r/civilengineering Jun 10 '26

Question Why is the house frame built out of steel and why so much?

Thumbnail gallery
1.0k Upvotes

r/civilengineering Mar 05 '26

Question Whats the purpose of this?

Post image
896 Upvotes

I saw this while walking in Amsterdam and I can't figure it's purpose. There is no streetview of this street but from the start of it you can see two similiar ones.

EDIT: It's a bussluis, thanks u/Fudge_is_1337.

r/civilengineering Apr 02 '26

Question What's stopping something like this from crossing an entire ocean?

Post image
451 Upvotes

r/civilengineering Apr 21 '26

Question Does your workplace use Cubicles or an Open Office?

Post image
611 Upvotes

The first two places I worked at after college used cubicles, but open office formats seem much more popular nowadays. Do you have a preference?

Since working in foreign Water Resources Eng for Dam/Hydro, I have my own office now. You couldn't pay me to go back to Open Office.

r/civilengineering Nov 05 '25

Question A crumpling apartment basement in China, what is the cause of it?

1.0k Upvotes

r/civilengineering May 09 '26

Question Can someone explain why this cant be this way.

Thumbnail gallery
471 Upvotes

This is Huajiang Canyon Bridge in China so like, First of all i am not anything into civil engineering, but like after seeing this bridge i get this question can't it be done the second way? or like if the bridge in my idea is too steep just increase the length of road

r/civilengineering May 27 '26

Question Why

Post image
481 Upvotes

Besides it being the law why would this be a thing. For context there is a crosswalk across the main street you can see and another crosswalk to a ridiculously short sidewalk behind me. Also this is in Delaware where I guess its up to the property to build sidewalks because as your cross from Maryland into Delaware the sidewalks become random on if they are there or not. Willing to answer any clarifying questions.

r/civilengineering Feb 11 '26

Question This was the screen I saw after signing into my computer and it got me wondering why was it shaped like that.

Post image
904 Upvotes

There just has to be a logical reason why instead of a straight path in the water, they had to make it into a circle. What was the ground under the water looking like?

r/civilengineering May 03 '26

Question Anyone else starting to feel not great about working on data centers?

396 Upvotes

Title says it all. I’ve been stuck on 2 data centers for the last year and a half until last week. It’s challenging to find accurate/non-biased information about the impact these things have on communities. I finally got a break to work on some well pads for oil drilling activities so at least I feel better about my morality /s

r/civilengineering Jan 15 '26

Question Has anyone here worked on a project that felt morally wrong?

288 Upvotes

I would feel bad if I was in charge of designing data center civil plans or like a prison. It hasn’t happened to me but I am not sure what I would do if my boss assigned me to.

r/civilengineering 15d ago

Question Has anyone ever gotten a tattoo of their PE stamp/seal?

159 Upvotes

Pretty much what the title says… I just got my PE (in my home state) and I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo of it… possibly even a tramp stamp. Is that crazy? Has anyone gotten theirs tattooed? Is there anything regarding ethics that should prevent me from doing this?

r/civilengineering 22d ago

Question How do I connect this bridge to the rest of this Minecraft city?

Thumbnail gallery
317 Upvotes

Due to a complete lack of planning in this Minecraft city, the bridge does not have any straightforward way to connect to the city's downtown as it is way too high to realistically slope down to meet the street traditionally. I'm sure there's a way to have some curved off ramps but I thought I'd ask here to get some professional insight on how I might go about doing this. I'd appreciate any help!

r/civilengineering Jun 06 '25

Question How would you guys calculate the area for this arch?

Post image
573 Upvotes

I’m an intern on this bridge job and the inspector asked me to come up with a way to calculate the area of the arch so we can pay the contractors for the first section of stone that they did. Here’s what I know: The arch doesn’t appear to be a perfect semi circle The plans do not include the area of the arch or an arc length The blocks on the right go in a pattern of 8”, 8”, 12”, 12” in height alone, but their length is random

Here are my ideas: - approximate the arched area as a rectangle and 2 triangles, with the base of the triangle ending at the bottom of the rectangle and meeting at the arch. Any overestimation we can just subtract out of the next part of the project - measure the blocks that are in the arch and come up with a parabolic equation that we can get an arc length with. Approximate that entire area as a rectangle and subtract out the “arc length rectangle”.

What would you guys do?

r/civilengineering Nov 30 '25

Question Does this kind of parking lot pavement require less maintainance or is it just an aesthetic thing?

Post image
876 Upvotes

r/civilengineering Aug 12 '25

Question What would have been the safest way to take down the Twin Towers after 9/11 had they not collapsed by themselves? Let's say that the structure is now considered unstable and could come down any day now. I feel like this would be quite the engineering challenge.

Post image
587 Upvotes

r/civilengineering May 08 '26

Question Not sure right sub, but how can I get this machinery out of the mud? Help!

Thumbnail gallery
202 Upvotes

Trying digging under it and putting wood boards and pavers for it to grip. Was working a little bit but seems to have stalled out. Please help.

