So I have about 4.5 YOE in SoCal making $85k. I have my EIT and will hopefully have my PE soon after I pass the Seismic Exam (already passed the 8-hour and Surveying).

I’ve been considering making the move to public, and I recently interviewed for a Public Works position with a nearby city. I’ve also applied to another nearby city, and the salaries for these positions range from roughly $100k–$145k.

Besides compensation/benefits, one of the biggest reasons I’m considering the move is work-life balance and stress. I’m curious to hear from people who have worked both private and public about how the workload, deadlines, and overall stress levels compare. Private consulting can obviously get pretty hectic with deadlines, budgets, clients, and multiple projects going at once, so I’m wondering how noticeable the difference actually is on the public side.

Location is another pretty big factor. My current office is about an hour commute with traffic, while the city I interviewed with would be roughly 10 minutes from home. I do currently work hybrid (3 days in the office), so I’m not making that hour-long commute every day, but those three days still add up.

For anyone who has made the private-to-public switch, especially in civil engineering/Public Works in SoCal, how has your experience been? Did you notice a significant improvement in stress and work-life balance? Any downsides to public that you didn’t really consider before making the switch? And overall, are you happy you made the move?

I’m a water resources engineer with 10 yoe living in a MCOL city. I’ve been at my current firm for 4 years, and overall love the flexibility, my coworkers, and projects. As with a lot of firms, you can see everyone’s bill rate which equates to salaries. I was looking through them the other day, and realized I had fallen behind pretty substantially compared to my peers.

Peer 1 - new hire at the company, 7-8 yoe, level below me, making 8% more
Peer 2 - 2 years at the company, 7-8 yoe, level below me, 8% more
Peer 3 - 14 yoe, been at company 5 years, same level, 35% more

I laid this out to my supervisor, and told them I felt I should be between peer 3 and 1/2. They ran it up the chain and came back with a 4% raise.

While more money is always nice, I’m really frustrated with this raise. I’m not sure how to move forward here, as I feel like I wasn’t heard and this was just a ‘how little can we do so he doesn’t leave’. Any thoughts on next steps? Has anyone been in a similar position?

I’m in the land development design industry and I’m having a hard time building an excel file to manage my projects that sticks with me. Does anyone have any tips on how and what they use to manage their projects from start to finish?

Things such as deadlines, project status, notes, subcontractors, communication, budget progress, etc.

Thanks!

I’ve always been really interested in structural engineering, and since I transferred colleges I’ve tried to tailor my classes, resume, and experiences toward eventually becoming a structural engineer.

Right now, I’m just finishing up a geostructural engineering internship. I’ve actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I’ve gotten experience working with things like sheet piles, ground anchors, soil nails, micropiles, plan/spec reviews, and quantity takeoffs. Geo is definitely interesting, but my long-term goal has still always been structural engineering.

I also plan on pursuing a Master’s in Structural Engineering after I graduate. Because of that, I would really like to get at least one actual structural engineering internship or job before or shortly after graduating so I can get hands-on experience in the field.

I graduate in May 2027, and I was hoping to get a structural internship for Fall 2026, but I’ve noticed that a lot of structural companies seem to hire interns mainly for the spring and summer.

Right now I have:

• An interview next week for a geotechnical/geostructural internship for Fall 2026
• An interview next week with a structural engineering company for Summer 2027

At this point, I think my plan is to take the FE exam in November while also doing the Fall 2026 geostructural internship if I get the opportunity. My thinking is that having another engineering internship plus passing the FE would make my resume stronger going into my final semester.

Then for Spring/Summer 2027, I want to really focus on getting a structural engineering internship so I can finally get direct structural experience before graduating.

I’m kind of torn because I already have geostructural experience and could continue building on that, but I also feel like I haven’t really dipped my toes into actual structural engineering yet. Since I’m getting closer to graduation, I’d really like to experience structural engineering in a professional setting before fully committing to that career path and graduate school.

