I am in a the same situation as you. I am taking the civil structural in 2 weeks and I don't do any structural work that is actually on the exam (drilled pier foundations being really the only thing). I took an afternoon review course and have been studying. I think it is 50/50 on me passing. There is just way to many codes and different stuff you have to know.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2013 21:31
|
|
|
RogueLemming posted:Here's a general answer: in my opinion, a computer should only save on time, not understanding. If you don't have a conceptual idea of the calculations and reasoning being performed, then you shouldn't be using the program. This times a million. I had a young guy doing a design and he was coming up with really big wood poles. Based on what the loads were it seemed way wrong but he had no idea. Ended up with some wrong inputs. If he had just done a quick hand moment calculation it would have been obvious.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2013 17:58
|
|
|
At this point you will either know it or not. Doing some problems in the book is your best bet though.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 21, 2013 21:17
|
|
|
PE over. Exam was interesting. I took the civil structural and it was decently tough. I feel like I killed in in the morning. The afternoon I am so so on. I had to use all 7 of the drat codes I brought. I ended up with 5 questions I really didn't have time to do. Oh well. Hopefully I passed. Now to wait 6-8 weeks....
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2013 02:43
|
|
|
Hollis Brown posted:You know this is the engineering thread right? Don't really have to preface internship with paid I was about to post the same. What kind of engineer takes an unpaid internship?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2013 01:10
|
|
|
I think that speaks more poorly of the schools career services than anything else.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2013 23:26
|
|
|
I wasn't trying to be a dick about it, I just didn't see that happen in michigan. I recruited at msu, uofm and tech and it still seemed pretty good (considering) in 08-10. Was tech's career fair smaller, sure (in 06 you had 350+ companies, 09 it was around 150). But talking to everyone there a lot were hiring, we hired 3 interns in an office of 40 all three years. But anyways this really wasn't meant to be a pissing match so sorry about that. It got really lovely out there for a ton of people and is still pretty bad honestly.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2013 01:56
|
|
|
Sounds high but it is California. I made $19 and $20 at my 2 internships. Most of my friends made around $14-16.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2013 18:03
|
|
|
KetTarma posted:I feel that it is necessary to inform the world that I just spent 13 hours generating 14 pages of calculations for a circuit analysis 201 assignment. My 4000 and 5000 structural steel classes had all take home exams. My finals took 18 and 22 hours of actual work to complete and I was using mathcad with all my equations stored so I just had to sort them around. It was actually really fun though.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2013 04:16
|
|
|
resident posted:Just out of curiosity, you should post the problem. Let's see if the pros can show you a thing or two Everyone would just use a actual program to do it.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2013 22:45
|
|
|
http://www.amazon.com/Review-Manual-Preparation-Fundamentals-Engineering/dp/1591263336/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1 that is all you really need. get some practice exams if you want and the equation book also could be of use. Also why are you going to take the exam? What is your end goal? Passing in Michigan really doesn't do much for you other than allowing you to say you passed on your resume (although you get that notification from NCEES not the state). Michigan doesn't give you a EI number/card/etc. Also note that the format and time frame for the FE just changed with it being done on a computer at a testing center now. spwrozek fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Dec 5, 2013 05:56
|
|
|
The problem I have with it is it doesn't specify outside training or school reimbursement. It basically reads like he will be trained on the job and they will want his pay back if he leaves or gets fired before 2 years. That seems pretty bad to me.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2013 00:06
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 15:48 |
|
|
Oil! posted:I just got the results back today. I passed and am now a Professional Engineer, but have no idea what to do with my licence. Nicely done! We are still waiting for the results in Colorado...just tell me already drat it.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2013 05:37
|
|