Mechanical or Civil engineering???

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
As my wife has finished up her school, I am heading back. :(

Anyone in the engineering world have any input on viability of each degree?

I'm in construction at the moment so naturally would lean towards civil. However, I have that mechanical side of me that likes most anything automotive, etc. I dislike HVAC, thermal, etc. so would tend to not want to choose mechanical.

However, I want to choose mechanical because it will expand on what I currently know and the industry I am in.

Decisions, decisions...

Anyone have any non-smart ass remarks or thoughts?
 
I'm starting spring '15 at tech for mechanical engineering. Start with looking up job positions available and see whats around and what it pays. For me it was pretty obvious who's looking for what. I was torn between that and CNC machine actually.
 
Id stick toward Civil or Construction management if that's what you've always been doing. Really need to figure out what kind of job your wanting to go for and let that decide which major to go with.
 
Neither
 
Yeah, I should have been a lawyer.

Do whichever interests you the most. I would say stick to civil if thats what all your work experience is in, but I don't have any idea what the job market is like for civil engineers.
 
rockcity said:
As my wife has finished up her school, I am heading back. :(

Anyone in the engineering world have any input on viability of each degree?

I'm in construction at the moment so naturally would lean towards civil. However, I have that mechanical side of me that likes most anything automotive, etc. I dislike HVAC, thermal, etc. so would tend to not want to choose mechanical.

However, I want to choose mechanical because it will expand on what I currently know and the industry I am in.

Decisions, decisions...

Anyone have any non-smart ass remarks or thoughts?
Click to expand...

What do you expect to gain from the degree?
 
At ncsu, civil/construction requires one thermo course while mechanical requires two.

Consider the hours/work culture that go with each discipline. Mechanical will have a higher percentage of 9-5 office settings where civil/cm will have much more field on site time. All this varies between design and contractor tasks.

I'm NCSU mechanical, doing third party testing of new installations. "Commissioning"
 
rockcity said:
Anyone have any non-smart ass remarks or thoughts?
Click to expand...
No :D

rockcity said:
Anyone in the engineering world have any input on viability of each degree?

I'm in construction at the moment so naturally would lean towards civil. However, I have that mechanical side of me that likes most anything automotive, etc. I dislike HVAC, thermal, etc. so would tend to not want to choose mechanical.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you've heard the old adage that mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.

I went into mechanical engineering because I have that mechanical side that likes to tinker with stuff. I excelled at thermal/fluids/heat transfer in school, but have no interest in working in that industry. Its just not something that appeals to me. But I find it funny that I say that, because most of my daily work is not very interesting to me. I work in an exciting industry with gigantic parts and lots of CNC machining and welding, and I love that part. But so much of my time is consumed with paperwork and computer systems. I'd estimate only 10-15% is actually engineering, and even then, its not heavy calculating, but more using my knowledge and education to make decisions.

Also, if you become an engineer, prepare to be over-responsible and under-appreciated. Sure, the pay is decent, but you will watch all the managers and finance people make more money with less hours and less stress. And if there's ever a problem, it doesn't matter who's fault it is, because the engineers didn't do the right things to prevent it from happening. In manufacturing, you get abused from below too, because some of the hourly guys will expect you to do their job for them. If you're used to overtime pay, forget that idea, but you'll still get plenty of overtime work and 2am phone calls and "opportunity" to help the company on a saturday evening.

With all that said, I don't regret doing engineering. I have an engineer's mind, whether I have the degree or not. But it's nice to understand the math and logic of how forces work and how temperature and fluid flows, etc.

Based on some of your past posts, I don't think an engineering degree is going to be a career advancement. But it may be a personal advancement which will also legitimize your knowledge to others in your field, and theres definitely a value to that.
 
I can tell you Civil is entirely driven on the economy more-so than mechanical. Better have a back up plan if she goes Civil if the economy tanks again in which I think is so close to possibly happening again it ain't funny... Mechanical is not as high paid but a whole lot more stable for they never laid off a sole on that end. Civil went all out dormant for a few years... LOL
But 2 incomes has got that covered anyways...

Also, the company I work for hired their very first Civil Engineer female "ever" just last week and she's just an EIT soon to be a PE where as mechanical end is about 35-40% women and deals with 30-40% women clients. I've never seen or heard of a female land developer walking in here under my 19 years??? This statistic is for a company that started in 1969.
 
jeepinmatt said:
No :D


I'm sure you've heard the old adage that mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.

