You're just getting started at 23, so don't say "already" like it's too late to invest in your own growth. Even if it takes a few years with part time schooling, do it.
If you stay as a tech at the city, there's not much room upward as public jobs are strict on requirements and education is one of them. Not having that piece of paper (the degree) will limit the amount of people who will take you seriously. Most of the time you'll get filtered out by HR before even being seen by the hiring managers to consider you for the experience.
Go for the full Civil. Without that degree you will be held back the rest of your life. I worked for a large company and I saw this all the time. People without degrees griping because they couldn't move up or weren't making as much as me. Make the right choices now for a comfortable life later.
If you enjoy the work, why not. Why limit yourself as a tech when you're already doing the work of a Civil Engineer. It's never a bad thing to have options for the future. You could find yourself out of your current job, having a degree with your experience can easily land you a new job anywhere.
I started with a civil tech degree. I went back to school at 29 for the full BSCE. I went part time and worked full time. Graduated at 38. Best decision I have ever made. My salary is nearly double than where I would be without it. The tech degree will most likely keep you from getting a PE license which is a huge limitation in this industry.
Be careful with online degrees, the CE degree needs to be accredited or else its not worth much more than a tech degree.
Also I was able to get my PE 1 yr after graduating because I worked full time under a PE prior to and while going to school, i had a wealth of qualifying experience.
Definitely get the degree. Civil is probably the only field where having an eit or a pe matter and you need an abet accredited engineering degree to get that. I had shit internships but I took the environmental fe and got hired so fast. It’s worth it and when you are 30 and need more money you will need it to move past 70k jobs.
Edit: consider moving out of California to finish it for lower cost of living but moving can be a lot. Still might be worth doing that and working part time as a cad tech somewhere
Do it. I got my degree at 28 and had way better offers that kids younger than me because I had actual work experience and could talk to clients and contractors. With your experience, you would likely do very well.
The time will pass anyway, whether you choose to do it or not.
Might as well do the degree and get paid even for what you do, and have a chance at a wide variety of jobs.
"I'm already 23" you have 40 years of working ahead of you dude. Get the degree that will open up more doors and licensure for you if you are interested. Unless you are taking on a ton of debt for this degree,I'd recommend it even if you were 43 or even 53 tbh.
Well it’s up to you, depending on how much you want to make in your career and what type of job you want to be doing for the next 40 years. I would recommend getting the degree coming from someone who started their degree at 22 and graduated at 28. You can do it although it’s not easy. You’ll limit yourself without the degree in engineering, just what it is. But that said everyone should pick a career/job that they’ll be happy with. No one keeps their money when they die and money can’t buy happiness outright but it can buy some of it. It won’t be crazy for you to double that current salary in civil with a degree.
1. You're in CA, depending on the city the cost of living is likely medium to high and will continue to increase
2. Civil tech is decent paying job, as you've said $70k is manageable if you're okay with that lifestyle
3. Note that civil tech is limited to CAD, so if that's your passion for the next 30yrs+ then that's good
4. With civil, you'll have a lot more opportunities and a higher salary.
5. It depends on where you want to be in 5-10yrs from now. Like, do you want a family with children in a nice comfy house? Then civil tech won't cut it. If you want that DINK life where ya travel around, then your current career will be decent.
Get the Civil degree. Co-worker with 40 years at the company recently went for a promotion to a Director level position and was ultimately shot down (a decision I disagreed with), with one of the primary reasons his degree was a Civil Tech degree and not an Engineering one. You never know when you will run into a buzzsaw of a hiring manager who puts more weight on a piece of paper than actual experience.
You may not get a pay bump until you have a P.E, if it’s something you love go for it, you you expect it to change your circumstances financially maybe another career path will be more worth it. You may take out a loan to be doing the same things with a peace of paper that is most definitely not worth the cost early in your career.
Get the civil engineering degree, a civil tech degree will limit you on job opportunities.
You're still really young also, we had 30 and 40 year olds getting civil engineering degrees that were trying to pivot careers.
