Which is a better career, civil engineering or software engineering?

Maintenance Engineer is the best. You get to clean up the building. Watch the boiler. Cut the lawn. Shovel the snow. It's a recession proof gig.

Civil engineering and software development are entirely different jobs in many ways. You're better off learning on you own that asking for advice. You may want to look into into hardware engineering as a medium between engineering (civil) and design (software).

BLS on engineers (civil and computer):

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

BLS on software development:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm

From someone in the software industry, it is a snap to offshore computer engineering jobs, but civil engineering is pretty solidly a domestic occupation.

Depends on what you mean by better. I'm not sure what a "career totem pole" is, but that sounds like you're looking for prestige, wow-factor, or admiration of other people.

The best career is the one that interests you the most. You need to find something that pays the bills, but if you hate going to work, you will be miserable.

Try thinking about what you want to do after you graduate. Then work backwards to figure out which degree you need to get that kind of job.

Can't offshore federal government software jobs. Well some maybe, but probably not all the DOD and DHS stuff that requires clearances.

What things about "computers" do you like the most? Coding? Assembly? Or just using particular software packages?

For civil engineering, there are plenty of software packages that allow you to do design on the computer (AutoCAD being the most popular).

In my opinion, I think you'd have a larger degree of versitility if you go do civil engineering. You can easily apply your computer skills to develop new programs within the field and possibly start your own little civil-software company. My father did something similar: he majored in chemical engineering (going so far to get a PhD in fluid mechanics) but he now just develops software all day for fluid systems (soap factorys, chemical factories, EPA, water treatment plants, etc). And he created his own company to do so. Sure, it's a one-man operation, but he loves it. Just a thought.

Phil_P wrote:

From someone in the software industry, it is a snap to offshore computer engineering jobs, but civil engineering is pretty solidly a domestic occupation.

This is true. Software companies (I work in that business) are quickly learning though that offshoring to India especially isn't as great as first thought. In India, it is prestigious for workers to move on after no more than about 3 years...they aren't chasing higher salaries either. The prestige lies in working for as many different companies as you can, and you are looked down upon by your family and friends if you stay at a certain company too long (more than about 3 years). Workers will even take a pay CUT to be able to move on to another company. So, the cost to companies is that they are constantly having to train new employees and deal with lower levels of productivity while they get up to speed.

I don't intend to choose my career according to the likelihood that it will get outsourced to India. I'm pretty sure there will always be software jobs in the US- Google, Microsoft, If you are a good at your work you should be able to get hired.

I think the software engineering is better and is more profitable then others.

On my opinion the world is developing every second and software is improving too. So you will be always with work and with money. BTW look here on this web site https://testmatick.com/ They deal with this kind of work every day and tere are many directs which you can choose for your work. Even writing the techical software documents is needed nowadays.

I got a civil engineering degree and worked in the field for almost 5 years before I decided it wasn't for me. It pays the least out of all engineering degrees. I started at 54k back in 2007 and got pigeon-holed doing mostly the same boring AutoCAD drafting work. It just depends on what contracts the company wins. Peaked around 60k then got laid off.

The thing I hated was keeping track of all of the billable hours. Each 0.5 hour that you work has to be billed to a client. If the work is slow, then you have no choice but to bill the same client over and over and go over budget. Or put non-billable work on your timesheet, then get big brother watching over you each week. If it's busy, you don't get to go home until the work is done.

The money is good when you're 22 years old, but you quickly realize that bartenders, casino dealers, cell phone salesmen, car salesmen, air conditioning salesmen, etc make more than you without any degree. I worked in a big office (~400 employees) then a medium sized office (~75 employees) and there were BS office politics in both. I felt like I was in the movie Office Space. I had to stay late without getting paid, even came in on weekends sometimes. The senior engineers peaked around 120k but they were working 50-70 hours per week and had exponentially more responsibility.

I know one guy who branched off and started his own company and is doing well now. His wife supported him for the first 2-3 years but after that I think he profited. His former company tried to sue him for "stealing" clients. I'm not sure how that went. He of course works all the time.

If I could do it over again I'd be come a dental hygienist. Get an associate's degree at community college in 2 years and then make $72k with little responsibility. If I had to skills for software engineering, I'd do that. Those guys have the best quality of life. You get free meals at work, you can work from home or anywhere in the world.

Electrical is the best engineering major but it is also the hardest.

If you want to be outside occasionally, I would recommend civil. Plus, if global warming is legit, then civil engineers will be in high demand (building up sea walls, building water projects, high speed rail systems, etc.). If you like to sit and work behind a computer for long hours, rarely seeing the light of day, then by all means go the software route.