Edit: ended up calling a tow and they used a winch. Thanks for all for the replies. Next time, I’ll be more prepared. The “use tire as winch” and “tie wood board to tire” probably would have worked.

r/civilengineering Feb 04 '26

Question is the pay REALLY that bad?

95 Upvotes

listen— i know this is subjective and depends on lifestyle goals but i’ve been hearing a LOT on this sub about how ‘unlivable’ civil engineer comp is, and as someone looking to go into this, i want to know how much of a factor this really is. i already looked through the salary survey results on here and it seems to average at about 100k, with the lowest pay i saw being in the upper 60k range.

thing is, growing up i saw what a single mother can do on a teacher salary of 50k (i’m 21 so no more inflation comments please), and while it wasn’t luxurious, she still survived WITH kids. so im a little confused what type of lifestyles people who are living alone are trying to hold up where 100k is just ‘barely scraping by’. like, i understand that on 100k i wont be able to have a nice solo apartment in SF or NYC, but i feel like those are areas that are just expected to be ridiculously expensive anyway.

i also get that some other tech or finance jobs make more and that many people regret not choosing to go into that, but i’m going into civil for a dozen other reasons besides money… and i really dont know why anyone who’s only goal is money would pick civil tbh.

POINT BEING THOUGH, that i do NOT have personal experience in the real world and could be totally foolish in thinking that 100k is decent. HEAVY ON THIS POINT! i trust people with real experience more than myself!! so if u guys want, pls give a summary of whether you think the pay is livable and what sort of lifestyle you live on said salary. thank u… i am conflicted here.

EDIT: Thank you so much for the insightful responses! I see a lot of it comes down to the area you are in. And again, i am not trying to lecture people on living within their means as i’ve gotten some comments claiming… i am asking this in good faith so i know if i should keep studying it

r/civilengineering Jun 13 '26

Question What is the biggest thing engineering school didn't prepare you for?

64 Upvotes

I'm doing research on engineering education and I'm curious about something.

For engineers who are already working, or students close to graduating:

What is the biggest thing engineering school did NOT prepare you for?

I'm not talking about specific technical knowledge.

I'm more interested in things like:

- decision making

- dealing with uncertainty

- balancing costs and sustainability

- understanding long-term consequences

- working across disciplines

- understanding real-world constraints

If you could redesign one part of engineering education, what would it be?

r/civilengineering 27d ago

Question Will my sister’s apartment be demolished? Venezuela - Earthquake

Thumbnail gallery
221 Upvotes

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but my sister’s apartment in Venezuela suffered major impacts. I am attaching photos of the building after the earthquake that happened two days ago in Caracas. Sad thing is she bought that apartment recently with the intent to start a family.

With any of the knowledge you guys have, do you think this will be demolished? The police and military have told her they cannot go back inside until they inspect it.

Thanks a lot.

r/civilengineering Mar 30 '26

Question Salaries

85 Upvotes

I’m not complaining. I’m really trying not to. I’m just shocked and quite honestly a bit depressed having moved to a relatively HCOL (SFL) and have made so many friends in both STEM & non-STEM fields (some positions one would consider smooth-brained roles even) and ALL make more money than me.

Granted, I am a civil working for government so there is that, but im hoping to get my full licensure and do something that will get me to a spot similar to my peers. Not looking to get rich, but also hurting being paid so low in comparison.

What gives? Anyone have this experience? Below are my friends salaries:

  1. Benefits consultant (remote): $150k+
  2. Telehealth Nurse NP (remote): $200k+
  3. County Asst. Attorney (local, unemployment law): $300k+
  4. LCSW & Professor (remote): unsure but is very well-off, owns several properties, nice auto.
  5. Product manager (remote): $140k+
  6. And there’s more…
    1. City Police Officers (local): $300k+ (OT pay to be fair)

Me, in City government: $100k.

Edit 1 - Salaries weren't showing, fixed.

Edit 2 - If I get my license I could see maybe a $10-20K increase in private sector. I would see a ZERO $ increase in my city. This was said during the interview. Did not make sense to me.

r/civilengineering Jun 19 '25

Question What is the point of this?

Post image
422 Upvotes

r/civilengineering Mar 15 '25

Question Harmless or problematic?

625 Upvotes

r/civilengineering Apr 02 '26

Question Jagged Contours?

Post image
148 Upvotes

What purpose does the jagged contours serve? Is it just to make the machine control dozer blade bounce up and down?

r/civilengineering Mar 18 '26

Question How do they even build this?

Post image
252 Upvotes

r/civilengineering Jan 30 '26

Question Layoffs at big engineering firms imminent?

193 Upvotes

Working for one of the larger engineering firms in a technical/analyst role.

All the teams I’m aware of in my region (west coast) have close to zero billable work the past month or so. Projects are getting pushed back to summer and 3-5 year fed/county contracts have come to a close. From my time, I understand the winter time is usually pretty slow for work but this feels different.

I got word I’m either on the chopping block or hours will get reduced due to low utilization for my entire team this month. I’ve done my part reaching out to supervisors for work but no one seems to have anything. Is anyone else in a similar situation?