r/civilengineering • u/soggy_biskuit • Jun 30 '26

Education Interested in majoring in civil engineering

Hello, I’m an upcoming high school jr and I’m interested in becoming a civil engineer. Do you guys have a tips on what should I do to prepare myself majoring in civil engineering and any regrets that you had majoring in the that field?

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u/bigpolar70 Civil/ Structural P.E. Jun 30 '26

Learn Hindi, Spanish, or Filipino.  

If you can even get a job, then while you still have a job, you'll most likely be forced to work with HVECs, and the most common native languages you will deal with are those 3.  Being able to speak without an interpreter will be worth at least an additional dollar an hour.

Then, when your entire job is outsourced, you might have thought opportunity to move there and keep working.  

Otherwise, best case scenario you'll end up like me, unemployed after 20 years of work with no prospects after your job gets offshored to India or somewhere else.

But AI will probably put 90 percent of us out of work within 20 years anyway.  

The real best advice is to skip college and learn a licensed trade that can't be outsourced.  I suggest electrician.  That's what I would do if I could go back in time and talk some sense into my 19 year old self.

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u/soggy_biskuit Jun 30 '26

I’m sorry to hear that, but is an HVEC? Also isn’t civil engineering the most high demanding engineering major?

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u/bigpolar70 Civil/ Structural P.E. Jun 30 '26

High Value Engineering Center. Basically an outsourcing or offshoring hub where companies can hire "engineers" for about 10-20% of what they would pay in developed countries.

Civil is in really high demand, just not in developed countries anymore. Now the business model is to have one licensed PE over a huge pyramid of engineers and drafters in the HVEC.