r/civilengineering • u/Inside_Tennis4238 • 1d ago
Are civil engineering graduates actually prepared for the reality of working on a construction site?
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u/geeltulpen PE 1d ago
I wasn’t! I hadn’t ever been on a site before, and had zero exposure in college. My first job I went with a more senior engineer and had some training on the spot (don’t stand behind equipment; make sure you can be seen at all times; wear this vest and these ear plugs; don’t step into live traffic; don’t turn your back to traffic… etc) but I still felt like a complete goober and liability on every site until I had visited several.
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u/Inside_Tennis4238 1d ago
This is so amazing of you engineer
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u/Cycling-Boss 20h ago
This should be done for any engineer that is not accustomed to being on a job site. Safety should always be the #1 priority.
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u/Helpinmontana 1d ago
I’m 32, been in excavation since before it was legal for me to work, and I’m 6 months from graduating.
The answer to your question is entirely, fully, No. I’ve met engineers with 20 years experience that didn’t belong on a job site. “Are 21 year old kids that have never existed outside of polite society ready to be on a site?” Fuck no they aren’t. Most I’ve seen it’s their first time wearing boots.
But you know what? I get 20 year old laborers who also have never been on a jobsite before that wind up being competent professionals 6 months later. I had a 20 year old Chem E. show up to work that was 10x as useful as the construction management student that introduced him to the field.
Regardless, I don’t care who you are, nothing about your life has prepared you to be on a jobsite but being on a jobsite. That in itself is a developed skill, you need to identify what will kill you, identify whose way you’re in, identify how you can be helpful, then identify what is your responsibility and what isn’t, then how to address that. But no, at 20 or so years old you’re not just walking in and being competent, especially not in an engineering capacity.
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u/jmouw88 19h ago
As you noted, there is a situational awareness that just comes from doing it.
You don't really understand how machines move until you spend some time around them. You don't understand the site lines of operators until you run the machine. You need to see the dangers before you become truely cognizant of them and how to avoid them.
This is true for anyone, regardless of their position or function.
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u/antechrist23 21h ago
And I've been that 20 year old Chem E student, but that was also almost 30 years ago.
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u/Ok-Store-2788 1d ago
If they worked a construction internship on a large project, absolutely. If they haven’t, it highly depends on their personality tbh. I think the hours and working alongside the crew would be the biggest shock, and some graduates might realize they’re more of an office person.
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u/Perfect-Mongoose-704 1d ago
You know, probably not. But there's only so much universities can be reasonably expected to do.
The industry really does need to expect to do some training as well.
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u/Lucky_Instruction_34 22h ago
No they are young and healthy. People in construction are toxic and broken
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u/silence_sirens 15h ago
Jokes on them, I went to school after years of being toxic and broken. Straight larping as a normie
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u/LifeIsRax 18h ago
What? You think this comment is not toxic? You think you don’t sound broken?
Find help, you need it.
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u/Lucky_Instruction_34 18h ago
Your comment is an example of toxic scapegoating / gaslighting. Common behavior in construction
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u/aronnax512 PE 17h ago
It's coming from a new account with comments hidden and the post reads like engagement bait. It's likely a bot or a throwaway troll account and reasonable to add to an ignore list.
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u/transneptuneobj 23h ago
No one prepared for a 54 year old vikings fan telling you he'll flip you for your paycheck.
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u/DarkintoLeaves 15h ago edited 14h ago
I’d say no.
Going to school gives you a lot of knowledge and theory but doesn’t really do much to show you how it applies to construction sites.
Even after years of design work seeing how things are being installed is another level of detail you don’t really get into until you start going to site and seeing it.
School work is like planning a car trip from A to B, picking the right vehicle to take and when you’d likely need to stop for gas and supplies and where to make all the turns to get their quickest. Actually working on a construction site is like someone sitting you in that car with that map and making you do the actual drive on the first day that you got your license - it’s a lot of details you never had to think about before lol
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u/Activision19 PE, PTOE 21h ago
No. Most civil graduates can’t even read a plan sheet fresh out of school either. In my experience college teaches theory, it does not teach practical applications of said theory. The college leaves practical skills development to on the job training.
