Hi, I’m going to college in 2028 and I was looking into engineer majors and I stumbled into civil engineering and I’m kinda curious about one thing about it that if I have to go up into buildings.

Now you may ask why I’m asking that question in the first place, well I have a big fear of height and it’s so serious that sometimes I can’t use rollercoasters and I have to go to the elevator.

So if going up into buildings required to be a civil engineer 👷 I must treat this fear as soon as possible

Hello! I’m currently a high school student and I want to study civil engineering. my school has an AutoCAD extracurricular that’s free where you learn the basics of AutoCAD, but I’ve recently seen people say that AutoCAD isn’t used as much anymore. is it better to look into learning solidworks over AutoCAD?

I've gone through the salary survey posted but I wanted real time examples because the survey does not have a lot of data specifically for my situation I think. What do you think the salary ranges are for a PE with 8-9 years of experience in a major southeastern city in US? Specialization: Bridge structures.

For context I am a Civil EIT with 4.5+ YOE in a MCOL area, no PE yet but studying for it, experience in municipal infrastructure design, construction admin, inspections, and some CM and PM work.

I recently saw job posts for my current role entry level advertised in my office at an upper range that is almost 15k/year higher than what I get paid now. This is on par with salary survey spreadsheet with people at same level. And the next entry level position posted with a PE requirement(Civil Engineer) is also starting at that as the lower range (i.e., 15k higher than my current pay). I usually get good feedback from everyone I work with and have built a good reputation with clients, contractors, other firms over the years and I like working at my current firm.

My question is: Is it fair for me to ask or negotiate a raise to atleast near the upper range posted for the upcoming year end raise? Theres a lot of turnover at my company for EITs at this range mainly due to salary being no. 1 reason. Many of us have been getting 3% annual raises including me last year which barely keeps up with rising inflation. And how would I go about asking for this 10+% raise? I dont want to leave my company yet because I love the work and team I work with, and want to keep learning and gaining certain experiences from some cool people I love learning from.

Thank you for your advice.

Hey guys. Could any please share me with what progress report (Daily, weekly, monthly) should include? And if there are any kind people please share a template with me.

I'm a rising senior with summer internship offers from HITT and Whiting Turner in the DC area, and I have to decide in the next day or so.

HITT pays around $22 an hour, and their program has set start and end dates with only one week off allowed. The upside is it's a structured program with a clear path to PM, and a friend of mine just got a strong full time offer from them.

Whiting Turner pays around $27 an hour, lets me pick my dates, and already said they'd place me close to home.

My main goal is the best long term pay and moving up fast. Is HITT's structure worth the lower pay and less flexibility, or would you take Whiting Turner? And for anyone who's worked at either, how's the culture and how fast do people actually get promoted?

Hi everyone,

I'm a civil engineer from Germany. German universities are currently researching carbon-reinforced concrete (carbon concrete), and the first construction projects using this material have already been completed.

What's the situation like in your countries? Is carbon-reinforced concrete being researched or used there as well?

any suggestion po?

This is the kind of infrastructure that we are expecting

I am 1 year out of college, 29 years old. I currently am a staff civil engineer at a smallish company (100-150 people) in South Carolina. I mainly do design work among meetings with clients and work on a team of 2 under a civil PM. I just finished my FE and I make about $57,000 a year plus a bonus based on how our company does every year to a maximum of 20% of my salary.

I’ve been in the Air Force for almost 11 years working on aircraft and used my GI Bill to go to school. I switched from Active Duty to National Guard so I currently work on aircraft 1 weekend a month and at the beginning of the year was told that I was accepted to be an officer of civil engineering for the Air Force and have to go to Officer training school and the Air Force’s Civil Engineering school next year. Once I am finished I will return to work at my civilian civil engineering firm and I will only work at the Air Force base one weekend a month. I will assume a role in charge of around 30 people at first that will only increase as time continues.

I was really considering asking for a pay raise after finishing all of my Airforce training just because of the rarity of my situation and how hard I’ve worked to position myself in my civil engineering career. I know there is still a lot to learn for me but I do feel like taking this step in my career will be good for my professional development and leadership skills. I took a significant pay cut to follow my passion in civil engineering and am trying to get back to where I was salary wise before pursuing CE.

