I have been working in engineering consulting for several years at this point. Throughout that time, I have developed some opinions about how I feel things should work at an engineering firm. Some of these opinions have changed and evolved as I have gained more experience in the industry. I expect some of these opinions will continue to change. The following blog post is a list of controversial opinions held by a young-ish civil engineer living in Southern California. It is important to note that none of these opinions are universally held. Civil engineering is a vast field that encompasses a diverse range of expertise and perspectives. For this reason, everyone will have their own take on the opinions discussed below.
Opinion 1: No engineer fully understands everything but collectively, we get it right.
As I mentioned previously, civil engineering encompasses many disciplines. Although civil engineers tend to be intelligent, there is no way one person could learn everything there is to know about structural, geotechnical, transportation, AND water resources. Having a general understanding of disciplines outside of your core expertise is essential, but projects seem to work best when people with different specialties come together. After working at several engineering firms, I am amazed at how often it feels like nobody knows what there is doing. It seems like every project goes through a chaotic phase. Then, somehow, everything comes together. I have come to embrace the chaos and appreciate how we, as humans, can build amazing things by getting really good at something and coming together with other people who are really good at different things.
Opinion 2: Outsourcing is potentially problematic.
Outsourcing CAD or GIS work to other countries is becoming increasingly common in the civil engineering world. There are firms that pay less than US minimum wage to professionals living in Malaysia or India and charge the client 10 to 20 times what they paid for this work. In my opinion, there are many issues with this practice. The first is transparency. I think it’s borderline sneaky to outsource work to other countries when clients believe a plan set is being developed in-house. Secondly, I question the ethics behind paying people much less than they would be earning if were doing the same work while located in the United States. Thirdly, I wonder whether this practice will hinder the development of the next generation of civil engineers. In my opinion, the government probably needs to regulate the outsourcing of engineering work to ensure that stamped plans have been adequately reviewed by the engineer in charge.
Opinion 3: Job hopping is not a bad thing.
A few months ago, somebody wrote a post on the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) LinkedIn page listing the potential benefits of job hopping. The post generated a significant amount of pushback as senior engineers rushed to discredit this advice. I do agree that the post oversimplified the benefits of job hopping. Each individual has different goals, values, and expectations for their career. Goals and values also shift depending on the season of life. For those who are seeking to move up in their career as quickly as possible, I do agree that moving companies every 2 to 5 years is a good move as long as these positions progress in pay and responsibility. There are also some civil engineers who managed to find a good job early in their career and work at the same place for decades. It is great when that works out, but civil engineers should probably not expect that to be the case. Civil engineering firms will lay people off and delay promotions in bad times. In most cases, you will NOT be rewarded for “sticking it out” during the bad times. In my opinion, I think individuals should do what’s best for themselves and their families (because nobody else will) rather than what’s best for a company. That said, I do think employers will see many short stints (<2 years) at several companies as a “red flag.” For this reason, it is best to make every career move with purpose – whether that move is staying or going to a different company.
Opinion 4: Lack of innovation is a problem (but also an opportunity) in civil engineering
Another reason people become disenchanted with the civil engineering industry is the lack of significant innovation. Many sources will cite the lack of young talent as a reason why innovation is difficult in civil engineering. However, if you speak with young civil engineers, you will find that many have tried to improve processes within their firm only to be met with senior engineers/project managers telling them “we have always done it this way.” I think this happens because many civil engineering firms operate on thin profit margins, which leaves little budget room for research and development. Unfortunately, this resistance (or at least perceived resistance) to change is one reason many young professionals choose to leave civil engineering. However, I see this as an opportunity for those of us who have been in the field for a while. This is because there are many opportunities to innovate and differentiate ourselves from more established firms.
