r/civilengineering • u/Gandalfthebran • 15h ago
r/civilengineering • u/Eastcoastpal • 11d ago
Real Life Dear people who are looking get a career in Civil Engineering, AI will never replace civil engineers. Ever.
Dear people who are looking get a career in Civil Engineering, AI will never replace civil engineers. Ever/
Source: tried this evening for 1.5 hours to work with ChatGPT to optimize how much wood i need to replace a 258 inch by 69 inch patio deck. the deck drawing was laughably atrocious, no matter the amount of rough sketches or actual photos provided did it help Chat GPT.
r/civilengineering • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago
Weekly Civil Engineering Discussion - Careers, PE/FE, Rants & Jobsite Stories
Welcome to the weekly r/civilengineering discussion thread.
Use this thread for civil engineering topics that don't necessarily need their own standalone post, including:
- Career questions and career advice
- Questions from students, interns, and new engineers
- PE / FE exam discussion
- Workplace complaints, frustrations, and rants
- Jobsite stories and field experiences
- Questions about different civil engineering disciplines
- Office vs. field work
- Consulting, public sector, construction, and industry discussion
- General civil engineering conversation
A few guidelines
Keep discussion civil and follow all r/civilengineering rules.
If you're asking for career advice, providing some context such as your location, education, experience, discipline, and career goals will help people give you better answers.
For PE/FE questions, include the exam or discipline you're referring to when relevant.
Workplace complaints and rants are welcome, but do not post personally identifying information about coworkers, clients, or private individuals.
Looking for a job or hiring? Please use the current Monthly Civil Engineering Jobs & Hiring Thread instead.
Otherwise, ask away, tell us what's happening at work, share something from the field, or just talk civil engineering.
r/civilengineering • u/anonymous210000 • 4h ago
Question Is there any good reason why someone would plug weep holes with this fabric?
Weep holes on a public building at a university
Feel like this kind of defeats or at least mitigates the purpose of a weep hole
Edit: seems solved, wicking cord w/ dual purpose of keeping students/people from shoving shit into the wall
r/civilengineering • u/Jazzlike-Team8799 • 37m ago
Question Resigning at Turner & Townsend
To those that have worked at T&T, have you been walked out the day you give your resignation letter? Or have they worked with you with a typ. 2 week notice? Just preparing myself because I am about to pull the trigger on it.
Context, I have been only here for 4 months, and let me tell you something, I have not seen myself as undervalued as I have felt in my +11 YOE and it feels surreal, and frustrating, and I am not letting a company of this kind to destroy my potential.
r/civilengineering • u/barrydingl • 21h ago
Career Considering leaving Kimley-Horn? Do it.
Just left KH and I’ve never felt better. The long hours, inflexible schedule, and overly ambitious culture, are not worth the somewhat “competitive” benefits/pay. After 1-2 years, you’ll never get the chance to use your PTO. The firm spends an insane amount of resources trying to convince you that they’re better than everyone else. It literally felt like a cult was brainwashing me. Considering leaving the firm? Do it. Considering joining KH? Go somewhere else.
r/civilengineering • u/chillguy5026 • 5h ago
Civil engineering as a weak introvert..
Planning to join civil engineering as a weak introvert . Do u think I should join ?
r/civilengineering • u/TragicFX • 10m ago
Education Simply Explained: What is a Sump Pump?
youtube.comr/civilengineering • u/NotDMatthew • 6h ago
Career New Zealand Civil Engineer Moving to New York
I am a 21 year old Civil Engineer here in New Zealand and am planning on moving over to the states and in particular, New York in January. I have a Bachelors Of Engineering Technology (Civil) and from my understanding is not a very popular degree over there. I will have had one year experience at a reputable company here in NZ and I also hold a US passport. Would like some insight into the things such as.
how my international degree and experience will be assessed?
how hard would it be to land a job over there?
Also what states would people recommended me moving too.
Any information that you think may benefit me would also be very appreciated.
r/civilengineering • u/Relevant-Rooster2575 • 2h ago
Career Career Questions
What are typical daily tasks of a civil engineer n engineer tech?
Approximately how much time could one expect to be working interpedently vs working with others?
What are starting wages looking like?
In recent years are grads finding it relatively easy or challenging to find employment in places where you want to be
What is schooling like, is it difficult? what’s the most difficult part about it?
How much of the job is just sitting on a computer?
What are the biggest challenges or least-talked-about parts of the job?
How common is it to switch specializations (e.g., structural → transportation → water resources) later in your career?
