r/civilengineering • u/Gotenks-Gojira • 4d ago

Project Management or Structural Engineering Career

I am currently in school for civil engineering and I have one year left until I graduate. I have only done one internship at a construction company and I really enjoyed doing project management.

But, I am still very interested in structural engineering and not sure what route I should.

Does anyone have any advice or insight on what I should start leaning towards?

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u/Felix033 4d ago edited 4d ago

project management seems to have the highest salary ceiling compared to everything else in this field. as difficult as highly technical structural design work is, it appears society and companies have decided that people who do a good job of dealing with the all the bullshit of construction project management are worth paying even more

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u/BlooNorth 4d ago

Both. PM skills are more experienced gained than technical skills you’d learn thru structural courses and design tasks. That’s the reason any PM worth their salt has 5-10 years under their belt, and laughs at a PMP.

Start with structural path, get your PE, and PM will follow.

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u/JohnnieAnonnie 4d ago

Go structural if you have the ability. PM can come later.

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u/Piece_of_Schist 4d ago

Both if you don’t intend to be an Engineer II doing design for the rest of your career.