Any civil engineers out there care to offer advice to a young person in school?

[mahina]

Would you recommend civil engineering as a career? How has work in your region been impacted by the recession? What do you see coming down the road for work in your field?

The student (my loved one) is three years in to the program and has an interest in hydrology and general civil engineering. He is young and chose civil engineering because he wants to help and because he wants to be able to raise a family and thinks this is a good way to go. Is he right?

If you went to grad school, what did you study, and did it help you?

Thank you so very much DU, in advance. Your input will be very much appreciated.

Mahalo!

[Initech]

1. My company just started a civil department two years and it's been rapidly expanding since.

[mahina]

2. That is really good to hear.

Do they do local work in your area? Is it with stimulus money or regular work?

Thanks!

[JBoy]

3. A few thoughts on civil engineering

1. It's somewhat more recession-proof than many other engineering disciplines. When the economy is booming, construction projects boom. When times are tough, public civil projects are often used to stimulate the economy.

2. The US's infrastructure is crumbling, due to postponement of necessary replacement/upgrade projects. The only way to remedy this is to (eventually) do this work, and civil engineers will be required.

3. Civil engineering is arguably the least likely discipline to be outsourced. You can't build a highway off-shore, and ship it to the US.

[mahina]

5. Do you think we'll just keep postponing forever?

We're seeing a lot of erosion from what we can only think must be rising waters.

Wondering if America put off fixing our roads and bridges etc. through the greatest boom years in living history, how will we deal with it in the coming economy?

Thank you for your reply! Do you work in the field by the way? Mahalo!

[JBoy]

7. Much of the work may be reactive rather than proactive

like after a bridge has fallen down, or a sewer system literally falls apart. But the work will have to be done - the physics of it will be unavoidable.

I'm not in the civil field; I went into electrical engineering. Civil engineering is the "oldest" of the engineering disciplines, and therefore hasn't experienced some of the organic growth of the other disciplines through innovation. But engineers retire and need to be replaced. I'd actually be interested to see the demographics on different engineering disciplines. I'd be willing to bet money that civil engineers are, on average, a little older than engineers in other disciplines.

[elehhhhna]

4. oil & gas

isn't going away, pays well, will be adding engineers due to mass retirements. Environmental protection will be big in the energy industry.

[mahina]

6. Thanks...what kind of background would somebody need

for that work?

[elehhhhna]

8. some petroleum eng. courses would clinch it.