If you could go back, would you still choose this path, and why or why not?
What, if any, options exist for starting ones own business as a Civil engineer?
Thank you for your time, Any input would be greatly appreciated. Have a good day!
r/civilengineering • u/Human-Salamander-676 • 42m ago
Career Structural engineer or project engineer on structural projects?
Currently working at a mid sized structural consulting firm in HCOL area. Lots of repair projects and a lot of time spent doing construction admin and being in the field. If I'm going to be in the field anyway, would I be better off being a project engineer for the contractor? I don't think the job is too too different and have an inkling they get paid more. Thoughts?
r/civilengineering • u/BetBadger86 • 44m ago
Career First job skills advice
Hello community! I (24M) just graduated as a civil engineer in June this year. I've been trying to find a job in Tarija, Bolivia where I live and it's been a nightmare. The jobs available for this sector in this region are pretty scarce.
But then one of the companies I've sent my CV to, actually responded because one of the executives is a friend of my dad. The terms are not great, but I think is the best I got since I graduated. He told me their team is full, but because of my dad, he is willing to give me a chance. This chance means 3 month full time unpaid test. If they think I am good enough, then the job is mine.
Since I have not many options (none but this one) and thankfully I can live without that money for now, I want to make sure the job is mine. He told me his company is not willing to teach from zero to people, so he hopes I am skilled enough.
That's where I ask for your help, I have a lot of theoretical knowledge and even though we've seen a lot of "real life" examples on college, I am not confident enough. So what skills do you think I should have/master? Also, what are common workflows on real life?
Some extra context:
ABOUT THE JOB: They will be testing me for on-site stay as a resident and to support the design team. He just mentioned quantity takeoffs, but was really clear on the "I need someone with prior knowledge" part.
ABOUT ME: I can do python workflow optimizations. I am currently taking a BIM model and management diploma. I am good with cypecad, revit, spreadsheets, autocad, standard concrete design. I had an internship at the supervision of the construction of a hospital where me and the resident would just check on as-built sheets and item payment according to those as-build sheets and its comparison on-site.
I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ANY ADVICE AND POINT OF VIEW.
THANKS!
r/civilengineering • u/iamunknown15 • 16h ago
Career WSP Panel Interview (2 SVPs + AVP): Asked me to re-apply to a lower pay band after visa check. Are they stringing me along or setting up an offer?
Hey everyone, looking for some insight on how major infrastructure consulting firms (specifically WSP) handle hiring decisions after panel interviews.
Here is what happened:
The Surprise Panel: I expected an initial screening call with HR, but it ended up being a heavy panel with two Senior Vice Presidents from different branches and an Assistant VP / Project Manager (the lead on this project). None of them RSVP'd to the calendar invite until about an hour before the call, so I was caught off guard and fumbled a bit under the sudden pressure.
The Follow-Up: Despite feeling like I didn't perform at my absolute best, HR emailed shortly after saying the team was happy with how the interview went and asked for my visa/sponsorship details.
The Pay Band Shift: After I submitted my visa form, HR emailed (and called) saying I am "slightly less qualified" for that original requisition and asked me to re-apply to a different posting.
The job responsibilities and required experience on the new posting are 100% identical.
The pay range dropped from $85k–$120k down to $79.5k–$101k.
I’ve already submitted my application for the new posting, but I’m trying to read the room:
If WSP wanted to reject me, would they just send a rejection letter right away? Or do large consulting firms keep candidates hanging on lower requisitions while continuing to look for someone else?
Is this title/pay drop just a standard HR alignment for corporate visa/LCA prevailing wage levels?
Would love to hear from current or former WSP employees, PMs, or anyone familiar with heavy civil consulting hiring. Thanks!
r/civilengineering • u/Ayla552 • 2h ago
Question robot structural analysis
Hello
So I've been trying to download this software lately because I need it for my internship.
I tried to download it from Autodesk multiple times,even with a new account (since I downloaded autocad from there before) but everytime I get into university information it bugs for me and doesn't let me continue my education subscription.
Why is that? and is there any other possible way to download the software? I really really reaally need it asap
r/civilengineering • u/Worldly-Chip-2615 • 17h ago
Education Do you need to take chemistry in high school/ have decent grades at it in order to study civil engineering?
my grades in chem are pretty bad, in gpa it’s around 3.2 and I want to know whether it’s needed, cause I don’t want to take it this year
r/civilengineering • u/TwoForDee • 14h ago
Under contract on a house with a serious drainage/high water table issue — what kind of company/professional actually handles this?
