Suitable place for 20 years experienced graduate civil engineer?

Set your self up as an independent consultant and wait for those lucrative contracts. The more you feed them worthless cross talk the more they will love you. Over charge them never let them know that in reality you are just giving out general advice to do what a three year old could have told them to do. Be bold and brazen take charge. Never come to a definitive answer always keep them on the hook.

contact me through my web site. I may find a place for you.

Alberta, Canada

India.

R/Sir

thankyou very much

you do not seem to have mentioned the place and country you are in.

if it is india, preferably bangalore and if you are interested in renewable energy and environment, you can contact me.

shankar, refurb_india@yahoo.com

Guest,

You should have no problem making a transition and obtain a considerable pay increase. I sit next to a civil engineer (in Houston) that just retired from government service and is doing fine in the public sector (and his wife has no problem with the increased income). With your experience and education you can command a respectable pay rate. One thing that I would look into is learning to work with recognized (and common) software that is used in the civil engineering. I believe STAD is a common one that I see used, others in civil engineering should be consulted for advice. Just having an exposure to productive engineering software will make you very, very attractive.

If you come to Houston you will not be looking for companies, you will be making choices from their offers of employment.

Good luck.

He didn't provide any details on his civil engineering interests/licensesure/project types/job-related skills/geographic preferences, but I certainly wish him well in his job-searching efforts, but it can be very tough out "there". As for Houston, your government retiree may be "the exception", rather than "the rule". I have worked for 3 cities, 1 county, and four federal agencies, over 30-some years, and would only recommend one former co-working engineer to a prospective employer. Only one....

For perspectives' sake, I must add that I was previously (down-sized) out of an (un-civil ?) service career only to find that in one case, the potentially hiring civil engineer clearly felt very uncomfortable during my job interview over the prospect of possibly hiring someone older than he was. No, I did not get that job, nor did I get several others, for similar reasons, but I am working now, but in a remote area. My experience, knowledge, and skills were of little interest to him, so I, personally, would have to point out that the starter of this thread did not specify his age, either.

You didn't say what KIND of a person the civil engineer working next to you was, and how much longer it looks like he'll continue to be working there..... (Years ago, I once had a director of public works, of a (significant) city, chastise me, in a semi-public situation, for bending a file folder along one of its' alternate creases. I was speechless at the time, and continue to wonder how someone could rise to such a level without ever (seeing) that the creases were there to be folded as the increasing contents of the folder would make appropriate. As a consequence of that (enlightening?) experience, I no longer capitalize the words engineer, or public works, unless specifically directed to do so.....). "Dinosaurs" may still walk the earth after all...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Houston periodically have (serious) humidity, and sometimes get (friendly ?) little visits by gentle, wispy, little things called hurricanes ? Such knowlege might make a difference to some job-searchers.....

suitable companies would include construction companies working in your area that need to comply with the requirements that you have learned in your 20 years of lower grade employment.

If you can save them money by assuring that they do not overprovide to meet code requirements, that will more than cover your salary.

Start ups trying to provide new utility/public services may find your skills helpful for siting, right of way planning, and property rights research helpful.

Few public sector employees find that they have the entrepeneurial skills to Consult profitably, let alone the cash for expenses for first couple of years.

If you were in the states you could always hook up with a law firm as a researcher working on lawsuits on civil construction cases. The job title would be "civil engineering researcher."

milo

Guest,

I applaud your effort to ask the question here on CR4. I hope you are also talking to EVERYONE you have ever met. They are your best resource for understanding your strengths and weaknesses AND connecting you to opportunities. If you are serious about moving out of 'lower grade employment' that you have been doing for 20 years, you may also want to work with them and a career counselor (or someone successful and objective whom you trust completely) so that you can improve your ability to speak about yourself, your goals and dreams and the strengths that you bring to a new employer involved in important work.

While you have not shared your location, others have already suggested India (especially Bangalore) and Houston, Texas. I would also suggest Dubai as I understand there is an enormous amount of construction underway there and that, like Houston, the work will not end any time soon. Certainly any major city in China has major programs underway, too.

What do others have to say on this subject? If you did not have family commitments and other personal reasons to stay in a particular area, where is the greatest opportunity for an experienced civil engineer? Certainly, there is opportunity worldwide but there must be particular places where the streets must appear to be paved with gold.

How about dice.com or asce.org?

Look at a large company like Parsons, URS or CH2M Hill. These companies are always hiring public sector people because of the potential to help with marketing efforts to public works and planning departments, especially now that housing development has declined so much lately. Basically your contacts and knowledge of how public sector works is viewed as a resources to the marketting efforts of these companies. As your resume builds you can become a private consultant to such companies. If you are highly specialized and have a high degree of training in a specialty that has some demand in your area, you can frequently go straight to private consultant (this can be expensive and risky).

Please read other posts and original question carefully before posting a reply which ignores all prior information.

The given facts "graduate civil engineer working in public sector department in lower grade " contrasts starkly with your advice "If you are highly specialized and have a high degree of training in a specialty that has some demand in your area..." If he was highly specialized and had a high degree of training in a high demand specialty, he wouldn't be unpromotable.

Duhh uhh. Try for understanding first.

20 year public service is not same as entrepeneureal skill sets. public service unlikely to succeed as entrepeneur.

DO please read and try to understand original question and prior posts.

milo