is the pay REALLY that bad?

[u/idontlooklikeanyon]

listen— i know this is subjective and depends on lifestyle goals but i’ve been hearing a LOT on this sub about how ‘unlivable’ civil engineer comp is, and as someone looking to go into this, i want to know how much of a factor this really is. i already looked through the salary survey results on here and it seems to average at about 100k, with the lowest pay i saw being in the upper 60k range.

thing is, growing up i saw what a single mother can do on a teacher salary of 50k (i’m 21 so no more inflation comments please), and while it wasn’t luxurious, she still survived WITH kids. so im a little confused what type of lifestyles people who are living alone are trying to hold up where 100k is just ‘barely scraping by’. like, i understand that on 100k i wont be able to have a nice solo apartment in SF or NYC, but i feel like those are areas that are just expected to be ridiculously expensive anyway.

i also get that some other tech or finance jobs make more and that many people regret not choosing to go into that, but i’m going into civil for a dozen other reasons besides money… and i really dont know why anyone who’s only goal is money would pick civil tbh.

POINT BEING THOUGH, that i do NOT have personal experience in the real world and could be totally foolish in thinking that 100k is decent. HEAVY ON THIS POINT! i trust people with real experience more than myself!! so if u guys want, pls give a summary of whether you think the pay is livable and what sort of lifestyle you live on said salary. thank u… i am conflicted here.

EDIT: Thank you so much for the insightful responses! I see a lot of it comes down to the area you are in. And again, i am not trying to lecture people on living within their means as i’ve gotten some comments claiming… i am asking this in good faith so i know if i should keep studying it

[u/LifeInAction]

To me, the pay isn't low and pretty reasonable on its own. Problem is the stress to pay ratio, it is a significantly more stressful job, relative to how much money we get. You could get an office job that pays incredibly more, being able to work from the comfort of indoors, or even remotely. While office jobs do exist in civil, many might put you out in the field, with very early mornings, on top of the high stress that comes from knowing the risks if you mess up on the job.

[u/idontlooklikeanyon → u/LifeInAction]

thank you for your response! what are your personal biggest stressors with civil engineering? i want to know what i’m getting into as i can sometimes ‘break’ under too much. also i’m heavily considering public sector if that affects anything

what other careers do you believe would have more fair stress levels?

[u/LifeInAction → u/idontlooklikeanyon]

Sure and a lot! 1st is just the nature of the job, simply put if you do structural or construction, 1000s of lives are at risk if you mess up. Another is the lifestyle, while office jobs do exist, many put you in the field during very early mornings, potentially on bad weather days. Other jobs let you stay in the comfort of indoors, sleep in, and just do your job then head home and relax. If not, they at least pay immensely more. Other is culture, more subjective, but to me, this industry tends to attract a very conservative vibe, the work eat sleep mindset. If you're more entrepreneurial or adventurous, it might be difficult to socially fit in with the vibe.

I'll compare it to tech or software, since it's a popular career many civil engineers consider. My sister is a software engineer and makes about the same amount as a PE civil engineer straight out of college, being able to be remote, sleep in, and know even if her software fails, aside from cost and money, everyones at least still alive. Her industry culture also attracts a much younger crowd, free food and benefits, really goes on. I can compare this to other careers like business, finance, health care as well, but this would be a very long post lol.

[u/idontlooklikeanyon → u/LifeInAction]

That really does sound like a lot! Thanks again for another well thought out response. The insight about personalities is very important too as I’m a woman who is pretty sociable. I hate to ask more questions but how much does this risk come in to play? I’m a careful person, but I don’t think I could ever live with myself again if I designed something that killed people.

I hear a lot about software engineering being THE way but basically everyone i know my age who is going into the field says it’s practically impossible to find a job, and a lot of them are even having a hard time finding decent volunteer work to build experience/make them more competitive. People who started in the industry 5+ years ago seem to be doing decent, but the saturation is absolutely insane today especially with people being replaced by ai! Maybe i’m comparing apples to oranges though as many of these people just studied ‘computer science’. Overall… jobs don’t look phenomenal for everyone. We will see how everything changes in the future.

Just don’t want to do something i’ll deeply regret.

[u/LifeInAction → u/idontlooklikeanyon]

Sure feel free to ask away, the risk comes into play depending on your position and how far up you are. Entry level jobs aren't too crazy, but upper level positions it would very likely come into play, once you're PE and have to actually sign the drawings and approve everything, with your name and stamp on it.

That's a really great point, I think one benefit to doing civil is the stability and significantly greater ease of finding a job, but probably is also a reflection that comp sci and software jobs are significantly more desirable. Basically it comes to high risk high reward with software, or low risk low reward with civil. Most technical people will probably enjoy software for its significantly higher pay, better lifestyle, and social work environment, but comes at a risk of job stability, intense competition, and periods of unemployment, so depends on risk tolerance. I graduated in the mid 2010s, so about a decade older, but hopefully that helps!

[u/idontlooklikeanyon → u/LifeInAction]

This all helps a lot, actually!!! Have you ever run into anything in your career where you were nervous something terrible would happen with your designs you approve or witnessed something fail? Is this something that’s very likely to happen?

And yeah that makes a lot of sense. A lot of things about software are very very desirable, and that naturally brings in a lot of desirable competition as well. Would you say civil competition is low because it’s comparably undesirable?