So you are new to the rewarding field of civil engineering? Congratulations! Hopefully a long career full of meaningful accomplishments awaits you. This is an engineering discipline that benefits society as a whole.

Even when first embarking on your vocation, it is never too soon to plan for the future. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help ensure you enjoy a successful career until your retirement day – whenever that comes.

Know the Business As Well As Engineering

It is important that you understand the underlying business principles of your employer – even if you work for a government agency. Learn the budgetary concepts of profit and loss, which become more important in a government position considering taxpayer liability. A well-honed comprehension of business and engineering concepts puts you on the fast track to a management or executive level position.

Thrive When Working on a Team

Teamwork is extremely vital in civil engineering. In many cases, your team includes your clients or customers, which can be the public at large. Learn to keep your ego in check, develop strong listening skills, and leverage empathy to truly relate to your co-workers.

The Agile and DevOps movements within the information technology world illustrate how focusing on teamwork and collaboration allows more to be accomplished with fewer resources. These methodologies also apply to civil engineering.

Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Honest self-analysis is a necessary part of any career and definitely applies to engineering. It is important to fully develop your professional strengths, while making the effort to improve any weaknesses in your work life. Continual self improvement is something any civil engineering professional should strive to achieve.

Always Strive to Learn New Ideas and Concepts

The engineering world is full of innovations and new ideas. Being set in your ways – especially when first starting out – leads to stagnation and a dead-end career. You need to always strive to learn new ideas and concepts. Remember that becoming licensed as a professional engineer also requires some form of continuing education.

If your company offers tuition reimbursement, take advantage of that benefit to earn an advanced degree. A master’s degree in engineering or even a MBA will definitely super charge your career prospects.

Make Integrity a Vital Part of Your Career

Integrity remains an important aspect of any civil engineer. When dealing with your clients, co-workers, or even the general public, honesty always needs to be on the forefront of your mind. Never become careless in your work.

If you need any additional insight on developing a fulfilling career as a civil engineer, talk to the experts at The Talley Group. As one of Washington State’s top engineering staffing agencies, we can help both you with a robust supply of Seattle engineering jobs. Schedule some time with us at your earliest convenience.

So, you’ve got an interview for a civil engineer position at one of the top companies in your area. Congratulations are in order. Before you can truly celebrate, however, you need to perform well when under the gun. You want to earn a second interview, or better yet, a job offer.

With that in mind, here are a few lines of questioning all civil engineer candidates need to feel comfortable with during their interview.

Expect to Detail the Tangible Engineering Achievements in your Career

Before the interview, spend some time reviewing previous projects from your work history while focusing on the innovative engineering solutions you either derived or helped to implement. If your resume is filled with these career examples – as it should be – the interview offers you the opportunity to go into more detail. You can illustrate how you’ll make a positive difference for their company when on the job.

Hiring Managers Want to Know How You’ll Work within a Team

Teamwork is very important in civil engineering, as is the ability to deal with clients or the public at large. Expect some questions aimed at finding out how well you work as part of a team, as well as your general communication skills as it applies to handling clients. Additionally, you can expect to be asked about the organizational structures you’ve been a part of throughout your career.

An Affinity for Technology Remains Important

Interviewers will want to understand your grasp of the state of the art when it comes to technology. This includes your comfort level with engineering software, as well as the mobile apps many engineers use while in the field. Civil engineering is a rapidly changing world, and companies want to ensure you will always strive to learn new things.

If you need any additional insight into interview preparation for a civil engineering position, talk to the experts at The Talley Group. As one of the top engineering staffing agencies in Washington, we are also a great source of Seattle engineering jobs. Schedule some time with us at your earliest convenience.

If you are already enjoying a successful career as a civil engineer, and are looking for a way to boost your standing or maybe transition into a leadership role, consider acquiring one of the certifications provided by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Becoming certified shows that you take your career seriously and have the right mix of skills and knowledge to be an asset to any civil engineering company in the business.

Let’s take a closer look at the types of available ASCE certifications and the process to acquire them.

The Available ASCE Certifications

The ASCE created an organization called Civil Engineering Certification, Inc. (CEC) to manage the process of certifying civil engineers in a variety of disciplines related to the field. Various academies within the CEC also offer these specialized certifications. These include water resource engineers, coastal ocean, port and navigation engineers, and geo-professionals.

Promoting the certification process through CEC achieves four main goals for the ASCE. They include: developing leadership, advancing technology, advocating lifelong learning, and promoting the civil engineering profession as a whole.