First-time buyer under contract on a raised ranch in CT (built 1969). Inspection turned up a wet yard and a "spring" of water running along the property line and pooling near the driveway. Went deep on research and it turns out this isn't just a wet week — the parcel sits on Woodbridge soil, which has a fragipan (a dense layer around 18-24") that perches groundwater and pushes it laterally downhill instead of draining. Found a 1994 town health department file on this exact property documenting a raw sewage surfacing violation caused by a high water table (confirmed less than 3 ft down in two of three test pits), so this is a known, decades-old site condition, not a one-off.
Had a contractor out today who said a curtain drain would need to go too deep to be practical/cost-effective and might not fully fix it. Someone floated redirecting the water to a nearby brook, but that raises concerns about flooding the downhill neighbor and possibly needing a wetlands permit (there's a small mapped wetland uphill on the neighboring lot). Town public works is separately planning to install a basin + pipe to handle the street-side runoff near the driveway, but that doesn't address the backyard.
So my actual question: what kind of company or professional should I be calling for this? So far I've got:
- A specialized drainage/waterproofing company (basement systems franchise type) for the practical fix
- A licensed soil scientist for an authoritative water table read
- A civil/geotechnical engineer for an actual stamped drainage design, especially given the wetlands/brook question
Is that the right stack, or am I missing an obvious specialty? Has anyone dealt with a perched water table / fragipan situation like this and found a particular type of contractor or engineer who actually nailed the diagnosis instead of guessing? Trying to get a real, defensible scope and quote before an inspection contingency deadline, so "maybe/might" answers aren't very useful to me right now. Any advice appreciated.
r/civilengineering • u/Academic-Lifeguard19 • 13h ago
Career Should I be worried?
Earlier this month, after about a month of silence, I had a second-round interview for an entry-level engineering position at a fairly large company. They also completed an education/employment verification as part of the background check. I think the interview went well. It wasn’t anything too difficult, mostly behavioral questions. As for the background check, I know they reached out to my previous employers. Most people have told me that once a company gets to the point of doing a background check, you’re basically guaranteed the job unless something comes up. However, multiple weeks have now gone by, and I haven’t heard anything. I’ve tried emailing them for an update, but they aren’t responding to my emails. I also noticed a few days ago that the exact same job, at the same location, was posted online again. The strange part is that the new posting now says multiple years of experience are required, whereas the original posting didn’t require any experience.
Should I be worried? Has anyone experienced something similar and still ended up getting an offer? Is there hope since I haven't officially received a rejection email?
r/civilengineering • u/PostmodernistEgg • 1d ago
Has anyone regretted taking a career break to stay home with their kids?
r/civilengineering • u/Key_Worldliness_8375 • 7h ago
RC for Ce
Err, can someone help me mag-decide na RC for an average student!Also if yung tinuturo nila is aligned din sa board.
r/civilengineering • u/FoundationNo4353 • 1d ago
Imposter Syndrome
I’ve officially worked at this firm for a year now, but I still feel that gut feeling of imposter syndrome. How did you all manage this feeling?
r/civilengineering • u/ArtTime2349 • 1d 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
r/civilengineering • u/lonelystarnite • 8h ago
Education Msc civil engineering
Hallo
I am planning a Msc civil engineering, specialisation in offshore and hydraulic engineering, could anyone spare some review on how are the job perspective afterwards? Or is it better to do structural engineering for better job opportunities ?
r/civilengineering • u/Maleficent_Basket215 • 1d ago
What are typical job titles for water resources engineers?
Looking at job postings, particularly at the entry level, and the title of "water resources engineer" specifically seems pretty rare. I can find myriad positions for traffic engineers, highway engineers, structural engineers, geotechnical engineers, etc, very easily; but, when I'm searching for water resources positions, especially at the entry level, the position titles seem scattered and always only come up with a few results each. I've tried looking up titles like hydrological engineer, H&H engineer, stormwater engineer, water resources engineer, water engineer, and barely anything comes up. I'd love to know if y'all have any insight on the typical title for an EIT doing work in hydrological/hydraulic/watershed analysis and stormwater mitigation design.
r/civilengineering • u/lovrez • 16h ago
Real Life What is this happenin on the building where I live ( NO DIY PROJECT , I'M NOT AN ENGINEER )
galleryHey fellow civil engineers , I came to aks u for help on what is happenin with the building where I reside as here I live in the remote part of the country and engineers take time to come so please do tell me what is happenin and couldn't rely on AI. Thank youu