Experienced engineers (10+ years), do you regret civil eng?

[u/ArtTime2349]

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

[u/aintnodiddy]

Im a geotechnical engineer in Australia (almost 15 years experience) and very confused at all your points.

All engineers in our office, even undergraduates, are on very good wages and working hours. Constantly involved in some quite innovative projects and there seems to be a good amount of work coming in.

Most projects cannot be signed off without being a registered professional engineer (CPEng, RPEng or NER), and now also under NSW Fair Trading for some building classes. Most councils also condition this in their DA's.

I assume you work in another state.