Civil Engineers

Overview

Civil Engineers has a national median salary of $100,840 per year, with +6.4% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

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.

Work Values

• Independence
• Working Conditions
• Recognition

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
• Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.
• Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
• Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
• Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.

Work Activities

• Getting Information
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Drafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and Equipment
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
• Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others
• Working with Computers
• Communicating with People Outside the Organization
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials

Detailed Work Activities

• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Providing documentation, detailed instructions, drawings, or specifications to tell others about how devices, parts, equipment, or structures are to be fabricated, constructed, assembled, modified, maintained, or used.
• Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
• Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
• Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
• Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a master's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Master's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a bachelor's degree.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Civil Engineers:

Video Resources