What is an engineer?

Engineering is the art of applying scientific and mathematical principles, experience, judgment, and
common sense to make things that benefit people. Engineers design bridges and important medical
equipment as well as processes for cleaning up toxic spills and systems for mass transit. Engineering is the
process of producing a technical product or system to meet a specific need.

What types of engineers are there?

The five largest engineering areas are:

• Chemical engineering
• Civil engineering – the oldest and broadest.
• Electrical engineering
• Industrial engineering
• Mechanical engineering

There are also more specialized engineering fields, including:

• Aerospace engineering
• Oceanic engineering
• Nuclear engineering
• Biomedical engineering
• Environmental engineering

What qualities do successful engineers have?

• Strong in mathematics and science

• Highly analytical and detail-oriented
• Imaginative and creative
• Good communication skills
• Enjoy working in teams
• Enjoy building or improving the way things work

Should I earn a master's or doctorate engineering degree?

This depends on your career goals and what area of engineering you'd like to practice:

• Master's programs are designed to expand and deepen the knowledge and skills acquired as an
undergraduate. Master's degree programs in engineering require two years of full-time graduate study.

• Doctoral programs require five-to-seven years of graduate study, while PhD programs are generally
designed for people primarily interested in research and education in the engineering field.

Do I need to be licensed as an engineer?

All states require licensure for engineers who offer their services directly to the public. Engineers who are
licensed are called Professional Engineers (PE). Civil, mechanical structural, industrial and environmental
engineers are most likely to seek licensure because they often work for government agencies. Computer
engineers are least likely to seek licensure.
Although licensure laws vary, most boards require four steps:

• Earn a bachelor's degree in engineering from a school accredited by the Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology (ABET)
• Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination
• Complete at least four years of engineering experience
• Pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) examination

There are many career paths for those who major in a STEM (Science, Technology, and Engineering &
Mathematics) field in college. STEM majors are also at a higher advantage than those in a liberal arts field
such as history, literature, writing, philosophy, sociology, psychology, creative arts and also in cases with
those who study business. This should not discourage those who want to pursue those career paths from
doing so, but this is a statistical fact. Engineers, Technicians, Electricians, Mechanics & Industrial
professionals are all practical careers, and what’s meant by that is, there is always an abundance of jobs. I
want everyone to remember Infrastructure is a constant in today’s society.

For example, who do you think designs all the roads, issues work orders for maintenance of those roads,
designs the parts we need for our cars, produces the petroleum needed to fuel our vehicles, designs and
builds the homes we live in, turns off our electricity when we don’t pay the bill? These are all individuals in
the STEM field. Now not everyone in a STEM field is going to go off to school and sit for 4 years to get a
bachelor’s degree. You have some individuals who go to a trade school and start their own practice such as
plumbers & electricians. You also individuals who start in construction as laborer and work their way up to
becoming a superintendent for a private firm or even start their contracting company. There is more than one
way to get into this broad and vast industry.

Typical Career Path in Construction without a formal tertiary education:

Typically in the construction field you have people that begin as helper/apprentice that learn carpentry or
masonry. After the apprenticeship this individual may regard themselves as a construction professional or
journeyman (skilled mason or carpenter). A journeyman is regarded as a skilled professional in their field of
construction. This is often the step before master craftsman, if that is the route they wish to take.

After years on the job, a journeyman can choose to pursue jobs as a superintendent, project manager,
estimator, planner, or scheduler. Sometimes, professionals choose to gain further education before making
this move. For example, you may want to earn an MBA before moving into a management role. However, as
talent and experience hold more weight in this industry, an MBA is not always required.

There are also jobs in safety, human resources, procurement, and warehousing that a journeyman may want
to pursue instead. The true career progression of a talented construction professional is up to them. They can
choose their own path to acquire the necessary skills to move to the next level, but experience and talent are
the most important things in the construction career path. From there, a talented professional can forge their
own way.

Below is a diagram displaying a career path in the construction industry:

My career path lead me into construction:

There isn’t one right way to create a construction career path. Like most things in life, a single
goal can be reached multiple ways. Some workers may start out in a trade and get enough work
experience to take on management roles, while others take a four-year bachelor’s degree and
start directly on the executive track.

A project engineer (PE) is a great place to start on the construction ladder. While part of the
construction management team, the project engineer is usually responsible for key deliverables
within a project, rather than overseeing the entire thing.

Still, a project engineer is a leadership position, and demonstrating the ability to create
schedules, coordinate with subcontractors and prepare their contracts, and manage costs are
great ways to take on greater responsibility and move up the career ladder.

Many project engineers use the position as a stepping stone to higher paying roles. A project
engineer’s average salary is around $62,000 per year, while a project manager brings in an
average of $97,000 a year and a senior superintendent can fetch an average annual salary
of $144,000. Aside from salary, influence over a project and perceived prestige both improve as
a career progresses. These salaries are U.S. based.

So what is a typical path for a project engineer to move up to more senior and executive positions
in the construction industry?

Step One: Senior Project Engineer

A person might move from project engineer to Sr. PE in just a couple of years, but may not move
up to project manager for as long as a decade. The speed of this transition is contingent on
many factors, such as the size of the company or project, the number of open positions
available, and how rapidly you are able to learn the required skillset to move to the next level.

Earning this experience comes from taking on additional responsibilities than traditional
project engineer work, like material procurement, handling requests for information (RFIs), or
preparing materials for submittals.
Some of the most crucial skills needed to reach the next level – that of a project manager – are
less tangible, and take time to learn and foster While some people are naturally better at
interpersonal interactions, experience, carefully observing your PM, and even communications
courses can help teach those valuable skills.

Once these leadership qualities have been honed, a senior project engineer can think about
taking on the next challenge: the role of a project manager.

Step Two: Project Management

By this point in a construction career, a newly minted project manager (PM) knows how to bring
a project all the way from planning to closeout, balancing schedules, budgets, and relationships
along the way.

Project managers spend some of their time in an office, pouring over spreadsheets that track
known issues, work schedules and resource planning, budgets and looking ahead to next steps
on projects. Equally, owner meetings and site inspections bring PMs to the field, where they’ll
strategize with trades’ workers and ensure everything is working according to plan.

After a few years, a PM could move into a senior project manager position, having demonstrated
the ability to manage multiple teams and see a project through contract disputes while
maintaining important relationships along the way. To move up in the company, a project
manager should show a thorough understanding of the company’s goals and how to leverage
hard-won relationships to reach them.

While it’s true that senior project managers get to be in charge of larger or more complex projects,
it is often this executive thinking that differentiates them from a regular PM. Senior project
managers may mentor or evaluate other PMs, and will be put at the helm of a troubled project or
relationship and be expected to put it back on track. If they’re on the executive track they’ll also
be expected to work toward building and improving the business.

Step Three: Project Executive

A project executive (PX) looks to the big picture to assess future opportunities and avoid
potential pitfalls in the business. Working with project managers, the PX ensures projects are
meeting budgets and scheduling milestones, and steps in to soothe fraught client relationships
when the need arises. In this way the project executive can help the PM in making each project a
success.

Having honed the personal skills required to foster important relationships, the project executive
works to bring in more business for the company.

By the time a person becomes a project executive he or she likely has close to 15 years of
experience in the industry. As the seasoned pro on the project team, the PX liaises between the
PM and the company executives.

The next rung on the corporate ladder may be a role as general manager or vice president,
depending on the organization. A general manager spends a lot of time looking at the day-to-day
activities of team members, making sure they’re meeting their deliverables, while a vice
president of operations makes sure teams are working toward meeting the goals of the company.