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  • 1.  Which State Has the Most Engineering Jobs?

    Posted 10-29-2018 03:19 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-31-2018 12:58 PM

    Hi all,

    Hope all is well. What do think of the best state to get an engineering job? I’m currently looking for a position and would like advice about where to look.


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    Sayed Maqsood S.M.ASCE
    Currently Looking for Employment
    Oakland CA
    (510)395-4361
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  • 2.  RE: Which State Has the Most Engineering Jobs?

    Posted 10-31-2018 12:36 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-31-2018 12:58 PM
    The "best" job for you is usually not the "best" job for someone else.

    The first thing to do is to ask yourself what type of job you'd like. Other things to consider is if you'd prefer to work at a small or large firm and if you have a preference for an area of the country, size of <g class="gr_ gr_1577 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="1577" data-gr-id="1577">city</g>, etc. The beauty of this field is that there are many things you can do.

    I see that your masters' degree is in seismic topics. If you want to specialize in seismic applications, for example, I wouldn't advise moving to the East Coast where there's not as much seismic work done. If you want to go a specialty structures route (say FRP engineering, for example, which is often used for seismic retrofit), you could look at the FRP manufacturers for job opportunities (there are several with offices in CA). You could go work in an architecture firm with an engineering department, a large engineering firm with a civil department, or a structural engineering consulting firm. 

    Once you know what type of job you want, talking to your professors about some of their contacts and attending the career fair at your school is also a good place to start. Firms who attend are both usually hiring and there for the explicit purpose of talking to students, so you can ask about possible career paths.

    Another helpful resource is to look at the "best companies to work for" list. One example is this civil engineering firm list in 2018. https://zweiggroup.com/2018-best-firms-to-work-for-winners/ . If you scroll down to structural and start clicking on the links, you'll go the company websites which often have postings (spoiler alert: the #1 structural engineering company has entry-level positions open in 3 of their offices). You may also want to go back and look at previous year's winners. These are set up such that companies have to apply to win, so if there is a year the firm didn't apply they would not show up in the rankings at all.




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    Stephanie Slocum P.E., M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
    www.engineersrising.com
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  • 3.  RE: Which State Has the Most Engineering Jobs?

    Posted 11-01-2018 07:53 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 11-01-2018 07:52 AM
    First of all, let me thank you wholeheartedly for taking time to respond to this discussion. My hope was to help to a large extent and that in mitigating seismic hazards in residential and commercial structures. It was the basic reason I chose to earn my masters in structural/earthquake engineering. To be honest, here, California is in high seismic zone, where there's chance that a major earthquake occurs every second. More specifically, I live close to Hayward fault. However, seismologist say: the upcoming major earthquake would be in the form of a blow up in which the plates would buckle up somewhere near Los Angeles. So we are safe.... I would liked to work for huge firms, but principles and requirements might slow you down of what your always looking for. Recently, I had many interviews and talks regarding the job market. Some would say it's usually a long process. Some would say it's political. Some would say you are over qualified. Some would say it doesn't matter how much you know; all that matters is who do you know. I applied for so many opportunities including design, construction, and management. It didn't work. A job that worked for you might not worked out for anybody else. 





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    Sayed Maqsood S.M.ASCE
    Currently Looking for Employment
    Oakland CA
    (510)395-4361
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Which State Has the Most Engineering Jobs?

    Posted 01-15-2019 10:24 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 01-15-2019 10:23 PM
    Related to the original question, ASCE just published an article on best places to be an engineer based on mean salaries: https://news.asce.org/these-are-the-best-places-to-be-a-civil-engineer/

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    Stephanie Slocum P.E., M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
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