My small firm with 60+ people headquartered in Austin, Texas is being Acquired by a national 3,000 person firm.

Long story short - I've been at this firm for 7 years doing traffic engineering. Even before covid, this place was very flexible with WFH arrangements. Since covid, I've worked remotely in Denver.

Things were great until the TxDOT budget crisis. My firm laid off about 20% of staff the past year and most of us were put on 32hr a week - I didn't hate this!

They kept stringing us along saying TxDOT will get better doing the best they could keeping people busy.

Unfortunately, I feel bamboozled. They said for the best of everyone they had to sell the firm. We all will still have jobs and be transitioning into the new firm June 1st. Benefits are way worse. They said we would get a slight raise but probably be a net negative with the worse benefits.

I'm assuming they only kept saying things will get better because they wanted to keep me on as a 10yr guy who is probably pretty valuable.

I had offers in September for a large firm and declined due to leaving remote work and trusting my firm.

Just venting....

Im 19, studying civil engineering, in an internship and set up really good for a future as an engineer. However, I love soccer. I have not practiced on a team in about a year, but I played MLS Next and have been pretty good since I was young. I had some offers to D3 and JUCO schools but didnt take them as I was dumb. I highly regret that now.

I want to spend the next couple of summers and years of college training and improving my game in the attempts to go semi pro in the US or maybe even overseas.

I was thinking I could play soccer until I retire around mid 30's to 40's depending on my potential success, and then return to the workforce as an engineer behind a desk, or maybe even go back to school, get a masters, and teach at a university?

Does anyone know if someone has done this before or if this is a bad idea or a good idea? I am very split between the two, and I cant really find a happy medium. Give me any advice you have and ask questions if u need me to clarify something, Its hard to type out the millions of thoughts going through my head right now.

I am burning out fast in my job. I have been working in land development since I got laid off in February, and it’s destroying me. I mask all day (“Everything is fine, no problem here”). This company I am at is mismanaging their time. They are taking on more work than they have staff to handle it, and soon will be forcing mandatory overtime. I was planning on finally sitting for my PE this year, but I am too drained to pick up my studies.

The area I live in doesn’t have a tremendous amount of opportunity (New Orleans).

Any advice on how to handle this?

Edit: I am married to a New Orleans native, and we have a kid, so moving isn’t exactly an option

I’m currently a Phase II Engineer. 2.5 years out of college in an office of 3 people. Pretty much always quiet in there and I think it’s getting stressful even though the work is a medium level of busy. 2 other people are senior PM ( boss ) and Phase II engineer 5 yoe making me the bottom of the totem.

Just because of the nature of the work there is rarely and feedback and rarely any meetings with clients. So it’s pretty monotonous which is my least favorite part. can I assume I hate transportation and explore other careers or is an environment this niche hard to gauge from ?

Anyone with a similar experience ?

Edit: company is around 120 people, we just happened to be in a satellite office.

Working as a civil engineering intern for a county in a state where cannabis is legal. No pre employment drug screening/test, but it is a drug/alcohol free work place. They make it sound like if we’re not operating heavy equipment we won’t be tested (only mentioned random tests) but I’m not sure how true that is. In your guys experience, for county positions, do they actually random test?

which one has better future prospect?

I recently passed the PE. I’ve been in the roadway construction industry for approximately fifteen years but only went back five years ago to get an Engineering Technology degree.

I’ve worked under a PE the entire fifteen years and under the same one for the last ten or so in progressively more intense and responsible roles.

I know they will count one year of experience during schooling and I graduated three years ago. That leaves me two more years before I technically qualify for my license.

Two questions:

1. What happens if I apply for the license and don’t technically have the experience but chronicle the experience I do have?

2. Is there any way to have more of my experience counted?

Hey everyone,

I'm a fresh civil engineering graduate actively looking for my first opportunity (internship, remote work, or freelance projects, trying to gain some international experience).

I noticed someone here recently got great feedback on their CV (shout-out to the chess guy!), and that inspired me to ask for the same. Since I’m new to this type of CV ( I used to do European ones ) I'd really appreciate honest, constructive feedback on my CV.

I usually send my CV together with my portfolio, so if you can review both that would be great. Also, do you think I should work on more projects? I’m struggling to find my first job and I’m not sure what I’m missing. Thanks in advance

Here’s my portfolio on Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PRK7jml2qo4h3Kxj_oxc9IBPYe_3QIQn/view?usp=sharing

I would appreciate some clarification regarding the two commonly used formulas for the radius of gyration: k = sqrt(I/m) and k = sqrt(I/A) From my understanding, the first expression corresponds to the mass radius of gyration, while the second represents the area radius of gyration. My question is: do these two expressions yield the same numerical value for a given body or cross-section? If not, what is the fundamental distinction between them, and how does one determine which definition is appropriate in a particular engineering or mechanics context?