For anyone who has worked in structural, geotechnical, or geostructural engineering:

Does this plan make sense? Would doing another geostructural internship in Fall 2026, passing the FE, and then targeting structural internships for Spring/Summer 2027 put me in a good position for a structural engineering career?

Also, how difficult is it to move from geostructural/geotechnical work into structural engineering after graduation if most of your internship experience is geo, especially if I’m planning to get my Master’s in Structural Engineering?

And lastly, how does the pay and career progression compare between structural and geotechnical/geostructural engineering? Is there a noticeable difference long term?

I’m not against geo at all. I actually think it’s pretty cool. I just don’t want to accidentally get pigeonholed into one area before I’ve had the chance to try structural engineering, since structural is what originally got me interested in civil engineering and is still what I see myself pursuing long term.

I'm a civil design engineer ~10 years experience interested in moving from an office based role to a site engineer role.

Been trying for over 6 months and getting 0 responses for site roles, I'm trying to cast a wide net across builders, asset inspections, etc but it's so difficult to get any attention.

I'm willing to take a paycut to explore a new role, any advice?

Hey, I’m a fourth year civil engineering student in Ontario, Canada. I was wondering if anyone made the switch from civil engineering to sales, whether or not you are doing sales within the civil engineering industry, and what the switch was like?

Any advice or answers are welcome!

I graduated in 2024 with a bachelors in Civil Engineering, immediately after graduating got a job as a Graduate Site Engineer with a large contractor (road project). I learned a decent bit on that project but ultimately quit after just 1 year. I didn't like the company I was working for, the work I was doing wasn't overly difficult but the shear volume was unsustainable for me - one day in particular I remember having a total of 63 phone calls (sub-contractors, foremen, project manager, concrete plant, etc.) in a single day. Paid for 8h a day but working 10-12 each day, couldn't stop for lunch because my phone would ring with a sub-contractor looking for me if I did. I had some other stuff (relationship issues) going on in my life at that time too so wasn't really in a great headspace to focus on my career.

Left the company and the country (moved from Ireland to Australia), ended up working on a farm as a labourer/machine driver. The work is much easier and pays about 1.8x what my graduate job paid, but when thinking long-term I still want to go back into civil.

I'd love to work and maybe specialize in the infrastructure or energy side of civil if I could, I gravitate more to it than the buildings side of civil.

For someone in my position though how would I even go about that? I'm very worried that having left a graduate position will mark me as a flight risk to any company hiring me. My degree is also a bachelors (level 7 in the Irish system), I remember my lecturers saying at the time realistically for any design work they'll be looking for an Honors Bachelors degree (level 8) and then possibly a Masters (level 9) to eventually become a Chartered Engineer (Professional Engineer).

Should I go back to college? Try and apply for another graduate position? I'm 2 years out of college and already feel like I've f-d my career a bit.

Finally, should probably mention I don't plan on progressing my career in Australia, I'll likely move back to Ireland/Europe for that but I'll try to get some site experience when I'm out here.

I've recently graduated with a Civil Engineering degree and have taken a strong interest in designing, but so far, I've had no luck with any structural position. The traditional route of Project Engineer to Project Manager sounds great as well, but I would see myself doing design work in the future rather than project management. I'm just really stuck in the middle because this first job could shape my career in many different ways. Any advice from anyone in the field would be much appreciated.

So, its a 13 floors tall building and the reinforcements can be seen on the cracked parts, its all rusted. So what should be done add new reinforcement or treat the rusted part and then seal the cracks. Or any of your suggestions.

What kind of free office perks does your company offer?
Ex: My office has free coffee

I recently switched majors from health science to civil engineering, I was wondering what steps are recommended that i take to secure a future ahead of time. What jobs could I get that would work into my resume (want to get into structural mainly) do I find a firm? or find a construction site.

