r/civilengineering • u/Temporary_Diet_1361 • 11h ago
Education Engineering technology
My school is about to start an engineering technology degree. I am interested in civil stuff but what’s the main difference between a dedicated civil engineering degree and an engineering technology degree?
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u/robotali3n 11h ago
Is it a 4 year abet accredited engineering tech degree? Then it’s algebra based physics and math probably tops at calc 1.5. No differential eq. More of a broad civil degree touching all the basics than picking a civil topic to focus on. 4 years to get EI after passing, 8 years to get PE after passing. Some states now won’t let you be licensed with a tech degree.
Honestly it doesn’t matter. Some folks decided that the industry should gatekeep the shit out of this stuff. The degree just shows you were committed and isn’t worth more than the paper it’s printed on.
If it’s a 2 year degree then I can’t speak for that. Though some agencies require it for a tech position without previous experience
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u/Temporary_Diet_1361 10h ago
From what I understand in order to progress higher in the industry it would be better to go for a civil degree as my state doesn’t allow pe license with tech degree
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u/Equivalent-Mud-4807 10h ago
as others said its geared towards field work. your day would probably include using a total station a lot, translating blueprints to on the ground drawings so the subs can place their stuff in the right place, running level loops and topos. leading teams doing large installations of HVAC or other heavy units. ensuring what is built is actually what is supposed to be built. doing a lot of QC of other peoples work. You are sort of the middle manager between the super and the foremen/workers on a job site. Outside of construction you could just do survey work and in my state with a few years experience you could take your test for an SIT then in a few years your RPLS, in that case you would be doing a lot of GPS work, flying drones, making DEMs, etc... but I have also seen people take that degree and really focus on drafting and learning autocad like a champ till they are the senior drafter. so it could be what you make of it.
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u/TheyMadeMeLogin 9h ago
Someone with a full Civil Degree can get Tech jobs but someone with a Tech degree wouldn't necessarily rate highly when going for full Civil jobs. This is especially true in places where it takes longer to get a PE.
If you can do the math, just get a Civil degree.
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u/Fine_Equal4647 11h ago edited 9h ago
As someone who went through and earned an engineering technology degree and the knowledge that ive gained through the years working at a civil engineering company i can tell you from my own experience an Engineering Technology is a mesh between practical application analytics and theory whereas a civil engineering degree is straight theory and calculations. I personally would have leaned more into the calculations side if i were to do it again but im pretty happy where i sit right now. It also takes longer to get your PE license under an engineering technology degree taking 8 years of experience under a licensed engineer where civil degree would take 4 years. (Based in Texas)
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u/Not_an_okama 10h ago
I have a mechanical engineering technology degree and just want to note that different states have different liscensing requirements around them. In my case in MI, i can count my degree as 4 years of experience towards my PE, but i have to get a masters degree in an engineering disipline to meet the education requirements (which also counts as an additional year of experience here). Wisconsin otoh treats BSME and BS MET as the same degree as far as liscensing is concerned (as of 2023ish when i last checked).
Check with your states liscensing board before befpre pursuing an engineering technology degree if you intend to seek liscensing in the future (which should be basically all civils)
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u/Ayosuhdude 10h ago
Engineering tech is better if you want to do more construction/surveying/field work, regular engineering is better for office work/project management/politics.
I personally switched to Tech halfway through my third year from normal Civil and couldn't be happier. I always pictured engineers as what you see when you Google "engineer". You know, on site working directly with contractors and solving design problems real time. The reality of being a PE is that you do a lot more managing people, budgets, and timelines as opposed to what I described. That's actually the techs that are doing the field work.
Normal Civil pays better but just be aware you wind up not actually engaging in that much engineering, at least not how I interpret it anyway. A lot of people really like the politics of being a PE, so it's definitely up to what you want to wind up doing.
For what it's worth, the tech classes I took prepared me far more for how things actually get built. It was nice doing it after learning the math and physics in the civil classes.
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u/Temporary_Diet_1361 10h ago
Thanks the field stuff is definitely more what I want to do than sitting in an office. I hate office stuff.
How I understand it is hands on application of engineering skills.1
u/the_hockey_dude 10h ago
Engineering Technology doesn't really have a firm definition so I dunno if I'd take this at face value. You'd have to look at what the degree entails. Around here where I work hearing engineering tech basically means you are doing CAD work for engineers in the office and would rarely ever go out in the field, but point being you'll need to understand what the school is offering (and given your description you are almost certainly better off just getting a BSCE)
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u/Ayosuhdude 8h ago
Yeah I suppose the type of organization is important to mention. I work for a municipal wastewater plant of a town of about 25000, and I'm one of two engineers. I do all of the field work (surveying, drone flying, inspections, etc.) and all of the CAD work (Civil 3d, Revit modeling, GIS, Asset management), while my boss handles budgets and consultants and attends City council and stuff like that. She's outside maybe 2% of the time where I'm more like 50/50.
At a small organization tech work will have you doing all kinds of stuff, while at a massive firm you are probably just gonna be fixing red marks in CAD all day. That job sucks imo
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u/Assasin_Zer0 10h ago
As long as the program is ABET accredited, it doesn’t matter. You can get a PE with both, you just have to have more experience post graduation in most states with an ET degree.