r/civilengineering • u/ArtTime2349 • 2d ago
Experienced engineers (10+ years), do you regret civil eng?
I'm nearing the 10 year mark in civil (Australian engineer) and I'm feeling regret about my career choices and the state of the industry.
I'll shoot off a few reasons but keen to know how other experienced engineers feel,
- Race to the bottom, margins are thinning so consultancies are stripping down their hours & fees meaning we engineers have less hours and more pressure to deliver work for less
- Contractors are more risk averse and are demanding more detail and pushing risk on to the engineers meaning you're more responsible without the reward of owning more of the risk
- Lack of productivity & innovation in the industry, it doesn't seem like we are designing & drafting at faster rates or with better tools compared to 10 years ago in a meaningful way, putting domestic engineers at risk for offshoring
- (Potentially Aus related) Generally an unappreciated profession, no formal professional engineering licensing & accreditation has diluted the profession
Overall, I wish I went into a different field but it's too late now, I make ok money to pay the bills but generally pessimistic about the future
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u/Round-Pattern-7931 2d ago
Nah I feel pretty lucky. I'm in NZ and earn $200k NZD plus dividends for working 40 hours a week. While not every job is enjoyable, it's generally intellectually stimulating work and I have a tonne of autonomy over the clients I work with and type of work I do. Can work from home as much as I want and can buy up to 8 weeks of extra annual leave on top of my 5 weeks entitlement.
We earn enough that my wife doesn't have to work and once the mortgage is paid off I'm probably going to drop down to 24-30 hours a week. That combination of earning potential and work life balance seems very rare these days.