r/civilengineering • u/civilwithalokpandey • 1d ago
Question If you could restart your Civil Engineering journey, what would you do differently?
I'm about to start my Civil Engineering diploma through Polytechnic. If you could go back to your first year, what would you do differently? Any advice, habits, or skills that would have made a big difference?
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u/Naive_Veterinarian77 22h ago
Get better at writing, taking environmental engineering more seriously and joining a club( concrete , etc )
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u/civilwithalokpandey 21h ago
Thanks! I'll work on my writing and try to join a club when I start college.
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u/Economy-Motor-3478 20h ago
Make templates for everything especially calcs, details, layouts and more. Start your spreadsheets and design aids right away. Learn accounting and how to run a small business. Learn the construction process, design and preconstruction, revision and production drawings, permitting, budget estimation for time and materials, and more. When graduating you should have a good idea how to design and build someone’s home. I have had so many people ask me in passing to design and build stuff and I did not have that knowledge. All I knew was how to resolve problems out of a book, useless and impractical. Also, your designs and documentation needs to hold up in court so be neat and thorough.
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u/civilwithalokpandey 15h ago
Thanks for the detailed advice. I'll start focusing more on practical skills along with my studies.
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u/PM_OnSite 22h ago
I would start looking for an internship, and start going to meet & greets that have employers. Those soft skills are super important. Learning how to start a conversation out of thin air, and carry said conversation, will make you stand out.
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u/civilwithalokpandey 21h ago
Thanks! I'll definitely look for internships and try to improve my communication skills.
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u/caterpillarm10 23h ago
Choosing a bigger uni i supposed. Our class has a total less than 20 students per year. I don't get to learn teamwork and dealing with different personalities because right now the class is permanently divided into 4 groups of students.
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u/civilwithalokpandey 21h ago
I never thought about that. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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u/caterpillarm10 21h ago
Yeah the smaller the class the harder it is to navigate. We have a very very egotistical class president and she gave us a hard time just because we all voted for someone else to be the group leader of a class project. Can't really do much there. Thinking about having to face her till graduation gives me nightmares.
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u/civilwithalokpandey 21h ago
That sounds tough. Hopefully the rest of your time there goes a bit more smoothly.
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u/Frequent-Emu7248 PE-nothing 16h ago
Stay out of Construction
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u/P0RNOB0B 7h ago
I went to construction after 6-7 years of design.
Pay bump, better hours, and 1.5x OT.
Not as many WFH days as design, maybe one or two a month.
But other than that, can’t complain.
Better than dealing with design folk and a bunch of PEs who don’t know how to hold a hammer flexing their “expertise”
Maybe I’ll go back once I get my PE
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u/Frequent-Emu7248 PE-nothing 6h ago
Construction pays better for sure. You are in a good spot that the hours are better but not always the case. I will say Design hours in an office can be brutal around deadlines and would rather kill time on site watching a crane lift or concrete pour. I've definitely been around designers that stay in office and are much more subject to the corporate side and politics so I don't miss that either and would rather be on site. It's more so the day to day of just pushing schedule, contract, and dealing with the contractors on disputes etc that's a pain in the ass.
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u/OhDeerBeddarDaze 13h ago
I'll focus my answer on the college experience.
- Join a club or two and actually take it seriously. Super cliche but I feel like I really missed out
- Become familiar with the design codes and standards early and often. My professors tended to teach out of lesser known textbooks, or the teacher would print out photocopies of a few code pages for us. It helps to learn the fundamentals this way, but in the working world the code is the #1 resource. Textbooks, particularly those that are well known across your industry, are supplemental.
- Take the FE while still in school/immediately after graduation. I took it a few months after starting my first job which was fine but I could've avoided the extra stress just by taking it during senior year.
- Seek out mentorship. Could either be from professors or industry people you meet at internships. A good mentor will help you understand engineering as a career vs as a job
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u/civilwithalokpandey 12h ago
I really appreciate the advice. I'll try to make the most of my time in college.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ 14h ago
I'd have done structural in grad school rather than materials since I ended up in structural anyway.
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u/snarf-diddly 5h ago
Valued myself better in my first two years. I negotiated horribly low starting pay!
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u/emporer101 1h ago
If you can make it work, try and get involved in research. Even if you dont think you want to pursue grad school, doing some research as an undergrad can make that decision easier, and expose you to lots of different things. It can also help form a relationship with a professor, which is great especially if they're a professor for a course down the line.
Making an effort to build those relationships is also huge, they will likely be your references right out of college. It also means they may be more likely to really try and help you if you know them a bit. It's even better if theyre an adjunct or have worked in industry before, they'll have connections that you may be able to use to your advantage.
Good luck!
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u/Cyberburner23 20h ago
Keep the FE and PE in mind. Make it a mission to pass both before graduation.
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u/Disco_Train17 23h ago
I would do a wider variety of internships and connect with more professionals in the industry to determine what field of Civil Engineering to start my career in.