Civil Engineers: Salary, Job Description, How To Become One, and Quiz

Job description

Civil Engineers perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

• Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
• Design or engineer systems to efficiently dispose of chemical, biological, or other toxic wastes.
• Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
• Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.

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Salary

Civil Engineers with little to no experience tend to make between $54780 and $67430 while the more experienced ones can earn over $112850 per year.

One of the easiest ways to increase your salary as a Civil Engineer is to move to a higher paying state like AK. Right now, the highest paying states for Civil Engineers are AK, CA, NJ, TX and NY.

However, a higher pay at AK doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the living expenses at AK might be twice as high than where you are currently at now.

Three other factors that can increase your salary as a Civil Engineer is the degree you hold, the industry you work in, and lastly the company you work for.

Requirements

We asked other Civil Engineers what degree they had when they got the job and most of them said they had a Bachelor’s Degree followed by a Master’s Degree.

Other than that, we also asked them what did they major in and here are the most popular majors that came up.

Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of being a Civil Engineer.

What is the job like

71% of Civil Engineers said they were satisfied with their job and 68% said they feel like their job is making other people’s lives better.

Is this right for me

You can read more about these career personality types here.

People who are suitable for this job tends to like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

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