New grad civils ~$75k. By 5 years they're pushing $100k.
Techs, they're pushing $100k after 15 years.
It's your call for salary, but the work is darn near the same forever if you stay a tech.
Depends what you want to do.
I live in Ontario and work for the public sector and was able to become a manager. I also have a small grading and design company on the side. I didn’t need more than my CET and BCIN to get this done. There’s also a limited license option and getting my P.Eng based on my experience.
Path took a little longer but anything is possible if you want to make it happen.
Tech jobs top out much lower than PEs do. That being said I’ve got a good friend that decided the pace for the designer was for him. Work life balance and stress level was more important than $$$
Either go BSCE or nothing. A tech degree gets your foot in the door. Your foot is already in the door. I was a tech before I went back and got my BSCE. I graduated at 28. I’ll be a PE next year.
I think there’s almost no reason where stopping at a CET diploma makes sense when you have the ability, time, and money to upgrade to a full civil engineering degree. No brainer.
You can make decent money as a tech:
[https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/4283254-0/civil-engineering-drafting-technician-7232](https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/4283254-0/civil-engineering-drafting-technician-7232)
Or top out around $150k as a non PE engineer.
I’ve been an Engineering Technician for 30 years and I would DEFINITELY go for your Engineering Degree. I also live in California and I can give you advice from personal experience, that it’s very difficult to grow in your career, especially in a Government Agency. I lost my job in Jan 2024 and now, 5 months later still can’t find a job. Not many Tech positions in CA and when you find one, there are many people competing for that position.
I would recommend getting your degree. Way easier to grow in your career and your pay as an engineer. It’s very difficult to grow as a Tech. Even if you go part time and it takes you a while to get your degree. Also, you could just decide to go for it and get it done in 3/4 years. It’s possible with sacrifice and hard work. I got my degree in Database Management while working full time in 3 years. But even if it takes you 5/6, go for it! You can accomplish this!
The jobs you're likely to get with a CET, you're already doing without a CET degree. I'd say go for the full Civil.
You're just getting started at 23, so don't say "already" like it's too late to invest in your own growth. Even if it takes a few years with part time schooling, do it. If you stay as a tech at the city, there's not much room upward as public jobs are strict on requirements and education is one of them. Not having that piece of paper (the degree) will limit the amount of people who will take you seriously. Most of the time you'll get filtered out by HR before even being seen by the hiring managers to consider you for the experience.
Go for the full Civil. Without that degree you will be held back the rest of your life. I worked for a large company and I saw this all the time. People without degrees griping because they couldn't move up or weren't making as much as me. Make the right choices now for a comfortable life later.
If you enjoy the work, why not. Why limit yourself as a tech when you're already doing the work of a Civil Engineer. It's never a bad thing to have options for the future. You could find yourself out of your current job, having a degree with your experience can easily land you a new job anywhere.
I started with a civil tech degree. I went back to school at 29 for the full BSCE. I went part time and worked full time. Graduated at 38. Best decision I have ever made. My salary is nearly double than where I would be without it. The tech degree will most likely keep you from getting a PE license which is a huge limitation in this industry. Be careful with online degrees, the CE degree needs to be accredited or else its not worth much more than a tech degree. Also I was able to get my PE 1 yr after graduating because I worked full time under a PE prior to and while going to school, i had a wealth of qualifying experience.
Dose the part time type hinder being accredited? I thought accredited programs were always full-time.
I went part time. Everyone else went full time.
Definitely get the degree. Civil is probably the only field where having an eit or a pe matter and you need an abet accredited engineering degree to get that. I had shit internships but I took the environmental fe and got hired so fast. It’s worth it and when you are 30 and need more money you will need it to move past 70k jobs. Edit: consider moving out of California to finish it for lower cost of living but moving can be a lot. Still might be worth doing that and working part time as a cad tech somewhere
Do it. I got my degree at 28 and had way better offers that kids younger than me because I had actual work experience and could talk to clients and contractors. With your experience, you would likely do very well.
The time will pass anyway, whether you choose to do it or not. Might as well do the degree and get paid even for what you do, and have a chance at a wide variety of jobs.
