Environmental Engineering - Good Career? 2

[Binary]

I'm an under-employed ME who's looking at grad school. In my area there appear to be many more positions for the various CE disciplines than for ME's. I'm therefore considering a MS in CE.

In speaking with the graduate advisor, he was very encouraging about the job prospects and stability of Environmental Engineering. The US Labour Dept says that it's expected to have higher than average growth of jobs. It also seems less subject to low-priced offshore competition.

Anybody want to weigh in with an opinion about moving into Environmental Engineering?

Another question: Is licensing generally required for Environmental Engineers?

BTW, my background includes substantial chemistry so I would graduate with an MSCE and a BA in chemistry to go along with my BSME.

 

[BobPE]

I'll chime in, Env.E is a great choice. You dont have much use for chemistry though. I have been an Env E for over 15 years. Its more oriented to mechanical design than a CE. CE has survey and roads and traffic, things I dont find usefull to me at all. I design water treatment plants and to tell you the truth, I cant design the driveways to them...not that I have time to LOL

The salary is very competative depending on your focus. I dont find hazardous wast any fun, so I avoid it. I have done air design, including cyclones, EP's stacks, and industrial process and utility support, natural gas, structural, electrical in addition to water and wastewater.

Yes a license is manditory, otherwise you are competing with environmental scientists who think they are engineers. The license is the main reason you see the salaries as high as they are.

just my thoughts....good luck with everything

BobPE

 

[PaulEmil]

While environmental engineering does have merit as one choice within the broad classification of civil engineering, I believe your background in chemistry should be exploited. I would recommend you consider concentrating your graduate studies on matters related to WATER. Developing new and improved technology to purify, transport and create new supplies of water, a precious commodity, will be increasingly more important in the immediate future. Secondly, construction materials is a field that lends itself to your chemical background. Improving products made from portland cement, asphalt and composite plastics has created a need for scientists who can be creative in materials science as it applies to civil and construction engineering. Lastly, you switch from ME to CE is well timed. There will be work for you. PEM,PE

 

[BobPE]

PaulEmil:

I agree with you except that EnvE is not of Civil engineering. It really came about to deal with engineering that was primarily being done by civils. As such, it is one of the younger disiplines. Env.E really doesnt have a lot in common with CE not that that is good or bad, but it makes for a completely non related, different degree to that of a CE.

BobPE

 

[Binary]

At the university to which I'm applying, ENVE is a concentration within the CE grad program.

I went in thinking about Transportation or Structural but the advisor said those are tight fields right now and that the jobs are in Water Resources or Environmental.

His caution about Environmental is that he says students sometimes have problems with the chemistry. When I heard that I immediately thought my chemistry would be helpful which is contradicted by BobPE's experience (perhaps it's only with the HazMat stuff).

I was almost thinking about doing a double concentration between Water Resources and Environmental.

Mostly, I just want to prepare myself as well as I can to remain well-employed for the next 25 years.

I really want to work in a field where licensing is an absolute must, and where the need should continue to expand.

 

[BobPE]

binary:

that is strange about the program you are looking at. Maybe since its a concentration of a CE program. Look to a few other schools that have only EnvE programs and I think you will see a different picture of what the mainstream degree is like when its not a component of a CE degree program. As you can tell, I spend a lot of time talking to prospective grads about the program. It was created becuase the CE education was not whougn to do air, water, and solid waste engineering. As such, the program takes these areas and expands on them primarily with an ME emphasis rather than a CE emphasis.

BobPE

 

[greenone]

I have to disagree with BobPE. At my school Env Eng and Civ Eng are a combined department. We are encouraging students to "cross-pollinate". Env engineering can be mechanically oriented or civil oriented or chemistry/biology oriented. Just depends what you are interested in.
I am working as an environmental consultant (with a CivEng degree)and often wish I had more chemistry. I deal with HazWaste determinations, hazardous materials, lab analyses, and degradation of contaminants.
I think the water field in EnvEng is only going to get bigger.

 

[BobPE]

I agree greenone, a lot of schools started Env. E from CE programs. It is evolving into its own disipline as time goes on. Many schools that offer pure EnvE do not even have civil programs, but instead nestle it in ME....It depends on the school.

YOu are right, water is already taking off...that is the field I am in.

BobPE

 

[4tuna]

Binary - I have to chime in here and say that a good chemistry background will only help you in EE, especially if you get into cleanup of contaminated sites or water treatment, which seem to be where lots of jobs are available. With a lot of new in situ treatment technologies, half the battle is trying to understand site chemistry to see how contaminants will react to treatment, byproducts, etc. It's easier when you have a good geologist/geochemist/hydrogeologist (my focus), but it helps if the EE understands the chemistry as well.

Licensing is required, but it is not a specific EE license -- you can be registered as a civil and work in enviro. We currently have two EEs on staff with degrees in Chemical Engineering. Career prospects are good, particulary on the east coast and here in California, where a lot of this work is taking place.

 

[BobPE]

4tuna:

just for the general info to all, there are several states in the US that offer a specific EnvE PE test. This is a progressive movement of the states prompted by the engineering community in general.

BobPE

 

[HB2U]

I agree with BobPE that the water end of the EnvE Business is taking off. I too work in the water business thanks to some good direction that I was given as a young engineer(thanks RCY) and it is growing by leaps and bounds. If you want to be a lifelong student, you may want to consider a law degree after the EnvE degree. It will make you a very valuable commodity in the job market, since virtually every environmental issue is closely tied to some sort of litigation, and most work is driven by regulatory directives.

 

[Binary]

Thanks to everyone for participating in this discussion. It's very helpful to me in deliberating about making a career change.

Other questions:

1) What kinds of employment do EnvE / Water Quality folks have? Are they generally self-employed, working for gov't, working for small firms, big ones, etc?

