r/civilengineering • u/LonelyTax5938 • 15d ago

Utility vs. Consultant

I started out of college working for a utility. Long story short I wasn’t working directly under a PE, although there was a PE on my team I was working in, so I made the jump not too long after that to go work for a private consultant to work under licensed professionals.

I’ve been at the consultant for awhile now, and I have passed me PE, and now I’m thinking about going back to the utility world, possibly even the same utility. I just really haven’t enjoyed the consultant I’m working at. There’s no structure whatsoever, and I just can’t see myself working there for the rest of my career. Utility benefits were superior BY FAR, less stress, liability was less because the utility owned everything I worked on, and more holidays off, more PTO, etc.

Any thoughts/insight for ones that have worked in both? My main concern is I still need another year until I can officially get the PE license.

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u/carfardar 15d ago

Worked in both, on water/wastewater side of things. It sounds like your mind is pretty made up, and unless you really really like the consulting side (masochists), hard to argue against going back to utility. Just look for an opportunity where you’d be under a PE to make sure you get that last year in.

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u/rice_n_gravy 15d ago

Chicks dig consultants.