For those of you in the civil/environmental engineering fields, what benefits are you guys receiving? If you don't feel comfortable naming your exact numbers, could you provide some helpful information? I'm trying to size up offers, but I'm not sure what all is currently being offered throughout the field.

- Salary:
- Health Insurance:
- Dental Insurance:
- Vision Insurance:
- AD&D Insurance:
- Disability Insurance:
- FSA:
- PTO:
- Bonuses (including signing bonus):
- 401k benefits:
- Overtime pay:
- Other:
- Location:

Thanks

[Edited on June 14, 2010 at 12:04 PM. Reason : I guess location matters as well. I'll be in Raleigh though.]

6/14/2010 11:59:12 AM

- Location:

6/14/2010 12:04:07 PM

- Salary: bout 10k/yr less than i wanted, but im hourly and get a lot of overtime so well see
- Health Insurance: paid in full
- Dental Insurance: paid in full
- Vision Insurance: optional/i have to pay some if i want it
- AD&D Insurance: optional
- Disability Insurance: yes
- FSA:
- PTO:
- Bonuses (including signing bonus): havnt gotten one yet so dont know
- 401k benefits: they do a match i forget what it is
- Overtime pay: time and a half
- Other: company truck/gas paid, start with 2 weeks vacation, 1 week sick
- Location: raleigh, but lots of travel, which is paid

6/14/2010 12:36:13 PM

This thread is relevant to my interests

6/14/2010 2:35:49 PM

Would you consider construction an engineering field? If you only care about the strict definition of the term, please disregard. Given the current market, there are a select few construction companies hiring, but as far as equivalence, my job is fairly equivalent to an engineering position. it just depends on which end of the process one is on in the development of plans.

- Job Title: Estimator for Construction Company (4+ years experience)

- Salary: $75k<salary<$50k
- Health Insurance: paid but less than desirable
- Dental Insurance: paid
- Vision Insurance: optional ($10/mo)
- AD&D Insurance: optional (depends on insured amt)
- Disability Insurance: optional (depends on insured amt)
- FSA: none
- PTO: 2 wks/yr currently (3 wks after 5 yrs)
- Bonuses (including signing bonus): Performance: 15% of salary (discretionary) Signing: none
- 401k benefits: match up to 3% of income
- Overtime pay: salaried
- Other: company vehicle, gas, cell phone
- Location: Triangle

[Edited on June 14, 2010 at 3:55 PM. Reason : ...]

6/14/2010 3:51:59 PM

^ Is your bonus in addition to the salary that you specified or included?

6/14/2010 4:44:49 PM

Quote :

"Salary: $75k<salary<$50k"

Does not compute

6/14/2010 4:53:54 PM

^ha, good catch

thanks for the replies and PMs. With this information and some from my advisors, I feel much better about my current offer... though I still counter-offered with a highball (I thought they lowballed me a little, but overall a fair offer)

[Edited on June 14, 2010 at 4:56 PM. Reason : .]

6/14/2010 4:55:40 PM

they have the advantage right now. id take the job and when work starts picking back up, you will have experience so you can find another job that will pay more

6/14/2010 7:37:18 PM

yeh, they certainly do. but as I said, it was a very reasonable offer, but I'd like to see what I can get. and I'd like to work for this company long-term so I'd hope they'd increase pay as the market determines.

6/14/2010 7:39:23 PM

Geotech
- Salary: A high end of $50,000K (just recently) but I do a lot more than engineering.
- Health Insurance: Pretty good
- Dental Insurance: Not good
- Vision Insurance: Offered but I don't need it.
- AD&D Insurance: Don't know
- Disability Insurance: Don't know
- FSA: Offered but I don't need it.
- PTO: ???
- Bonuses (including signing bonus): I haven't gotten one yet. I expect one this coming winter.
- 401k benefits: Offered and I use it.
- Overtime pay: I'm salaried but I get paid "commission" for any hours over 40 (straight time).
- Other: 2 years experience but I manage many projects, keep work flow good, work well with subordinates, work well with higher-ups, getting more independent, perform some IT stuff in the office, perform other office tasks.
- Location: Raleigh, NC

6/14/2010 10:49:45 PM

^what geotech company do you work for, if you dont mind me asking?

I work for a structural/geotech company, I am a structural engineer for the company but have been trained to do geotech stuff and have some field experience, and I was thinking about checking around since I dont get paid squat and have been there for 5 years

6/15/2010 8:43:55 PM

Position: Project Engineer for a Top-400 Contractor specializing in underground public works construction, 4 years exp.

- Salary: ~70k (wage depressed some because of the crappy economy)
- Health Insurance: PPO
- Dental Insurance: Yes, but crappy
- Vision Insurance: Covers glasses and shit
- AD&D Insurance: Optional
- Disability Insurance: I think so
- FSA: Not that I'm aware of
- PTO: 3 Weeks
- Bonuses (including signing bonus):
- 401k benefits: Approximately 3% plus profit-sharing
- Overtime pay: N/A (salaried)
- Other: Company truck / gas
- Location: Sylmar, CA

6/15/2010 10:06:16 PM

- No attractive female coworkers






oh wait

6/16/2010 12:30:38 AM

Fed Govt Project Management (Officially titled a Civil Engineer)

- Salary:46k(guarenteed raise to 54K in august)
- Health Insurance:$35 every 2 weeks(have a choice of many many companies some cheaper some more expensive)
- Dental Insurance:covered under health
- Vision Insurance:covered under health
- AD&D Insurance:$5 a month
- Disability Insurance:not sure
- FSA:Flex Spending account? If so Yes
- PTO:4 hours leave and 4 hours sick a pay period(pay period= 2 weeKs) + 10 Federal Holidays a year
- Bonuses (including signing bonus):8.5K signing bounus
- 401k benefits:TSP 5% of income matching(Fed equiv of 401k)
- Overtime pay:1.5xbase pay or comp time my choice
- Other:cell phone, vehicle for official business
- Location:Fort Bragg which kinda sucks(though I am in Savannah for 4 months of training right now)

6/16/2010 2:41:23 AM

^Overtime will drop to base pay by the time you reach your GS-12 pay grade.

