Possible careers

[hotdogPi]

I'm thinking about college, and I'm wondering what careers would take advantage of my interest in roads. I am very strong in math and science. Any suggestions for me? Thanks.

[PHLBOS]

Two-word answer: Civil Engineering.

[The Nature Boy]

And if engineering isn't your thing then maybe urban planning or public policy.

Urban planning is probably the best non-math major that you can pursue for road related items.

[NE2]

Given your name, how about a sheep? #1 always gets counted.

[Alex4897]

Two-word answer: Civil Engineering.

This is what I was planning to go for.

[2Co5_14]

When you look at colleges, be sure to find out if a civil engineering program has transportation-related courses you can take as an undergraduate. When I was searching (many years ago) I found that some civil engineering programs only offered structural, environmental or geotechnical courses, and others that only offered transportation courses to graduate students. Read the course catalog and look at the major requirements to be sure.

I personally graduated from Northeastern University, and I can highly recommend their program (especially the co-op option).  It took 5 years rather than 4, but I gained experience working with 3 different engineering firms along the way, which gave me a big advantage when it came to looking for a permanent job.

[vdeane]

My degree is actually in computer science; as it just so happens, the math/computer classes counted towards the coursework requirements for my job (technically in planning, though I do a little bit of a lot of things).  If you're interested in GIS, that's actually a concentration of CS/IT in many schools (but not all).

[ET21]

Civil Engineering, Urban Planning, and GIS. GIS is really fun to use both as a meteorologist and as a map maker

[GCrites]

One thing that might impress possible employers is that you actually care about this stuff. A lot of people go into highway engineering just because they heard that it a steady job that can pay well if you work hard and don't care about the subject matter at all.

[cl94]

If you're into civil engineering, go for it. While seemingly everyone wants to be a structural engineer (especially at my university, which has one of the most extensive earthquake research centers in the world), there are few of us that are actually interested in transportation and there are quite a few areas you could specialize in. There's geometric design, GIS, ITS, pavement design, statistical modelling, and several topics, each broken down into road, rail, air, water, and pedestrian modes. If you're willing to work for it, there are tons of opportunities. I'm currently an undergrad at the University at Buffalo and, after next semester, will have taken a total of 4 transportation courses, with a few more on key topics integral to the field.

A couple things I'd suggest:

• Keep your grades up. You're not getting into an engineering school without grades in the 90s and the weed-out courses have been known to make people drop out of engineering. If possible, take AP Calculus and either AP Chemistry or Physics. Depending on the college and its requirements, calculus may get you out of at least one freshman math class. At UB, AP Chemistry got me out of both required chemistry courses.
• Civil Engineering, not "Civil Engineering Technology". The latter is not accredited and lacks a couple key courses.
• Start looking now. Do your research and see what schools have the types of programs you want and contact them for more info.
• Once in school, get a research position or internship before you graduate. I'm a researcher at UB and I've been able to apply the skills learned in courses to studies that will be published by the end of the spring. Fun hands-on experience that, at many schools, counts for credit, may provide a little income, and possibly give you a publication for your resume. If you're lucky, you might even be sent to conferences on the school's dime, where you can make connections with people working in the field and  (UB is sending me to Washington in 2 weeks and covering most of it).

If you're interested solely in urban planning or GIS, there are programs for both that concentrate specifically on those topics. But if you want to do anything else or a mix of things and you're good at science and math, go for engineering. Might be a lot of work, but if you work hard and have fun with engineering-related clubs/organizations (I highly recommend the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has a student chapter at most schools with a civil engineering program), it'll be a great time.

I'll warn you that transportation-related stuff involves a lot of statistics. I'm no stranger to Excel spreadsheets with several thousand lines or Matlab scripts that spit out numbers.

Hope I didn't bore you with a bunch of info, but I know way too many engineers (or former engineers) who didn't know what they were getting into.

[GCrites]

An old roommate of mine who is a 10-year PE by now says that his company really likes applicants with ODOT experience such as through an internship. I'd imagine that it goes for other state DOTs too.

[The Nature Boy]

I think it's also going to be important to have a backup plan in case engineering doesn't work out. I know a lot of people who wanted to be engineers, had no backup plan and graduated with a useless degree. Try to find schools with urban planning and engineering programs.

Urban Planning is a good fall back since you still get to work with roads and urban design, just from a different angle.