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u/More_Mouse7849 8h ago
Not really. No schooling will teach you what you need to know on a construction site. The only thing that will teach you is being on a construction site.
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u/jxsnyder1 PE - Civil/Structural 1d ago
Lol, no.
I don’t think a lot of civil undergrads have spent much time outside of a classroom. Far too many went into engineering thinking it’s a lucrative career path, but never fathomed that they wouldn’t be “nose in a book” the whole time. It seems quite a lot of engineers tend to be more introverted, and field work tends to make them uncomfortable as they have to interact with lots of other people.
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u/Ok-Store-2788 1d ago
It depends on the school. At mine, most of the civils that go into construction post-grad have had internships with large GCs. Most students have at least two internships in general.
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u/silence_sirens 15h ago
I'm the opposite, I want more site time and have been going insane sitting still in school. I'm also 34 and I've been around already... Very different outlook from the kids in my classes.
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u/Emergency_Creme_4561 21h ago
Not all Civil Engineers work in construction. Although I do I intend to leave
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u/remosiracha 16h ago
I don't know how I got stuck in construction. I want out 😂
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u/Emergency_Creme_4561 8h ago
Same. I would love to work in a council as a development engineer. According to my research I’d be doing way more Civil Engineering work in the council than in construction plus there’s a way better work life balance there. Also I hate getting dirty in bulk earth works sites
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u/remosiracha 6h ago
I'm a geotech so getting dirty and going outside is fine. I just went a different route in school and nobody said I'd be in construction. All of our professors were doing research on volcanoes yet they didn't mention how to do that when we graduated 😂
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u/RIPmyPC 22h ago
On the other end of the spectrum, I think I was. I began working in the field in summer at 17 doing inspections for a small engineering firm. I can tell you that then, I was properly unprepared at being on the field. It’s a good thing I began working on really small projects and made mistakes where the biggest excavator wouldn’t kill you. Looking back I was being a cowboy, but when the entire project was done by 4-5 people on the contractor side, it didn’t really matter.
I learnt and by the time I graduated I had done 8 internships and 1 summer job on the field. By then I knew what was expected of me on (really) big jobs. The stuff I was doing with 5 people in the field helped me understand how they would think, and I can now apply this thinking when talking to a subcontractor when I’m the prime contractor on a 600+ workers project.
For what it’s worth, nobody ever finishes learning safety. Every year there’s a new case of an injury or death that reshape how a company views its safety manual.
Keep your head on a swivel, read and apply the safety rules you learn about. Safety is everyone’s job.
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u/Inside_Tennis4238 19h ago
This so touching amazing I definitely I agree with you that you made from site right
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u/38DDs_Please 16h ago
If they did some internships at a geotech or a construction firm!
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u/Inside_Tennis4238 15h ago
So you mean they would definitely get a privileged appointment
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u/38DDs_Please 15h ago
What do you mean?
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u/Inside_Tennis4238 15h ago
When they finish internship and be considered for employment this is what I mean
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u/38DDs_Please 15h ago
They would definitely be more prepared for a role on a construction site. Pretty common for internships to lead to staff positions.
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u/Inside_Tennis4238 15h ago
Now I buy your Idea fully
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u/justmein22 13h ago
In the US, internships do not mean you get a better starting position. In fact, internships, graduate degree, gpa, etc don't really mean much....every college grad (ABET) that has passed the FE pretty much starts the same. Non-FE, lower it all all. Grad degree, probably slightly more salary. But all are expected to become PE and eventually earn PM status.
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u/craftiecheese 19h ago
Unless you had an internship where you went out to sites or job where you worked in construction in like as like a summer job or something, not really. It's different actually being out there than discussing it or hearing stories from your professor.