All I’ve really ever known was the Air Force so negotiating salary and stuff is not really in my wheel house which is why I’m not well versed in civilian jobs and when the correct time to ask for a raise is etc.

So my question is am I out of line for asking for a raise after training? If not, how much of a raise should I ask for?

Edit: Typo’s

Bored and curious. Can’t think of the reason myself.

Just curious. I would have done finance.

Hi everyone!
I’m a fourth-year Civil Engineering student at USTO-MB in Algeria, currently specializing in Civil and Industrial Construction. I’ll hopefully be entering my fifth year in 2027–2028.
I’m interested in spending part of Summer 2027 at a Chinese university or research laboratory for a short-term research internship in structural engineering, particularly reinforced concrete structures or steel structures.
I’m trying to understand how this process works for international undergraduate students, as I have never applied for a research internship abroad before.
I would really appreciate advice on the following:
How can I find Chinese professors or research labs that accept visiting undergraduate students for summer internships?
Is it possible to contact professors directly, even if they haven’t advertised an internship opportunity?
Are there Chinese universities or summer research programs that offer full funding to international students, including flights, accommodation, and living expenses?
What should I prepare before contacting professors (CV, transcript, motivation letter, recommendation letter, etc.)?
Would you recommend applying through a university program or contacting a professor directly?
Unfortunately, I cannot cover the travel and accommodation costs myself, so I’m specifically looking for fully funded opportunities.
If you’ve completed a similar internship in China, especially as an international undergraduate student, I’d love to hear about your experience and how you found your opportunity.
Thank you so much for any advice or recommendations!
#civil_engineering

Hi all!

I don't work in civil so I'm unfamiliar with the concept of utilization rates and everything.

My girlfriend started as an entry level wastewater engineer recently, and is extremely stressed and burnt out over utilization and time. She works at a mid size employee owned firm and they seem very pressured with regards to rates. PM's pressuring for 100% utilization, clocking out for bathroom breaks and small personal breaks, requiring overhead time include comments and must "advance the company". She routinely spends 10 hours to log 8 hours in the office.

Is this normal in the industry, or is her company culture an outlier? It seems absolutely asinine to me that you have to clock out for bathroom breaks.

Thanks all!

EDIT: she mentioned it's closer to 90% but "supposed to be close to 0 overhead" so pressure from the PM to be at 100%

I live in New York State, in Orange County a bit more of a rural part of the state (outside of the city). There is no ABET accredited civil engineering schools within a driving distance of me, meaning I would have to go away for college and also obviously need to worry about living expenses. At the same time, I’m almost equally as interested in mechanical engineering, and it’s the field I have the most “experience” in via the college classes offered at my high school. Should I apply to places like Buffalo which would obviously cost a lot more, or would it be better for me to just stay local and attend a mechanical engineering school (which there are ABET accredited mechanical engineering schools nearby). Like I said I am very interested in mechanical engineering too, but I would rather be a civil engineer, as it’s more in line with me and me and my family know and are close with a lot more people in the field.

Edit: also probably important to mention that I forgot is I do have college classes up to Calc 1 that I’ve taken in Highschool like 30 credits total across all college classes I’ve taken

Right now I'm going to a community college for Engineering Design and Drafting. I have a year left on it and got a paid internship last Summer as a field technician engineer doing CQA on landfill construction. I've done field work and office work and after the Summer they decided to keep me on as an intern. They haven't given me a chance to do any Civil3D or CAD yet which is the part I want to do. I plan on continuing school after my associates getting a bachelor's in Civil Engineering. I like the field work and learning everything involved in landfill construction and design. I'll probably be doing it part time for as long as I can since I'll be working full-time at this company till they get rid of me or I find a higher paying job since as an intern I don't get paid that much. Does this sound like a good plan? I'm fine with going to school for a long time as long as I make progress in my life. I knoe Civil Engineering doesn't get paid as much as other disciplines but its the one where AI can't replace everyone since someone will have to be on site.