The advantages to you as a certified engineer are profound. Expect to be considered as a leader in your field; demonstrating a superior aptitude for the practice of civil engineering, along with a desire to stay on the leading edge of technology. Your clients are assured that you are highly qualified to work on their project needs.

The Certification Process

The specific certification process and requirements depend on the individual academy. You need to be actively employed in the specific civil engineering discipline, with over 10 years of experience and a PE license. An advanced degree or upwards of 30 hours of graduate level classes are another requirement.

A written application with all supporting documentation, three professional recommendations, and a series of oral examinations followed by an oral defense round out the application process. Becoming certified takes a lot of effort, but it is definitely worth it, considering the advantages for your career.

If you need any additional advice for career development in the engineering field, talk to the experts at The Talley Group. As one of the top engineering staffing companies in Washington state, they have knowledgeable recruiters on hand, providing a great source for civil engineering jobs in Seattle. Schedule some time with them today!

Civil Engineer Jobs in Seattle: Salary Breakdown

Like most other engineering disciplines, civil engineers enjoy robust career benefits, including the rewards that come from performing a job needed by the public as a whole. Of course, civil engineering is also a well-paying profession with many opportunities for career development. The Seattle, Washington area is a solid place for the engineering profession in general, and civil engineering is no exception.

Average Civil Engineer Salary in Seattle

Civil engineers in the Seattle metropolitan area can expect to earn an average salary of $81,000 per year according to data from March of this year. This salary is about four percent higher than the average civil engineering salary for the entire United States. Once again, the Seattle region of the Northwest U.S. is a great place to be for engineers!

The national salary trend for civil engineers has held steady over the past two years. There have been some hills and valleys, but the salary index has remained close to 1.0, according to Indeed.com. As the economy continues to recover from the Great Recession, expect civil engineering salaries to trend upwards.

It pays to be an Experienced Civil Engineer

Becoming a “lifer” as a civil engineer can pay off in the long run, like most technical professions. Seattle’s average salary for a senior-level civil engineer comes in close to six figures at $98,000, but you can expect to find many senior positions in Seattle above the $100,000 level. Senior civil engineers specializing in highways average a little less salary at $81,000.

Structural engineering is another offshoot of civil engineering that can be lucrative with an average salary of $93,000. Engineers that want to move into project management will find a slightly higher pay rate. The average salary for civil engineer project managers in Seattle is $83,000.

If you are interested in many of the lucrative civil engineering jobs in Seattle, talk to engineering staffing experts at The Talley Group. As one of the leading engineering recruiters in the Seattle area, they are poised to help you and your career. Be sure to schedule some time with them today with a quick phone call or email.

The United States needs to upgrade its infrastructure and fast. That’s the opinion of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The ASCE feels this country’s infrastructure is actually close to an overall failure.

This infrastructure, according to ASCE, includes roads, bridges, rail, drinking water, waste water, solid waste, and other facilities. Its importance to the quality of life in the United States cannot be overstated.

ASCE Provides an Infrastructure Grade every Four Years

ASCE releases its grades of U.S. infrastructure once every four years. While the 2013 grade of D+ is a slight improvement over the D received in 2009, this isn’t really a reason to celebrate or take an early summer vacation. The country’s infrastructure has averaged around a D grade since the mid 90s, primarily due to a lack of investment and delayed maintenance work.

Eight categories make up the ASCE infrastructure grade. These include capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation, maintenance, public safety, resilience and innovation. Solid waste earned the best grade in the current report card: a B-, while inland waterways and levees brought up the rear with a D-.

A Backlog of Maintenance Needs Funding

The ASCE study noted that new recurring methods of funding the nation’s infrastructure needs are vital for improving the grade. With proper funding, the pressing maintenance backlog can be lessened while also implementing long overdue modernization projects.

City and State level funding helped to improve the nation’s bridges grade, and private investment, enhancing overall efficiency and connectivity, improved the railway infrastructure across the nation.

The ASCE report concluded: “Infrastructure is also critical for long-term economic growth, increasing GDP, employment, household income, and exports. The reverse is also true – without prioritizing our nation’s infrastructure needs, deteriorating conditions can become a drag on the economy.

“For the U.S. economy to be the most competitive in the world, we need a first class infrastructure system.”

If working on the nation’s infrastructure needs inspired you to become a civil engineer, talk to engineering staffing experts at The Talley Group. As one of the leading leading recruiters for civil engineering jobs in Seattle, they can help you, your career, and possibly the country’s roads and bridges. Schedule some time with them today.