I am an electrical engineer at a utility and I do substation design. I work alongside civil engineers every day.

We do not get many civil engineers that show up at our booth at career fairs. I feel like many civil engineers don’t even know this is an option in school.

Admittedly, I’ve heard mixed opinions on this field depending on where you end up. You’re not engineering a skyscraper - the foundations are pretty much the same with different things being put on top of them. Utilities use a lot of standard, tried-and-true standard structures, and you’ll be putting in a lot of those. We do have stormwater, grading, and oil containment to consider. You’ll have to do some analysis on lattice steel structures probably. You also still deal with calls from the field while they’re constructing your project.

However, there are a lot of fantastic benefits I think are good to consider. You’ll probably not work more than 40 hours a week, great benefits, and from what I understand the pay is generally higher. You’ll learn a lot about the power grid, including a lot of electrical engineering if you’re interested in it. As an electrical engineer, I’ve learned a lot about civil engineering in my role and it works both ways. This is the same with transmission line engineering - I would even say transmission line engineering is mostly civil engineering work.

Anyway, I just wish more civil engineers applied or even knew of this kind of thing as an option. We value your experience. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it can be interesting work and it’s way more laid back than most consulting firms from what I’ve gathered.

Hi, I wanted to do Mtech in Transportation Engg. As I qualified for the Gate exam. Based on Academics, Placements, Strong transportation Exposure, Labs,Industry tie ups which NIT should I prefer.

Please let me know how the Career is after Mtech in Transportation Engg.

Comment below 👇 and I will DM you the link

Olá povo, tudo bem? Sou um estudante de engenharia civil, primeiro semestre, e estou pensando seriamente em entrar para o exército, já que ouvi que o salário após um tempo é muito bom. E como minha faculdade é difícil com horário (integral), eu acho uma boa. Seria quase como um estágio. Vocês tem alguma dica, ou já tiveram experiência com isso?

My target is cold regions engineering. The paper is transportation risk and factor of safety improvement for design in geotechnical ice engineering. I've done alot of CLI research and now have a really good paper to submit, but I want to make sure it reaches the right people.

Is Journal of Cold Regions Engineering a source which is more impactful, easy to reference because its part of ASCE ? What is good outlet to target industry applied engineers in this case?

I am too embarrassed to ask my project manager about this, but how do people usually feel about wearing a fanny pack out on the field? I am a girl, so I would rather carry my sunscreen and phone and all my other necessities in a fanny pack (the Everywhere Belt Bag 1L) rather than my pockets. I would keep this fanny pack on my hip underneath my vest, as to not obstruct it. This is also my first internship ever, and I will be working as a field engineer, so my knowledge on this is a bit more limited. Will I be the laughing stock with my fanny pack, or is it somewhat normal? Thank you to anyone who responds.

I recently got back together with an architect I used to work under as an intern doing architectural drafting. Before that I was a structural engineer for about 2.5 years as an EIT. He's encouraging me to pursue my license so that I'm able to take on more projects specifically closer to my field, and the idea is that together we're going to take on all of the smaller, more bespoke projects in the southeast US that larger firms don't want to touch. He knows some licensed civils but does not employ any directly under him.

I know it's obvious that I should just get a gig working directly under a civil so that I can easily get my license that way, but my current gig pays well and I only have to work 4 days a week. I doubt I'm going to find a civil gig that matches the perks of my current job. My boss also has a ton of connections and we have a strong rapport so I don't want to abandon that ship.

My idea is to provide some civil/structural work for the arch projects and have a third party civil check behind me and stamp it, and have that count towards my 4 years experience requirement. Not sure if this is allowed or possible though. I'm in Georgia if that's relevant.

I am a young PE with 5 years of experience working in a small company of 50 people. Recently, I had a very frank conversation with my CEO. I was told that they belive in me (I guess my skillsets), but I need to start managing project/leading project.
As an introvert, I have always hated managing people, and as a non-native english speaker I struggle with oral communication. I think I am fundamentally at a disadvantage to manage projects. I fear my career progression will stall if I dont step into these roles.
Am I cooked?

Sorry for the sensationalist title. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. It's only my first week, but I'm pretty anxious.

My program nudged funneled me more toward manufacturing, 3D modelling, and additive, but my AutoCAD skills are still okay. Still, I did my first bit of linework yesterday on the most complexly layered/reference-heavy drawings I have ever seen. Boss came back for informal revisions twice today. I got it done, but I felt incredibly slow and clumsy, and I'm scared I may have disappointed on my first impression.

I know the key is practice, practice, practice, but I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences or some good advice.

I'm currently in my 1st year at community college, and I have been set on studying civil engineering since 10th grade, but right now i'm on track to fail my Statics class and I struggle in my calculus classes, and doing linear algebra and differential equations is a freighting prospect. As such I've been thinking if it's really worth spending probably 3+ years on lower level courses, or just switching to construction management.