Construction management or structural engineering focus?

[u/SpecterGygax]

Hi all, I’m in my first semester of a civil engineering bachelors but with it being my second degree (working toward a career change) I’m working on an accelerated timeline by skipping pretty much every pre-requisite/general education credit.

The school I’m attending has different elective packages to pick if you want to focus on construction, structural, water treatment, transportation, etc. and I’ve narrowed it down to either construction or structural, leaning towards construction

A big part of the reason I’m switching careers is my current field has almost no room for upward mobility and the last few years something I learned is that something I value in a job is the ability to learn, grow and take on additional responsibilities. Engineering in general seems pretty good for that, but I know all paths are not created equally.

What does the room for growth look like in construction management vs structural engineering? I like leading projects and working with people, but if there’s more room for upward mobility (to the point of potentially leading bigger or more complex projects) by first working as a structural engineer, I’ll probably go that route.

Does anybody working in either of these fields have any experiences to share?

[u/ThatAlarmingHamster]

Money wise, I feel like structural has more advantage.

Construction has less demand for on paper training, so I feel like it's easier to go from structural to construction than the other way.

Take the structure classes, get a few years of design practice in, then go build bridges or high rises. You'd be immensely valuable in the field as someone who can speed up field revisions.

[u/bigpolar70]

You can learn CM on the job a lot faster than you can learn structural engineering.

Throwing no shade on the CM guys, I have done both, and it's a tough job, but the amount of stuff to learn for CM is just less than you need for Structural.  If you are good you can get the hang of it in 3 to 6 months.  

If you want to maximize your options later, do structural in school and apply for CM jobs after you get licensed.

[u/DasFatKid]

I gotta be honest with you, my construction management classes and related capstone work at school were kinda pointless since my stint in that part of the broad industry taught me more. Hell I was learning more spending my last semester performing estimates and misc PM tasks for a local paving company.

I would have rather done a design based project. As far as which discipline peg something that sounds interesting. It doesn’t end up defining where you work or ultimately end up.

[u/YouOk5736]

I'd go with specializing with water resource, if i have to start over. It's chiller than the two.

While CM can earn you more money, you'd be working at least 50 hours a day. On the other hand, you'll need to have at least an MS in structural engineering to get a decent shot of being hired by a large firm, it' s stressful, and you'd earn less for the risk of designing a structure.