Civil or mechanical?

Great news! I've been conditionally accepted (condition being, me getting prerequisite courses) to university in both civil and mechanical engineering… but now I really have to choose which one I want.

I know there are a lot of engineers in our clan, so I want your words of wisdom on the topic. Ultimately, it'll boil down to what I prefer, but I'm really torn. My brother took mechanical, my mom did civil. I know a lot of people who are doing or have done both. I like road vehicles, and I like transportation infrastructure. My best friend is taking mechanical, my girlfriend is taking civil.



I don't mind you guys praying for this and for me personally, either.

Electrical, Software or Computer Engineering is where it's at.

I don't have the mindset for any of those. I tried computer and software stuff as a teen, never could get into it. Judging by the way I'm doing in my physics course on electricity, I'm not quite cut out for electrical either.

Create a new field:  Mechcivical Engineering.

Unfortunately Topshot is probably correct.

A few things to think of.

1. If you want to make really good money....don't do civil or mechanical. (right now there is good money in Chemical Engineering...at least in the U.S.)
2. Civil will basically allow you to work on structures, or with soils, or with water management, or with road design (or even train rails and/or tunnel design)....but in the U.S. universities you need to pick one of those to because you can't do them all.
3. Mechanical degree will allow you to work on components of many different systems or assemblies (not sure if you need to specialize or not...Kerrick would certainly know better).  Including (but not limited to) components of automobiles, trains, airplanes, ventilation/heating/cooling systems and more.
4. I the U.S. you can easily wait until the end of your first year of college to decide which direction of engineering you want to specialize in.  I would suggest that if you are no good at Dynamics...you might not want to go Mechanical.

Well I'd say mechanical, but I'm a little biased.

Really where the market is going right now is in automation. There is lots of mechanical and electrical engineering involved but the sweet spot is where those two converge. But if you're not into programming or electrical design (which I am not either), then mechanical is a fine way to go and you probably won't have trouble finding a job.

Civil could be great too though. I think there is a lot of need for "green" civil engineering right now and I would imagine that won't change too much in the near future, even with Trump's "anti environmental" antics (I'm not sure how much that'd affect Canada, but probably to some degree).

When I went to college, I had many friends who were civil engineers and we shared many of the same classes early-on. The general thought was that civil was easier than mechanical so there was a little element of pride for the ME's. Then there's the mechatronic engineers which were a whole other level...

One thing I might recommend is going on a few job posting websites like Monster or such and do a search for mechanical, civil, and whatever-else engineering and just see what kind of actual jobs exist. You may find that the types of jobs looking for one type are far more alluring and exciting sounding than another.

I'll be happy to answer any questions for mechanical engineering. I've been doing it for going on seven years now.

kerrick wrote:

When I went to college, I had many friends who were civil engineers and we shared many of the same classes early-on.  The general thought was that civil was easier than mechanical so there was a little element of pride for the ME's.

Blasphemy!!! 


I don't know about how "hard" the classes were comparing Civil to Mechanical, but at my university the competition to get into the Civil department was much tougher compared to Mechanical.  If you didn't have a 3.2 or better GPA they wouldn't even consider you for the Civil College, but the Mechanical College took most of the people who applied (probably just because they didn't get enough candidates).  So the (very real) joke was that if your GPA slipped below 3.0 you would suddenly develop an interest in Mechanical Engineering.

kerrick wrote:

Well I'd say mechanical, but I'm a little biased.  

Really where the market is going right now is in automation.  There is lots of mechanical and electrical engineering involved but the sweet spot is where those two converge.  But if you're not into programming or electrical design (which I am not either), then mechanical is a fine way to go and you probably won't have trouble finding a job.

Civil could be great too though.  I think there is a lot of need for "green" civil engineering right now and I would imagine that won't change too much in the near future, even with Trump's "anti environmental" antics (I'm not sure how much that'd affect Canada, but probably to some degree).

When I went to college, I had many friends who were civil engineers and we shared many of the same classes early-on.  The general thought was that civil was easier than mechanical so there was a little element of pride for the ME's.  Then there's the mechatronic engineers which were a whole other level...

One thing I might recommend is going on a few job posting websites like Monster or such and do a search for mechanical, civil, and whatever-else engineering and just see what kind of actual jobs exist.  You may find that the types of jobs looking for one type are far more alluring and exciting sounding than another.

I'll be happy to answer any questions for mechanical engineering.  I've been doing it for going on seven years now.  

We have a Liberal government now, which has been undoing some of the un-green stuff from the previous Conservative government.

The push is definitely toward "green" now. A lot of end-of-BE projects, at the university I've been accepted to, are related to alternative sources of energy and recovering otherwise "lost" energy in chemical processes.

I'm not much of a chemistry fan, unlike my grandpa who was a chemist. I do enjoy math, and physics, though.

Thanks for your feedback, everyone, this'll be food for thought.

I ended up accepting the offer for civil. It won't be hard to transfer if I want to, and I've been inclined toward civil for longer than I have toward mechanical. Here we go...

Driven wrote:

I don't have the mindset for any of those. I tried computer and software stuff as a teen, never could get into it.

FWIW, I didn't know I liked programming until it was too late for me to consider changing my major. Fortunately, my first job went that direction, and I've done it ever since.

I wouldn't worry about jobs or money at this point. Do what you love. You can find something in any engineering field so if it turns out civil doesn't turn you on, look into something else.

Driven wrote:

I ended up accepting the offer for civil. It won't be hard to transfer if I want to, and I've been inclined toward civil for longer than I have toward mechanical. Here we go...

Cool! Yeah it should be super easy to change if you want to. Both have many classes in common - especially the first couple of years.

I almost went to the university in Rolla MO for engineering. Luckily, I was accepted into a program the summer after my junior year where I spent a week there learning about what engineers do and what types there are and what kind of jobs I could do...

After that week, I realized I did not have the math or science skills to do engineering. I'm definitely a nerd, but more a music/literature/theology nerd than math or science nerd.

It is true that you can get an engineering degree in one field and still work in another...it just takes some additional work on your part.

My partner has a Civil degree with an emphasis in Structures, he spent the first 4 years working as a Mechanical Engineer for Boeing before he switched to a structural firm.

Our part-time drafter is a graduate student going for a masters in Mechanical Engineering, her undergrad degree is in Materials Science and she works for us part-time doing structural drafting.

One of my friends started out in Mech, then worked for TxDOT and realized he liked civil more. Now, he's a P. Eng. and works for Engineering Ministries International, where his organization engineers facilites for non-profits, pro bono. Now that's the kind of thing I could see myself doing someday.

Based on what I've seen as your interests over the last few years, I think a civil engineer degree would work well for you.  Mechanical engineering is a good field that covers quite a bit.  ME would probably be better in the US while CE would be better in Canada.  And actually there are several other sub-categories of engineering that most don't know much about - like environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, etc.

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Based on what I've seen as your interests over the last few years, I think a civil engineer degree would work well for you.  Mechanical engineering is a good field that covers quite a bit.  ME would probably be better in the US while CE would be better in Canada.  And actually there are several other sub-categories of engineering that most don't know much about - like environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, etc.

When I was fresh out of college I got a job offer from an Environmental Engineering outfit.....really glad I didn't take it, just not my thing.