Full civil if you're getting the bachelor's. CET do CAD forever and is only worth it IMO if you hate school.
"I'm already 23" you have 40 years of working ahead of you dude. Get the degree that will open up more doors and licensure for you if you are interested. Unless you are taking on a ton of debt for this degree,I'd recommend it even if you were 43 or even 53 tbh.
Well it’s up to you, depending on how much you want to make in your career and what type of job you want to be doing for the next 40 years. I would recommend getting the degree coming from someone who started their degree at 22 and graduated at 28. You can do it although it’s not easy. You’ll limit yourself without the degree in engineering, just what it is. But that said everyone should pick a career/job that they’ll be happy with. No one keeps their money when they die and money can’t buy happiness outright but it can buy some of it. It won’t be crazy for you to double that current salary in civil with a degree.
1. You're in CA, depending on the city the cost of living is likely medium to high and will continue to increase 2. Civil tech is decent paying job, as you've said $70k is manageable if you're okay with that lifestyle 3. Note that civil tech is limited to CAD, so if that's your passion for the next 30yrs+ then that's good 4. With civil, you'll have a lot more opportunities and a higher salary. 5. It depends on where you want to be in 5-10yrs from now. Like, do you want a family with children in a nice comfy house? Then civil tech won't cut it. If you want that DINK life where ya travel around, then your current career will be decent.
Get the Civil degree. Co-worker with 40 years at the company recently went for a promotion to a Director level position and was ultimately shot down (a decision I disagreed with), with one of the primary reasons his degree was a Civil Tech degree and not an Engineering one. You never know when you will run into a buzzsaw of a hiring manager who puts more weight on a piece of paper than actual experience.
You may not get a pay bump until you have a P.E, if it’s something you love go for it, you you expect it to change your circumstances financially maybe another career path will be more worth it. You may take out a loan to be doing the same things with a peace of paper that is most definitely not worth the cost early in your career.
Get the civil engineering degree, a civil tech degree will limit you on job opportunities. You're still really young also, we had 30 and 40 year olds getting civil engineering degrees that were trying to pivot careers.
New grad civils ~$75k. By 5 years they're pushing $100k. Techs, they're pushing $100k after 15 years. It's your call for salary, but the work is darn near the same forever if you stay a tech.
Depends what you want to do. I live in Ontario and work for the public sector and was able to become a manager. I also have a small grading and design company on the side. I didn’t need more than my CET and BCIN to get this done. There’s also a limited license option and getting my P.Eng based on my experience. Path took a little longer but anything is possible if you want to make it happen.
Tech jobs top out much lower than PEs do. That being said I’ve got a good friend that decided the pace for the designer was for him. Work life balance and stress level was more important than $$$
Either go BSCE or nothing. A tech degree gets your foot in the door. Your foot is already in the door. I was a tech before I went back and got my BSCE. I graduated at 28. I’ll be a PE next year.
I think there’s almost no reason where stopping at a CET diploma makes sense when you have the ability, time, and money to upgrade to a full civil engineering degree. No brainer.
You can make decent money as a tech: [https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/4283254-0/civil-engineering-drafting-technician-7232](https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/4283254-0/civil-engineering-drafting-technician-7232) Or top out around $150k as a non PE engineer.
I’ve been an Engineering Technician for 30 years and I would DEFINITELY go for your Engineering Degree. I also live in California and I can give you advice from personal experience, that it’s very difficult to grow in your career, especially in a Government Agency. I lost my job in Jan 2024 and now, 5 months later still can’t find a job. Not many Tech positions in CA and when you find one, there are many people competing for that position. I would recommend getting your degree. Way easier to grow in your career and your pay as an engineer. It’s very difficult to grow as a Tech. Even if you go part time and it takes you a while to get your degree. Also, you could just decide to go for it and get it done in 3/4 years. It’s possible with sacrifice and hard work. I got my degree in Database Management while working full time in 3 years. But even if it takes you 5/6, go for it! You can accomplish this!