2) How dependent on gov't funding are the jobs?

3) Do you see the jobs as being subject to offshore exportation, either directly or indirectly?

4) Do the jobs lend themselves to being home during the week or do they often require travel to jobsites?

4tuna: I'm particularly interested in your answers and thoughts since I'm also in California. ps - Do you live in Humboldt?

 

[4tuna]

Sorry Binary, 4tuna is my name, not my location. I am in the north state, but have worked all over CA. In response to your questions I can only comment on environmental consulting:

1) In CA,many EEs work for private consulting firms, large and small, and there is demand in this area for all size firms. There is also plenty of gov't jobs - army corps of engineers, naval facilities engineering command, and county, state, and federal regulatory agencies like EPA, RWQCB,DTSC, Forest Service, etc. In general, the gov't sector is lower pay than consulting, but better benefits.

2) A little, because the gov't issues contracts that we all want to grab for steady work. However, state and federal funding for cleanup programs are pretty stable.

3) No, not particularly. Many of the largest global enviro and infrastructure firms are based in the U.S., and I have not seen a lot of international competition for the big, multimillion dollar contracts (Navy, Air Force, Oil Companies, etc.) Nearly all of these go to U.S. firms.

4) Usually you can be home, but it also depends on who you work for, where, and what your client base is. In general entry level people spend more time in the field. If you work for a large firm, you may have opportunities to work out of the area or travel to other offices. In general, private consulting firms are flexible - if you want to work on the out-of-town projects you can, but they won't force you too.

Also agree with HB2U about the value of EE + env.law degree - high demand, high salary (if you ever get out of school!)Good luck.

 

[navicvl]

trytruttrrtytty

 

[HB2U]

To answer your subsequent questions...

1.)I started working for a firm of about 130 people. Engineers of all disciplines as well as architects and interior design people. Worked for A.)private industry doing environmental investigations, designing treatment facilities for waste, air quality studies-permits-treatment systems, environmental reporting, waste disposal facilities, landfill work and other stuff. and OSHA safety and health studies, compliance issues and programs

B.)Municipal Government projects like sewer system design and rehab, sewage treatment plant design, water treatment plant design, water system design, permitting etc.

C.)Federal government work since our company landed a few large Navy and Coast Guard contracts. Work involved spill control plans and facilities, environmental studies, water treatment, sewer design and rehabilitation projects and general utility realignment to allow privitization of portions of now defunct bases.

Now I work for a private water company and do a lot of project management and design for things like booster pump stations, new well facilities, new treatment facilities, but I also deal a lot with the business end of things and do a fair amount of accounting and contract negotiations as well.

2.) Projects that I worked on are only government funded indirectly, i.e., government contracts to my consulting firm, opr a municipality paying to have a new water treatment facility designed and built. Nothing I ever worked on was funded strictly through government grants or some other source that wasn't guaranteed from year to year.

As environmental regulations continue to progress, there will be more need for new and better water treatment and sewage treatment facilities and cleanup of contaminated sites, so there wil always be a good supplyof work based on government mandates.

3.)My realm of experience hasn't indicated that exportation of the service that I provide will be a problem. A lot of this work is more hands on than some other discipline's work, so you there's a certain benefit to keeping the expertise within reasonable proximity to the job location.


4.)Now I work for a Water Company and have only been away from home due to a work assignment about 3 times i the past four years. When I worked in consulting, I traveled to Naval bases all up and down the eastern seaboard, spent time in the bahamas and puerto rico, as well as other less exotic locations, logging about 8 weeks of travel a year. Not to mention flying to and returning from client meetings in a single (LONG) day.

If you work for a large company, you can afford to specialize in one or two areas because there's staff that can handle everything. If you work for a small company as I started out doing, you get a lot of random experience cause there isn't enough staff to allow for the luxury of specialization. This let's you see a lot though and can really help you decide if there is one area that you want to specialize in.

Hope this helped.

 

[1ddt]

Dear Binary,
My degree is environmental engineering with an emphasis on fate and transport modeling. I've found myself, in the past 10 years, involved in a variety of sites in which a chemical background has proven invaluable in terms of plume forensics. I love my job and I still remember the wise words of one of my professors at Humboldt State..."The environmental field is so broad that you - through experimentation, will eventually need to find that one piece of the field and specialize in it." It's a huge field and I've found nuch satisfaction in soil and groundwater remediation. Follow your heart and do what makes you happy...for it is then that you will truly excel. Best Regards...ddt

 

[Binary]

Again, I really appreciate the comments made herein.

Another question...

How much of the work is forward-looking, meaning planning and design of environmentally functional systems as opposed to remediation of messed up projects?

I really enjoy planning and design...I'm afraid remediation would frustrate me.

 

[aspearin1]

Excellent Forum! Here's my 2 cents. I'm a graduated Chem E, concentrated in Env E and Biotech. My school's Env. Dept. was under CE, (historical reasons), but branched to the other Engineering departments and even School of Agriculutal Sciences, to better incorporate the chemistry, hydrogeology, etc. CE's I worked with in the research lab wished they had a better Chemistry background.

I was days away from employment with a promising consulting firm when the market fell and industries decided to hold off on emissions upgrades. Plus, there is little push from the government given the current state of the nation. So unfortunately, I'm stuck in a R&D job using polymers. (Not too bad, but not what I wanted). Can anyone attest to growing job market for Env E in the northeast? One of my problems is, though, being a Chem E, choosing an Env. E job is an automatic pay cut... and I'm finding that many consulting firms are still CE oriented and don't have the appreciation for Chem E. Can anyone shed light on this phenomena? Which branch of Env. E would be best suited for a Chem E?