I went into mechanical engineering because I have that mechanical side that likes to tinker with stuff. I excelled at thermal/fluids/heat transfer in school, but have no interest in working in that industry. Its just not something that appeals to me. But I find it funny that I say that, because most of my daily work is not very interesting to me. I work in an exciting industry with gigantic parts and lots of CNC machining and welding, and I love that part. But so much of my time is consumed with paperwork and computer systems. I'd estimate only 10-15% is actually engineering, and even then, its not heavy calculating, but more using my knowledge and education to make decisions.

Also, if you become an engineer, prepare to be over-responsible and under-appreciated. Sure, the pay is decent, but you will watch all the managers and finance people make more money with less hours and less stress. And if there's ever a problem, it doesn't matter who's fault it is, because the engineers didn't do the right things to prevent it from happening. In manufacturing, you get abused from below too, because some of the hourly guys will expect you to do their job for them. If you're used to overtime pay, forget that idea, but you'll still get plenty of overtime work and 2am phone calls and "opportunity" to help the company on a saturday evening.

With all that said, I don't regret doing engineering. I have an engineer's mind, whether I have the degree or not. But it's nice to understand the math and logic of how forces work and how temperature and fluid flows, etc.

Based on some of your past posts, I don't think an engineering degree is going to be a career advancement. But it may be a personal advancement which will also legitimize your knowledge to others in your field, and theres definitely a value to that.
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X2... I would say this explains my thoughts and feelings to a T.

6BangBronk said:
I can tell you Civil is entirely driven on the economy more-so than mechanical. Better have a back up plan if she goes Civil if the economy tanks again in which I think is so close to possibly happening again it ain't funny... Mechanical is not as high paid but a whole lot more stable for they never laid off a sole on that end. Civil went all out dormant for a few years... LOL
But 2 incomes has got that covered anyways...

Also, the company I work for hired their very first Civil Engineer female "ever" just last week and she's just an EIT soon to be a PE where as mechanical end is about 35-40% women and deals with 30-40% women clients. I've never seen or heard of a female land developer walking in here under my 19 years??? This statistic is for a company that started in 1969.
Click to expand...

I would say that you must be referring to your company. There were plenty of MEs that got the axe when the economy tanked, but in general you may be correct.

Also, most of the time CEs are required to have a PE to practice, while MEs are encouraged but not required to have their PE license.

The biggest thing to me, is what you plan to gain from it. I would say that ME is more difficult and time consuming, but I am biased.
 
I'm mostly leaning towards civil as I already do construction. I've always wanted to be into structural but have a mechanical drive as well and it would broaden me a little more than civil.

I'm just making myself more marketable as I know I won't advance where I work now anymore unless I move to the home office in Michigan. I have a BS in construction management and its not too long before I finish up my master in construction management so I have that aspect taken care of. I have a GC license and plan to utilize it more in the next several years. In doing so, the civil engineering would benefit me moreso than mechanical. There are more opportunities LOCALLY for engineering majors (for much better $) than construction management even though the management degree would work better for the position (employers always think engineer=manager). I currently travel for work and spend time out of town during the week. While I can work locally in construction management, the pay is mediocre, at best, compared to what I make now. My family is young and I don't want to work out of town all of the time and am working on making plans for the future to be home every night. Don't get me wrong, I can find work locally but not in a pay scale that, as of now, is something that is convincing enough to make a move.

School would be Alabama for mechanical and I haven't decided which one for civil. Ultimately, the school I choose will be the one that works with my schedule and prior college courses the best.
 
jeepinmatt said:
No :D


...But so much of my time is consumed with paperwork and computer systems. I'd estimate only 10-15% is actually engineering, and even then, its not heavy calculating, but more using my knowledge and education to make decisions.

Also, if you become an engineer, prepare to be over-responsible and under-appreciated...you will watch all the managers and finance people make more money with less hours and less stress. And if there's ever a problem, it doesn't matter who's fault it is, because the engineers didn't do the right things to prevent it from happening. In manufacturing, you get abused from below too, because some of the hourly guys will expect you to do their job for them. If you're used to overtime pay, forget that idea, but you'll still get plenty of overtime work and 2am phone calls and "opportunity" to help the company on a saturday evening.
Click to expand...