I got some exposure while doing an internship with my state's DoT one summer. Mainly me just being out there while they interacted with the contractor. They did let me go out to one site by myself which was pretty cool. Wasn't a super complicated job or anything (don't remember exactly what the project was now) but still some experience with dealing with contractors and answering questions and whatnot.
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u/yungingr 18h ago
In my experience, absolutely not.
The number of green CE's I've had on job sites with me where my role quickly turned into "Keep the new guy from getting himself killed" - usually from stupid shit like walking up on the blind side of an excavator when the operator doesn't know you're there. A "Jobsite safety" class should be a mandatory part of the degree program.
And then there's the guys that think they need to point out to the foreman that the rebar laps are 1/2" off from the plan details... God gave them a degree and a red pencil, but not a lick of common sense....
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u/sulliesbrew 15h ago
I worked with a CE in the mining industry. He was adamant that all the stakes we placed were within .1" of the zero. First, our GPS wasn't that accurate, sure it went to the thou for precision, but not that accurate (theoretically it was .25" for accuracy). Second, we are digging a hole with a cable suspended bucket that is 20' across and 100' from where the operator is sitting. Lastly, the time to be that precise with every stake is just not worth it.
When we built roads, sure we made a major effort to get it as perfect as possible, but for digging a pit, no need. When a blade takes those stakes out during night shift, the super is just doing thumb alignment and paces and you would never know that's how they did it.
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u/PLS-Surveyor-US 15h ago
Just remember, you reduce your risk of sudden death by nearly 50% when stop standing on a line I am shooting. ;-)
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u/smhforeveryoung 14h ago
Is anyone ever prepared to enter the real world job market. It's an impossible question. School teaches you how to learn and apply learned skills. Jobs make you an expert. You cant be prepared until you are doing it. Any time you change jobs or roles in your career you will be unprepared for the change. It's life, it's unpredictable. The only thing constant is change get used to it.
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u/csammy2611 14h ago
It’s not that bad if you are an Inspector working for state DOT because people are not likely to mess with you. But if you are Inspector working for private contractors you better tough the heck up.
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u/BigJDoitYoDamnself 11h ago
Hell no, graduates are not ready for ANYTHING right out of school. they are grunts at first, then they need to be made billable with good training.
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u/FaithlessnessCute204 26m ago
they are not prepared for any of it, this idea that some company is going to hire a fresh grad and not train them is the dumbest yet constantly repeated thing in this industry.
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u/Chrisg69911 22h ago
Im surprised about the answers that are saying they never stepped foot on a site until after college. There are always a few chances for me a semester to do a site visit, either for a class or as an extra trip sort of thing
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u/Silver_kitty 20h ago
Yeah, I got to go on some super cool tours of sites in college. But I will also say that being on a tour is very different than the way you have to “look alive and stay alive” when you’re on your own. And knowing how to handle the… personalities on site is definitely a learned skill.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 16h ago
This. I went to college after an Army enlistment that I spent as a civil engineering technician in a construction battalion. My experience on jobsites in the Army was far more applicable to what I would go on to do in my career than any tour in undergrad was. I don't have a heavily construction related career but when I do have to go on site as EOR or something it's an asset that I learned how to exist on a construction site when I was just starting out.
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u/WalleyeHunter1 21h ago
I believe all engineering must have a minimum 3 coop terms with one of them in the field. The best civil and structural engineers I know include a detailed inspection on every project in the first month, and during the most co.plex part of the project.
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u/silentphartt PE - Transportation (structures) 16h ago
CE’s are not trained to be construction managers so no?
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u/cancerdad 1d ago
Civil engineering graduates aren’t prepared for the reality of working a 9 to 5 sitting at a desk. College isn’t really about preparing you for the job. College is about giving you the tools to understand a topic and solve problems. Civil engineering, like most jobs, is learned on the job.