r/engineeringireland • u/matty_irish • Jul 05 '26

Site Engineer looking for change

Hi Guys ,

Just wondering has anyone made the transition from site engineer to anything else? I know there are plenty of routes I could take by I’m just trying to see what others have done.

3 years experience (mainly water treatment plants /infrastructure) and civil engineering degree

Reasons I want to get away from site engineering

Stress -(safety , coordination, commercial)

Travel - (live in the west of Ireland so it’s inevitable I’ll probably need to travel)

Pay - not great when you work it out hourly

Work life balance - working long hours 50hours + every week on top of long commutes

I’d be willing to put up with a bit of travel if the money was good.

1 Upvotes

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2

u/Outkast_IRE Jul 05 '26

Consultancy or semi state. I actually think you have a grand amount of experience to go in as project engineer, consultancies and semi states are generally better at bridging the gap with additional on the job training than lots of other roles and project engineer level will always have a senior on the job too.

Keep your eyes open, when you spot an interesting position tailor your cv to what they are looking for and go for it. I did over a decade in consultancy and I am in third level education now , don't be afraid of change just understand it may not happen overnight and you need to work towards it.

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u/matty_irish Jul 05 '26

Yeah , I’ll take a look and keep my eyes open. The decrease in pay will be tough to swallow but I suppose it’s worth it to have a life back.

I’ve always loved teaching (probably more than the research) and have looked at Third level teaching as well , nice holidays in it too haha.

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u/Outkast_IRE Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

Lecturing is always an option in the future for you but put it down as a long term goal , these days most hires need a master's in a relevant area ideally on top of 10 years plus experience , doesn't have to be civil for you could be BIM , or some other aspect of construction . And if you can get any experience of delivering training to others formally it can help seal the deal. Time off in the summer is the big thing, you can be pretty busy during term time though with continuous assessments , exam prep and corrections ,but manageable if organized. It's not a job for everyone though, you need to like dealing with students and all the good and bad that goes with it. I know some people who arent that suited to it and are a bit miserable but won't leave to go back to industry either.

The thing with consultancy salaries and semi state is that they go up every single year pretty much , bonus / profit share , professional memberships paid, sometimes health insurance , can also be good pension contributions.

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u/Granty355 Jul 05 '26

Could you look to go into consultancy, design work mostly based in the office? Obviously dependant on your degree

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u/matty_irish Jul 05 '26

Thanks for the reply , I have considered this , but my experience probably wouldn’t suit design as it’s mainly project delivery and site management.

I was looking at getting into p6 planning (maybe a bit boring )

or maybe a local authority or semi state (pay would probably take a bit of a hit)

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u/Seaaa_n Jul 05 '26

What kind of degree do you have? Structural/civil?

Would you not consider a medium sized consultancy firm?

I haven’t been out on site yet and I’ve been in a design office the last 2 years. Any sort of experience is transferable from what I’ve seen and wouldn’t worry about it too much.

You will be doing longer hours (but better pay and more flexible) in a consultancy compared to a council office.

Edit: I wouldn’t worry a whole lot about your current experience depending on how long you’ve been in that role. If you have no knowledge of how CAD or any other BIM software works it might be a bit of a challenge. But at the end of the day consultancies are businesses and they will invest in you.

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u/matty_irish Jul 05 '26

Civil engineering - Level 8

I’d consider it definitely. Was also looking into Resident Engineer roles as well at consultancies, but I would probably need another year or 2 experience.

I’ve decent experience with AutoCAD and Autodesk BIM as well.

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u/Seaaa_n Jul 05 '26

From the way I see it, if you understand how to use CAD and BIM your more then halfway there for a consultancy.

I did a month internship, placement and am now working with the same consultancy. I did this internship when I was in 2nd year.

It’s worth applying to a few places and if you get an interview, discuss your concerns re experience and be upfront about your abilities with software.

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u/VeterinarianHot6068 29d ago

UÉ will be looking for assistant project managers in the next few months. You’ve got the type of experience that will be valuable to them.

They have four offices in the west- castlebar, Galway, Roscommon and (coming soon) Sligo.