2 answers
Lincoln
Student
5
Questions
Asked
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How long does it take to work your way up the ladder in terms of pay?
What is the time range for making above the average pay for civil engineers?
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2 answers
Samuel Scozzari, PE
Construction Management and Director in NYC
13
Answers
Suffield, Connecticut
Updated
Samuel’s Answer
There are five career paths you might consider: Government, Design, Construction Management, Resident Engineering, and working for a Contractor. Each path is different and depends on the company you choose. Unlike 40 years ago, it's now less common for people to stay with one company for their entire career. In the Northeast US, a 5% annual salary increase is considered good.
Investing in yourself through licenses, extra work, new experiences, and joining societies like ASHE and ASCE can help you stand out. This might lead to faster promotions and salary increases. Typically, you might see 3% to 5% annual growth in the first few years, but with outstanding performance, you could get a 10% raise and a promotion after 6 or 7 years. However, many people change jobs to achieve such increases.
If you're managing large projects by age 30, you're doing exceptionally well. On average, a skilled engineer sees significant responsibility increases between ages 38 and 42, based on observations from New York City and the Northeast. You can advance further by combining technical skills with business development.
As Donna mentioned, passion for the industry is crucial. If it feels like a grind, success might be elusive. If you need encouragement or advice, feel free to reach out. It's a wonderful industry, and if you love it, you should enjoy every step of the journey!
Investing in yourself through licenses, extra work, new experiences, and joining societies like ASHE and ASCE can help you stand out. This might lead to faster promotions and salary increases. Typically, you might see 3% to 5% annual growth in the first few years, but with outstanding performance, you could get a 10% raise and a promotion after 6 or 7 years. However, many people change jobs to achieve such increases.
If you're managing large projects by age 30, you're doing exceptionally well. On average, a skilled engineer sees significant responsibility increases between ages 38 and 42, based on observations from New York City and the Northeast. You can advance further by combining technical skills with business development.
As Donna mentioned, passion for the industry is crucial. If it feels like a grind, success might be elusive. If you need encouragement or advice, feel free to reach out. It's a wonderful industry, and if you love it, you should enjoy every step of the journey!
Donna Hull
Engineer
118
Answers
Columbia
Updated
Donna’s Answer
Lincoln;
Please do a deep introspective asking yourself why you chose the field of Civil Engineering.
Although I get that salary is important, this is a career that you will spend the next 30 or more years at. First and foremost your career should be challenging and interesting to you. Not purely a pay day. There is nothing worse than to be in a job you hate but can't leave because you need the pay.
As far as moving up the ladder and moving to an above average pay scale, that is totally dependent upon you, your job performance, and how you stand out amongst your peers.
I will use myself as an example:
After spending 10 years in the U.S. Navy as a Cryptologic Technician, I interviewed with Bell Atlantic (now Verizon). During my interview I made sure that I emphasized my ability to do the work they were requesting highlighting my drafting and project management skills from the Navy. As the position was a unionized position and I had previous experience I was brought in 1 step below top pay scale. While new hires out of college were brought in a base level pay scales.
Moving into management roll 3 years later and knowing that internally a management person would receive a salary of 10% higher than the highest paid associate in their team. For many years my raises were only 1% or 2%, but I was learning different roles as a management person and developing a network of senior managers that understood they could rely on me to complete projects and motivate other individuals to expeditiously move their work operations forward. 3 years ago, I received a 5% raise after an Human Resources audit. As yes there is still discrepancy in the workplace between men and women's salary for performance of similar work duties. Generally now my raises are around 3%, but those raises are based on not only my performance as an individual, but also the performance of the entire department and region to meet budgetary and production goals for the year.
So there are several factors involved with salary and there is no clear combination involved with the amount and frequency of raises. It is your personal performance, the companies performance and profit margins also.
Please do a deep introspective asking yourself why you chose the field of Civil Engineering.
Although I get that salary is important, this is a career that you will spend the next 30 or more years at. First and foremost your career should be challenging and interesting to you. Not purely a pay day. There is nothing worse than to be in a job you hate but can't leave because you need the pay.
As far as moving up the ladder and moving to an above average pay scale, that is totally dependent upon you, your job performance, and how you stand out amongst your peers.
I will use myself as an example:
After spending 10 years in the U.S. Navy as a Cryptologic Technician, I interviewed with Bell Atlantic (now Verizon). During my interview I made sure that I emphasized my ability to do the work they were requesting highlighting my drafting and project management skills from the Navy. As the position was a unionized position and I had previous experience I was brought in 1 step below top pay scale. While new hires out of college were brought in a base level pay scales.
Moving into management roll 3 years later and knowing that internally a management person would receive a salary of 10% higher than the highest paid associate in their team. For many years my raises were only 1% or 2%, but I was learning different roles as a management person and developing a network of senior managers that understood they could rely on me to complete projects and motivate other individuals to expeditiously move their work operations forward. 3 years ago, I received a 5% raise after an Human Resources audit. As yes there is still discrepancy in the workplace between men and women's salary for performance of similar work duties. Generally now my raises are around 3%, but those raises are based on not only my performance as an individual, but also the performance of the entire department and region to meet budgetary and production goals for the year.
So there are several factors involved with salary and there is no clear combination involved with the amount and frequency of raises. It is your personal performance, the companies performance and profit margins also.