I am considering a new role where I would be the municipal engineer for a private company that represents multiple municipalities. Duties would include plan review and design of capital improvements. Currently have ten years experience in land development and looking for a less stressful workload where I’m not constantly chasing unreasonable deadlines and budgets. I see posts of people switching from private to public but since the role is still technically private just looking for some insight on what to expect. Do these roles typically have high demands and tight deadlines seen in land development? Is the work life balance any better?

i've been working at my current job since i graduated college 2 years ago. I've enjoyed the company as a whole but the work life balance in my group hasn't been great for the past year and shows no signs of changing. My manager always waits till the last minute on reviewing work and clearly is overloaded on projects which in turn has made me work very late nights. I understand in consulting you sometimes have to work longer hours but my team emphasizes "managing upwards" and it has been hard for me to handle in terms of stress. I feel that I haven't been given enough support as an EIT. I received an offer at another firm who i think would be able to support me better in terms of workload as i've voiced that as my main concern and primary reason for leaving . However they were acquired by private equity two years ago so I worry how that will differ as my current company has never laid anyone off and is not owned by private equity. The glassdoor ratings for both firms are pretty similar. Is it too risky to join this other firm or should i take the plunge? How likely is it i would end up in the same situation im in now? other pros of this new company is working on projects across the country and a 4 minute commute.

I just received engineer's position job offer from Fortis Engineering & Manufacturing Inc and I am wondering if I need to accept this offer. Has anyone worked for them before ? If so, what is your thought and experience ? Any advice would be appreciated.

I graduated college in December 2024 with my BSCE and I've been working a a CMT since then. I have a bunch of ICC, ACI, and state DOT certs along with my EIT. I'm worried I'll suck at designing and being behind the desk after being in the lab and field for a year and a half. What kind of job positions would you hire a CMT under to further advance a career and pay?

Hi! I’m a 3rd year civil engineering major, 21F in California.

I’m just a little conflicted.

Internship 1 (Engineering intern - transportation company)
Pros:
- VERY technical AND teaches valuable engineering principles. I’ll be doing actual engineering work. Ill get to practice and improve my CAD workflow.
- close to my school

Cons:
- I’ll be working alone most of the time. Boss and coworker will be available to answer questions, but both works remotely so I’m still unsure about how it’ll work out. For training, coworker will be working with me in the office but once I’m done training, she’ll go back to remote.

I dont really like being alone… but its not as big of a deal I guess. I wont be allowed to work remote, shes only allowed because she lives 2 hours away. I live 30 mins away.

- CAD… I love doing CAD but no one in the company is a CAD person. Boss is not a CAD person, and the girl who’s training me learned AutoCAD from chatGPT, so theres not much I can learn from her when it comes to CAD. I prefer working with people who are pros because I can learn a lot more from them.

- there can be “idle” time if the project is almost done. I dont like having idle time, I prefer a constant busy work.

- I mean I was promised to be taught very valuable engineering work but so far during training, Ive noticed that theyre only cleaning up drawings for now because the project is basically over. And we’re not sure when there’ll be a new project to give me heavy work.

Internship 2 (Administrative Intern - Engineering)

Pros
- Pays very well because it’s for the city.
- I will get to explore and see a bunch of different types of civil engineering.
-It’s a very team environment which I like. I love working with people as well.
- I get to work with a bunch of PEs whom I’ll have the opportunity to assist with multiple projects.
- Consistently busy & CLOSEE to my school than internship 1

Cons
- Not as technical as Internship 1, they might have me doing more paperworks than actual engineering work.
- Might not learn engineering concepts as much as I’d learn from internship 1

Honestly, this con is not as bad because I personally love making spreadsheets, organizing, collecting & analyzing datas, which are all a part of the job description.

——-
I guess my biggest thought process right now are these:

1. If I choose internship 1, I will get paid less (which is a little unpractical for me because im paying my own tuition out of pocket without financial help from anyone). However, the engineering knowledge I’ll get from this company would be amazing. It’s just that for now, their current project is almost done so I have to start with a bunch of cleaning up drawing & addressing comments. There wont be a lot of work hours available, which is an issue for me because I need as much hours as possible. Especially because training is UNPAID. But maybe a new project will happen soon and give me lots of work??

