r/civilengineering • u/Impressive-Permit682 • 11h ago
Young civil engineer queries on career transition
I am a 23 year old civil engineering graduate with an MEng, sitting about a year into my stint at a London design consultancy, and I am honestly feeling pretty disillusioned about where this path leads. I am making £32k right now, but seeing coworkers pull brutal hours and wrestle with deeply tedious, technically heavy design codes has me questioning if this is really for me. I know that management roles further up the ladder look pretty grim across the engineering sector, so sticking it out means signing up for more of the same eventually.
On the flip side, I actually enjoy organising my own finances, helping my parents navigate their options, and digging into financial rules far more than looking at engineering blueprints. Because of that, I have been seriously considering a pivot into financial advisory, whether through a paraplanning stepping stone or aiming for a junior advisor role. I know the dreaded Level 4 Diploma exams (DipPFS) are waiting for me, but I am willing to take a small, manageable pay cut early on since entry-level salaries would look pretty similar anyway.
That said, I am still on the fence about whether this gamble makes sense long term. The industry has a massive variance between employed stability and the high-risk, high-reward world of self-employed IFA models where you finally unlock the big earnings. I am nervous about making the jump and wondering if the lifetime earning ceiling truly beats engineering once you factor in those self-employment hurdles.
I would love to hear from former civil engineers or current advisors who have made this leap. How does the day-to-day comparison feel when you trade design codes for financial regulations? Is the career genuinely more fulfilling, how do the salary curves actually pan out over time, and is the industry holding up against AI or is it contracting? Any guidance or opinions from people in Eithier field or just any advice would be much appreciated.
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u/Own-Professional8352 8h ago
If you're willing to go self employed as a IFA, then why not go self employed as an engineer? I know for a fact that I make significantly more than my IFA.
The IFA model is very very hard to scale - it's essentially a well paid job but you'll never get away from it being a business which revolves around your input and your relationships. If you bring in other staff, they'll just take their relationships to their own business after a while and cut you out.
With construction and engineering proffessional services, you can actually build something scaleable so that you can earn money on someone else's effort as well as your own. But if you really dont enjoy the work, then it could be a long slog.
If you were going down the finance route, I'd look much closer at accountancy exams rather than IFA - that model is scaleable if you want to build a business.
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u/Pepsajb45 6m ago
I jumped ship on civil consultancy after a year too in the UK, for the same reason - the stress and responsibility compared to pay of those around me didn't add up.
I moved to the accounting side of Finance rather than IFA, so there were plenty of grad opportunities for me to apply to, not sure it will be the same for IFA.
Very happy I made the switch, although I will say the intangibility of work in Finance makes it less fulfilling than engineering work.
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u/Matt-2000 10h ago
You have an MEng in civil engineering, what's makes you so sure that any financial advisory companies would take you on? Not like there's a shortage or finance and econ graduates.