[roadman65]

How about house flipping?  Seriously, I know many who buy houses in bad condition, fix them up, and sell them for a much larger amount then what they paid for it along with the fixing up costs and make it big.

[MikeTheActuary]

If engineering or urban planning don't fit your academic interests, you might take a look at a couple of careers within insurance.

The mapping and organization skills associated with roadgeeking can be very useful for certain projects undertaken by actuaries and underwriters (e.g., knowledge of viable hurricane evacuation routes influence some of the inland marine rates I've calculated).   

Certain specialty markets within insurance (public entities, construction) also can focus on the risks associated with roads, transportation systems, law enforcement, etc.   I've got to tell you that rating up liability coverage for a state DOT is oddly cool to me, and I enjoyed reviewing one file that crossed my desk from an agency created specifically to build a particular toll road.

[ajlynch91]

Or you could get a job producing traffic information for cities. I live in Chicago but produce traffic for New York City as part of my job at HERE. I've never been happier. That said, my ultimate goal is to either go into transportation planning or something related to weather. Civil Engineering as already stated is an excellent career choice, but the math and physics required to be successful in it waved buh-bye to me a long time ago.

[GCrites]

I met a dude who does that a few years back. He applied for a job entitled "traffic engineer" or something close to it thinking it would be doing the kind of traffic engineering that people here think of such as signal timing and traffic flow. Turns out they needed someone to watch traffic cams and change VMSs to alert drivers of crashes and other backups that he saw on the cams. He just rolled with it and took the job.

[KG909]

I'm going to be a beat producer, half because my friend raps and half so I can go on tours and discover more roads.

[Pete from Boston]

How about house flipping?  Seriously, I know many who buy houses in bad condition, fix them up, and sell them for a much larger amount then what they paid for it along with the fixing up costs and make it big.

The only possible relevance this has to his interest in roads is that flipping houses requires you to get very used to driving around one area for about a year, then another, and so on. 

[PHLBOS]

Civil Engineering, not "Civil Engineering Technology". The latter is not accredited and lacks a couple key courses.

Not completely true.  The Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (aka ABET) does accredit Engineering Technology programs as well as Engineering programs.  However, if persuing a PE license is indeed your goal; it would be better to get an engineering degree vs. one in engineering technology.  In many states, the latter requires more work experience prior to taking the FE/EIT and/or PE exams.

[roadman65]

How about house flipping?  Seriously, I know many who buy houses in bad condition, fix them up, and sell them for a much larger amount then what they paid for it along with the fixing up costs and make it big.

The only possible relevance this has to his interest in roads is that flipping houses requires you to get very used to driving around one area for about a year, then another, and so on. 

I was suggesting that he get out of roads.  Sometimes where you want to be is not always the best place.

[Pete from Boston]

How about house flipping?  Seriously, I know many who buy houses in bad condition, fix them up, and sell them for a much larger amount then what they paid for it along with the fixing up costs and make it big.

The only possible relevance this has to his interest in roads is that flipping houses requires you to get very used to driving around one area for about a year, then another, and so on. 

I was suggesting that he get out of roads.  Sometimes where you want to be is not always the best place.

Remind me not to ask you for directions.

[dmr37]

bus driver

[jakeroot]

How about house flipping?  Seriously, I know many who buy houses in bad condition, fix them up, and sell them for a much larger amount then what they paid for it along with the fixing up costs and make it big.

The only possible relevance this has to his interest in roads is that flipping houses requires you to get very used to driving around one area for about a year, then another, and so on. 

I was suggesting that he get out of roads.  Sometimes where you want to be is not always the best place.

Yep. I got into the University of Washington, Engineering School, only to drop out because I, frankly, suck at math.

[PColumbus73]

I graduated with an Associates in Drafting and Design one year ago and I'm still looking for something at the DOT or something similar. Unfortunately, the course I took was aimed more at architecture over civil, so I am at a disadvantage when it comes to things like AutoCAD Civil 3D. So, I've applied for jobs as an Assistant Geodetic Technician and similar seemingly entry-level positions.

[Zeffy]

If possible, take AP Calculus and either AP Chemistry or Physics. Depending on the college and its requirements, calculus may get you out of at least one freshman math class. At UB, AP Chemistry got me out of both required chemistry courses.[/li][/list]

There goes any hope of me becoming a civil engineer. I never took any of those classes in high school, nevermind the fact I never took an AP class period!

All I wanna do is design signs, but even though I can do it well using non-official software, the whole lack of experience/education probably eliminates that career path for me.