Your best bet, is to do an engineering degree like Mechanical or Chemical, but minor in Computer science, or simply take as many programming classes as you have time for. You will be exponentially more valuable having an engineering degree and the ability to program, than just a programmer. Programmers have a big range of life styles, we hear of the glamorous software guys in California, but that is not what it is like for the majority. In my experience the stability is absent for most programmers, and there is a lot of movement, when compared to traditional engineers. If you are an engineer who can program, you will be highly valued by basically any company, especially the combination of chemical engineering and programming... I would say civil engineering is the most common engineering degree, and perhaps the least rigorous, and by proxy the salaries are lower on average.

C/M Runner wrote:

What things about "computers" do you like the most? Coding? Assembly? Or just using particular software packages?

For civil engineering, there are plenty of software packages that allow you to do design on the computer (AutoCAD being the most popular).

In my opinion, I think you'd have a larger degree of versitility if you go do civil engineering. You can easily apply your computer skills to develop new programs within the field and possibly start your own little civil-software company. My father did something similar: he majored in chemical engineering (going so far to get a PhD in fluid mechanics) but he now just develops software all day for fluid systems (soap factorys, chemical factories, EPA, water treatment plants, etc). And he created his own company to do so. Sure, it's a one-man operation, but he loves it. Just a thought.

^This is good. I'm a civil engineering professor and a licensed professional engineer. Do what you want to do. There are easier ways to make money. You can make a good reliable living as a civil engineer, but don't do it for the money if you hate it. Been at two different schools in two different parts of the country. Our students always get jobs. In about 2007, most were going into neighborhood development. When that dried up for quite awhile, there were always jobs in other areas of infrastructure. Some students were go-getters who ended up being principal or owning their own firm before age 30. Some got a 9-5 at the highway department and were quite content to plug away there. Most are in between and in 5 years out of school are project managers with a challenging and rewarding career.

btw, you can develop software without a degree, but to do anything in civil engineering you need a PE license, which starts with getting an ABET accredited degree. You could own your own construction firm and make gazillions of dollars without graduating high school, but to be a professional engineer you need the BS degree.

Better to build things you can see and touch rather than vaporware. Guaranteed job security is to obtain a degree in Advanced Luddite Studies. Apparently there is an outstanding program taught at Reykjavik Polytechnic.

T.M.A.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

Without knowing you, I would say software. There is nothing wrong with civil engineering (or other forms of engineering, I am a mechanical engineer) but software scales better than physical products therefore the upper end which you can get paid is much higher. The conventional wisdom, including my companies internal guideline for pay is that the pay scales look from 70k (new grad)-150k (senior employee) for both fields, but the reality is that software engineering scales closer from 90k-250k+ for individual contributors (there are line employees at large software companies making upwards of half a million a year).

The other thing is that there is a much larger need for software engineers than civil engineers. I believe I read somewhere (and I cannot find the source) that just one of the big 5 software companies (Microsoft, facebook, google, amazon, apple) wants to hire as many entry level programmers as their are graduates in the entire U.S. Even though the company I work for is a hardware/electronics company, we employ approximately twice as many software engineers as any other type of engineer.

Finally software is eating the world and doesn't show signs of slowing down anytime soon. So if you want to build the future, it's software.

Again, there is nothing wrong with civil engineering, but unless you have a special love for it, I would go for software. Also remember, you can always get a masters degree in the other specialty if you change your mind in the future.

PiersPirs wrote:

On my opinion the world is developing every second and software is improving too. So you will be always with work and with money. BTW look here on this web site ... They deal with this kind of work every day and tere are many directs which you can choose for your work. Even writing the techical software documents is needed nowadays.

Would you rather ride a desk. Or do a job that lets you be outdoors a lot. ..... Every second infrastructure is declining. There is huge amount of work coming to the Civil industry. Software people might make more money, but what type of life do you want to live?

Look into structural engineering- it’s a blend of mechanical and civil engineering. You even get to work with architects (not as fun as you’d think)! Gets paid a little better than most civil disciplines but that shouldn’t be a serious factor.

If you really just want money, software is the route to go right now. Maybe that will be right for you. Most people I know that came out of college looking to make money in software either quit or are miserable right now. A few of them love it and it’s the perfect job.

A perfect career is a blend of fulfillment, something you are good at, and can support your lifestyle. You could get paid all the money in the world and still be miserable for 40 years. The first step is being honest with yourself about actually interests you. Best of luck.