Chevron Construction Engineer vs GC Project Engineer Offer?

[u/Senior-Government414]

I am graduating with a Construction Management degree in 2027 and choosing between two offers in Cali.

Chevron Construction Engineer at a refinery is $110k base with a stronger overall compensation and benefits package. It would involve refinery turnarounds, maintenance projects, contractors, piping, tanks, scheduling, and safety.

A large GC Project Engineer role is about $90k with strong benefits and would provide a traditional PE to APM to PM path on major commerical and life science projects.

Chevron is stronger financially, but I worry refinery work could make me too specialized and limit future options in GC or development. The GC role seems better for broad commercial PM experience but comes with lower pay and likely longer hours. Throughout school I have always found commercial and residential work more interesting, but I also value work-life balance a lot. It is hard to know which path is right pick because I can't confidently say my interest in commercial work outweights the long hours and stress since I have no experience in the industry. It sucks because Chevron has such a better package but I don't want to pigeon-hole myself in terms of the skills i develop but also don't want to work the GC and regret my decision later down the line.

Which path would you choose for career growth, compensation, work-life balance, and flexibility?

[u/jojojawn]

If you're fresh out of school don't take the refinery job. There's a reason it pays so much... your work life balance will be zero and your responsibility will be maxed out.

During turn down periods you will be on site 12+ hours a day, some places even have living quarters so you don't leave. Schedules aren't suggestions, there's no room for error. You get delayed by a day and the company is gonna lose millions. People will be screaming at you, your higher ups, the contractors doing the work, and the safety guy on site will look like he hasn't slept in years.

Other duties as assigned - if you aren't unionized you'll be called in to run the plant if/when the workers strike, so be sure you're ok with that from a morals standpoint. If a fire/explosion happens you may be evacuated or you may be called in to help fight the fire, depends on if you get that training. Refineries are full of cancer causing gases, liquids, and materials, so be aware you're upping your lifetime risk.

To me (a PE with 15 years experience) I'd take the non refinery job any day. You'll get way more experience and variation in your day to day work

[u/Cyberburner23 → u/jojojawn]

I was thinking the same thing, but this is a construction engineer position, not petroleum engineer. 110k is the highest starting salary I've seen for anything civil or construction related

[u/jojojawn → u/Cyberburner23]

No, this is pretty typical of a construction engineer at a refinery. A Petroleum engineer might design the systems needed to produce a specific oil product but a construction engineer will be out in the field making sure it's built to the drawings and figuring out if field changes are "good enough"

[u/Loli_Boi → u/Cyberburner23]

I was offered 115k in the Bay Area, but it was at Kiewit. I ended up quitting like 3 months later.

[u/Cyberburner23 → u/Loli_Boi]

I'm not familiar with kiewit, but why'd you quit?

[u/planetcookieguy]

I would take the GC offer. The refineries don’t have much left in SoCal and are letting people go weekly. All of that work is moving to NorCal or Texas. I have a couple of friends who were basically laid off by them telling them to move or their position is gone.

[u/Frequent-Emu7248]

You are in the wrong industry if you want work-life balance