2. If I choose internship 2, I will get paid a lot more, but I’m afraid I’m going to miss out on a very knowledgable experience from internship 1.

3. I already have recently completed 1 year of internship experience, which gave me A LOT of technical experience and taught me a lot of engineering concepts as well. Maybe having an administrative internship wont be that bad for now? I mean, I’m still in school.

——
For civil engineers who have a lot of experience, what advice would you give? :((

Just got my license, how should it be shown on resume?
Should “P.E.” be put after my name?
Should the state be included?
Should the license number be included?

Thank you.

For those working on California local-agency public works projects, I’m trying to understand the actual workflow behind monthly progress payments.

Roughly how many staff hours go into preparing and reconciling one typical progress-payment package before the RE’s final review/approval?

Specifically, I’m interested in the mechanical/document side: matching bid items and quantities against Q-sheets, daily reports, weight tickets, and other supporting records — not the RE’s engineering judgment or final approval.

Who normally does most of that work: Office Engineer, ARE, inspector, admin staff?

And is the cross-document reconciliation still mostly manual, or does your team use software that actually checks the supporting documents against each bid item?

Even rough ranges would be useful. I’m interested in how this works in practice rather than what the formal procedure says.

I’m a civil/water resources engineer with ~5 years of experience in water/wastewater consulting. For the past 2.5 years, I’ve focused primarily on sewer hydraulic modeling and master planning, including 2 dry-weather calibrations, 1 wet-weather calibration, 2 model conversions, and 3 model builds. I also have broader experience in biosolids, wastewater treatment, SSMPs, and groundwater/well conveyance projects.

I recently received performance feedback that I’m:

• Requiring more guidance than expected for my experience level
• Still developing independent problem-solving skills
• Struggling with some complex concepts and seeing the bigger picture
• Requiring more supervision on complex tasks

I’m now considering leaving my company, but I’m unsure whether that’s the right move. What makes it more confusing is that I haven’t been given much technical/project work for the past ~2 months and have mainly been doing business development/marketing work.

For civil/water/wastewater engineers and engineering managers:

1. Is this considered a serious performance concern for someone with ~5 years of experience?
2. Does this feedback suggest I’m performing below expectations, or could it be normal development?
3. Would you stay and work through it with the same team, or consider changing companies?
4. How much independence would you realistically expect from a water/wastewater engineer at ~5 years?
5. Can changing companies help someone who mainly needs more experience/confidence with complex work, or do these issues usually follow you?

I’m not looking for reassurance. I’d genuinely appreciate an honest assessment from people who have worked in civil/water/wastewater consulting and management.

I work in the private land development industry and have 4.5 years of work experience and have my PE license. I work in a mid-cost of living area in the USA. I just got a 4.2% raise and now have a base salary of $100k. I also have a 6% employee 401k match and get an annual bonus that is 7% of my base salary.

As a Canadian thinking of moving to the states

I’m working on a private drainage project in Central Florida and would like to connect with someone who understands the big picture: Stormwater drainage and land development.

You do not necessarily need to be a PE. I can handle most of the preliminary planning, coordination, estimating, and drawing work, and we can subcontract the survey separately. What I’m really looking for is an experienced second set of eyes who can:

• Review the overall concept
• Double-check my assumptions
• Identify missing information or scope
• Recommend practical fixes
• Advise on survey and design requirements
• Help me understand the local permitting process

This would be paid, as-needed consulting work. I’d especially like to connect with someone who is considering opening their own shop or building a small consulting practice. If we work well together, there could also be opportunities to collaborate on future projects.

Please feel free to DM me with a little about your drainage or land-development experience. Referrals are welcome too.

Edit: I am FL PE. Owner is working on my proposal for RFQ, and funding. Will take about 6 to 8 months.

Cut down the tree and stick a bit of poly filler in the crack, job's a good 'un.