Opinion 5: The civil engineering industry desperately needs to reevaluate the typical pricing structure
The civil engineering industry as a whole needs to reevaluate the pricing structure we present to clients. Too many firms operate on thin margins. I think this is because many civil engineers have adopted the mentality that their skills are a commodity. However, there are many civil engineering services that are very specialized and not interchangeable. Many projects have unique aspects that require very knowledgeable and highly-skilled engineers. Over time, civil engineers also develop their “engineering judgment” which is invaluable. When one works with people who have similar skills and career interests every day, it may be easy to underestimate the uniqueness of their skillset. This, in turn, fosters a belief that a firm must compete on price because they are exactly the same as everyone else. While civil engineering professionals tend to have the same skill “base,” each individual (and firm) has a unique set of experiences, processes, values, and ways of interacting with clients. These things matter and will affect how you work with certain clients! It is for this reason that civil engineering firms must begin to resist the urge to compete on price, market themselves more confidently, and compete based on value!
Opinion 6: EITs are underrated
In my experience, EITs are often treated as less valuable because of their lack of experience. However, I think this attitude is flippant and short-sighted. After all, if EITs were so useless, why not hire someone with a psychology or marketing degree to perform engineering work? EITs often have more time/availability than more senior professionals, which is useful when there is a tight deadline or fast turnaround.
Opinion 7: The civil engineering labor shortage is mostly because of salary
While it is true that it’s not all about money, compensation is a very important aspect of work. After all, everybody needs money to buy food, shelter, etc. Some people feel that the compensation for being a civil engineer does not justify the rigorous coursework and licensure process. Those who have the ability to become civil engineers are capable of entering other high-paying professions such as computer engineering. According to indeed.com, the average civil engineer in California makes $102,445 per year in 2023. In contrast, the average pay for a computer engineer in California is $136,400 per year in 2023. In May 2023, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) published an article about the labor shortage civil engineering firms are facing. In the article, the author explains that firms are not able to keep up with salary expectations because clients expect to pay less. In my opinion, civil engineers are underpaid for what we are expected to do for society. After all, we are responsible for designing infrastructure that will keep people safe! However, the fact that we, as an industry, are underpaid is self-induced to a large degree. Firms lower their fees to compete on price rather than making the effort to learn how to sell their value to clients.
Opinion 8: People are leaving the industry because of burnout
Lately, I have seen many civil engineers leave the industry because of burnout. Earlier this year, I began to experience the early stages of burnout. The quality of my work was declining. I was mentally fatigued and simply felt disengaged from my work. Fortunately, my sister helped me realize I was starting to slip into burnout and encouraged me to address it. I focused on my mental, spiritual, and physical health (e.g., prioritizing a healthy diet, quitting work at 5 pm sharp, and engaging in at least one small activity that brought me joy). Gradually, I was able to emerge from this feeling of burnout. Sadly, I am not alone in feeling this burnout. This seems to be an issue plaguing the industry. Why does this happen?
The first reason many civil engineers experience burnout is workload. Once civil engineers earn their P.E. license, many firms use that as an invitation to pile on the workload. Civil engineering work is often fast-paced and can be stressful depending on the project. After all, clients want their plans yesterday! Unfortunately, driven and ambitious civil engineers are the ones who tend to take on the heaviest workload and end up working an unhealthy number of hours.
Another reason civil engineers burn out is lack of control. Over time, having a boss who micromanagers can wear on a civil engineer because having someone constantly looking over your shoulder is stressful. Furthermore, if someone feels like they have no control over their work, they will disengage and begin to not care. After all, why should someone care if their opinions don’t matter anyway? Dr. Gabor Mate, author of the book When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection, even cites lack of control as one of the three main stressors (lack of control, conflict, and uncertainty).
Finally, I think civil engineers burn out because they do not feel challenged. Most civil engineers are intelligent. Most of us went to school for several years and took challenging classes to work in an industry that would afford us the opportunity to work on cool projects. Unfortunately, it can be easy to get into a situation where you are working on only one type of project. While finding a niche is helpful, most people do not want to be siloed into working on one specific type of project for multiple decades.