This is spot on. I've been working 70 hr weeks with no overtime pay. If you are like me and refuse to fail, then you become a victim of your own success. Management identifies you as a guy that gets the job done and then leans heavily on you to take up everyone else's slack. I have had the "opportunity" to work 6 of the last 8 weekends. My plan is do to this long enough to get into management.

The crappy employeers have a glass ceiling for engineers that work hard and promote the slack asses. If you see that, get out fast!

If they don't know you, hourly manufacturing associates will not give you any respect. It's been my experience that if you get in there with them and get your hands dirty, they warm up pretty fast.

Regarding job stability; there are a lot of ME jobs that support CE jobs. Tiered manufacturers of contruction equipment would be an example. I used to design heat exchangers for heavy equipment and was laid off with about 1/3 of my comrades in 08'.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Based on some of your past posts, I don't think an engineering degree is going to be a career advancement. But it may be a personal advancement which will also legitimize your knowledge to others in your field, and theres definitely a value to that.
Click to expand...

X2, I've never met you, but I've read your posts on here for years. I'm guessing starting out as a new engineering grad you will take a pay cut. The flip side could be a better home life. From what I remember, you travel alot for your job, and work a lot of hours. Most engineering jobs are 8-5 M-F with limited travel, and occassional OT required. Due to extreme cost cutting measures, travel is actually highly restricted right now. I have to beg to be able to make a day trip up to the manufacturing plant in order to solve problems in my area.

Everyone else has pretty much nailed a lot of the differences in CE and ME.

I'm 40 yrs old, and have been working as an ME for 14 years. 12 of those have been with the same company. There were a few rounds of layoffs at my work too during the recession. ME's, EE's, mechanics, etc, nobody was safe. I work for a HUGE company, so the processes to get stuff done are heavy. I echo what JeepinMatt said about the percentage of actual engineering work done, but that is probably typical.

I cannot imagine going back to school at my age. I hated school. Except for the partying, lol.
 
Why did I just think your WIFE was headed back? LOL My post is completely void now except the fact Civil end packed up shop and laid off 75% where as Mechanical ran 100% through the recession at scaling back to 36 hours a week.

And could very well have been Larry Nixon to compliment hanging through the recession for Mechanical end. I think he's kept the Pine Cone Bluegrass in line pretty good as well on Sundays forever now.

Engineering is nothing without good sales. And for that, character goes a long ways!!! My old boss that retired Don Kennedy always said it's not being able to do the job, it's getting the job...

Civil is back up to about 90% right now and growing.

And agree, Civil becomes "common sense"...
 
I don't plan on actually engineering anything. All of the engineering manager positions that I already do as a contractor (for cheaper) require engineering degrees to be full time employees. The $ is just a bonus, maybe. Its odd, I do the engineering manager position at many industrial plants for long term, as a contractor, but to be considered for that same position as a full time employee, then the requirement is the engineer degree. HR has way too much control. :rolleyes:

So, to really settle down in one place and not travel and to be able to do what I currently do (but at one place), the degree is required.

And, the personal gain is well worth it as well. :)
 
For the record, I'm not seeking the entry level engineering jobs; I'm after the engineering manager position, something that I already do as a contractor but cannot be considered for a full time position because of the lack of the "engineering" degree; the experience and track record are already there in the exact same position. Its very unlikely that there would be a pay cut.
 
There are some really good real world ideas being shared here. Just when you think you have things planned out.... I'm still young enough to start fresh and old enough to understand the value of good advise. Sounds like we all are.
 
I am a ME and a manager for a company that does custom plastic parts. If you are going for a manager engineering position be prepared to do less engineering duties. I spend most of my day making sure the engineering techs are on line with their projects and other duties. I love my job, but be prepared to do more busy work than engineering. Just from my experience, the higher up the job levels the further away you will get from your actual job title (I.e. Manufacturing Engineer). Good luck and hope you find a good path to travel.
 
I already babysit techs, contractors, engineers, etc. and don't expect to do any actual engineering, which is odd that they want an engineering degree. If I were them, I'd look for a management degree but whatever...
 
In the corporate point of view, degreed engineer is capable of managing a technical process ensuring a level of quality and productivity. Management degree is only the business economics of the process. Those with both degrees ( bsme + mba) can typically break the corporate glass engineer ceiling much sooner.
 
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