Civil Engineering Jobs that require travel

[Brigandier]

Hey, I'm a third year CE student focusing on structures and also doing some research into transportation engineering. Iw as wondering if many firms had positions where their CE's could travel. I don't really want to be tied down right out of college so any companies like that would be up my alley. I'd like to get my rapport with companies of this nature started now so I have a better chance of landing a job once I graduate.

BTW, I'm taking the FE next year so it'd be good if there was a PE I could work under so I could pursue that track.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

sure, you could go to work for a large firm and be assigned as a project engineer, that would require long-term travel to that site.

 

[LordMorpheus]

You could get a job with a large consulting company like Accenture. They'll take just about anyone out of school with an engineering degree, you spend some time doing training, and then you go out and work for their clients, which can be all over. It's kinda a regional thing - if you're at the Houston office, you won't be going to area that are served by the Chicago office, etc.



Or, you could come work for an oilfield services company as a field engineer, again they'll take just about anyone with an engineering degree for this, and all the training you need happens once you start working (at least for the field guys at my company).

You then get sent out on jobs to sites all around the world, sometimes deep in the jungle accessible only by helicopter, sometimes a floating deep-sea oil platform. Certainly meets your desire to travel.

 

[BoomerD]

I worked heavy construction all my life, and the CE's on the big jobs were all from "somewhere else" rather than locals.

If by "travel" you mean short term travel, I doubt this is the field for you, but if you mean go somewhere for a couple of years for a job, then somewhere else for a couple of years, then somewhere else for a couple of years...then you're in the right field.
If you were a structural engineer, I'd suggest looking into the big bridge-building companies or structural constructors.

The last contractor I worked for had its corporate office in SoCal, but had field offices all over the country. They had an engineering department that sent its people to jobs everywhere. Many of them opted to become superintendents rather than just engineers because the money was better. (although the work was dirtier)

 

[LS21]

just be a "sales engineer" somewhere

 

[Deviant Grasshopper]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus
You could get a job with a large consulting company like Accenture. They'll take just about anyone out of school with an engineering degree, you spend some time doing training, and then you go out and work for their clients, which can be all over. It's kinda a regional thing - if you're at the Houston office, you won't be going to area that are served by the Chicago office, etc.



Or, you could come work for an oilfield services company as a field engineer, again they'll take just about anyone with an engineering degree for this, and all the training you need happens once you start working (at least for the field guys at my company).

You then get sent out on jobs to sites all around the world, sometimes deep in the jungle accessible only by helicopter, sometimes a floating deep-sea oil platform. Certainly meets your desire to travel.

That sounds like a lot of fun...

 

[EagleKeeper]

With respect to transportation, contact the Federal Highway Administration.

Their PR group should be able to provide you a list of comopanies that do a lot of transportation civil work.

Civil Engineering work outside that area, the US Army Corp of Engineers woiuld be a good place to start collecting info from.

The Corp also has commissioned officers that supervise projects.