6/16/2010 7:21:45 PM

Quote :

"what geotech company do you work for, if you dont mind me asking?"

See PM.

6/16/2010 8:04:18 PM

To those of you who are not in school -- Are all civil engineering related jobs paid similar? What about career advancement? Are there any specific paths you have seen that show greater upside potential than others?

6/16/2010 9:56:07 PM

Not all civil jobs pay the same. You can make good money as a civil in the government (See: NAVFAC) based on the fact that you'll be paid at the same GS rate as electrical and mechanical engineers. Just based on what I have seen, structural has a tendency to pay more, but good luck finding a structural job right now. Getting an MS in structures isn't a bad decision for right now for new students since the economy will be in a different place four to six years from now. Career advancement depends a lot on the company and the organization, but a smaller company/department will probably have more room for advancement than a mega corporation that just wants to use you as an analyst.

Starting pay for a civil job will be around 38-56k a year, with 38-50k being attainable with a bachelor's degree and 48-56k being attainable with a master's degree, assuming no other experience (though intern/co-op experience often just determines if you get considered in these economic times, not whether you're worth more than the base pay levels).

Here's my info for my current government job:

US Navy - General Engineer - (Norfolk Naval Shipyard; Working with shipyard equipment & facilities)

- Salary:56,798/yr (next major grade increase next February, though I'm leaving soon)
- Health Insurance: $85 every 2 weeks for BCBS Standard (there's a ton of options)
- Dental Insurance: Metlife
- Vision Insurance: I dunno, but I have it and haven't needed it.
- AD&D Insurance: $14 every two weeks for ~6x my salary in coverage
- Disability Insurance: ~$50/mo for decent Long Term Care insurance (an inflation proof option, premium shouldn't increase in the future)
- FSA: Optional, but don't participate.
- PTO: Earn 4 hours of annual (vacation) leave and 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks; Annual leave earned increases after a certain number of years of service
- Bonuses (including signing bonus): 4k signing bonus; no bonus potential for getting work done (so productivity kinda sucks)
- 401k benefits:TSP 5% of income matching(Fed equiv of 401k)
- Overtime pay:1.5xbase pay or comp time my choice
- Other: Cell phone if I need it; Group truck if I need it; Fairly generous travel benefits (but the govt travel program is a nightmare); Each year of service gets you another 1% of your 3 highest years of salary in a pension fund (so if you work for 35 years you get paid an annual pension of 35% of the average of your three highest income earning years with the federal government)
- Location: Portsmouth, VA at Norfolk Naval Shipyard with NAVSEA (US Navy)

I might post an update in here about my new job back in the Cary area. I'm not sure what all the benefits/costs are yet. For reference: You can get that job at norfolk naval shipyard without any prior experience and be making ~$54k/yr right off the bat with a $4k signing bonus plus paid relocation expenses (assuming GPA over 3.0). Just go to the NNSY website and submit a resume to their new engineers program. I kind of don't like the program in its current form at all (it wasn't going to do much for my structural engineering career), but I might consider returning one day (maybe 20-30 years from now if I get f*cked by the next economic crisis).

6/17/2010 12:34:31 AM

^ Pretty solid summary of the breakdown for Government Engineers. Especially travel being a nightmare, although you do get pretty decent per diem rates.

NAVFAC FTW

6/21/2010 11:27:36 AM

Quote :

"Are all civil engineering related jobs paid similar? What about career advancement? Are there any specific paths you have seen that show greater upside potential than others?"

Pay: My experience is that smaller companies tend to pay more than larger companies.
Advancement: Get your masters/get your PE/buy into the company that's about it.

You'll do a lot more in the private sector than in the public sector.

6/21/2010 11:44:03 AM

^ I'll add to that.

Smaller companies will definitely pay you more. However, you also can generally expect to work much longer hours for small firms, pay more in benefits, and it's generally a more volatile job in times like this. I have plenty of friends (engineers) that have been laid off from small firms (50ish employees) just so the firm can meet payroll that month...then they re-hire a few months later if they get some work in.

Large private companies/corporations, generally, are a little more comfortable in these times.

There's benefits to both large and small private companies. I, personally, would want to work in the private industry, though.


[Edited on June 21, 2010 at 11:59 AM. Reason : ]

6/21/2010 11:56:25 AM

That's kinda odd you all say small companies pay more. I currently work at a consultant and everyone here is not paid a competitive wage.

6/21/2010 12:06:19 PM

I also agree with this. I was made an offer of $40k for a geotech engineering position in Raleigh. I held out and then landed the $53.5k/yr govt job that now pays ~$56.7k/yr. I'm moving back to Raleigh again for ~7% less in salary with other excellent benefits (and a team of awesome people to work with who are all around my age) and it's for a company that employs about 1200 people. The geotech position was with a company of about a dozen people, and I need not make a comment on how obscenely large the federal government is.

I would see salary as a YMMV situation. Depending on exactly what sort of work the company does (new buildings? communication towers? marine facilities? renovation? utility work?), how they are structured (tons of managers and middle men, or streamlined process and distributed responsibilities?), the process they follow (i.e. is it modern and efficient? is it old and extremely outdated?), and their clients (federal? corporate? small business?) you're going to see salaries all over the place.

Also, some companies have stockholders who have the company by the balls so benefits packages, etc are just not as high as they would be elsewhere.

6/22/2010 2:12:49 AM