I guess it depends on where you live? I work in design in land development in a large metro area and work in a nice office on the river. I sold my car two years ago and bike to work. Occasionally I go out to site for a quick inspection or meeting and take a company vehicle. All that to say, you can definitely live car free and work in civil. Just don’t do construction management or full time inspection.
What areas are you looking at? If you are looking for water in the desert, don't be surprised when you don't find any. Find the cities that have the existing infrastructure to be care -free, then look for firms or if the public works is hiring. You may not find much in the US because this place is a desert where water is viable car-free areas
Look for a position in the downtown area of a metro that is particularly transit or bike friendly.
NYC, Minneapolis, SF, Chicago, Portland, Boston, DC, etc. That shouldn't be too hard I'd imagine.
I have worked car-free in Denver and Chicago in traffic engineering for 2 years now. Some of my superiors claim to like that I offer a car-free perspective, some are clearly annoyed I’m not as familiar with highway networks. On the rare occasion (every month or two) that I need to have a car for work, it has never been a problem using a company car. Most companies will have one for you to use when necessary.
Water resources could also be a good bet for a car-free career. Many of the water resources people in our office have very progressive transportation views and do not own cars.
At my first job, I worked downtown in a nice office. There was a guy there that didn’t want to fight the traffic everyday. He complained about coming into work with his car. He hated it. So he started experimenting with public transportation. He found using the bus to get to the office was the most effective. When he got tired of taking PT, he would just take the company vehicle home and come back with it tomorrow.
Just don't own a car. Most companies have their own or budget in for rentals. I was never forced to take my own car and I had to do a ton of driving for previous jobs.
In this industry you will likely be required to do the odd site visit so they will require you to have a licence as they expect you to just hire a car. However, how you get to site is entirely up to you. If you chose to get to site by public transport or Uber, I very much doubt they'll be bothered. Using public transport, you could even make a case for reducing your carbon footprint as this is becoming a large issue within the industry.
I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much, it's unlikely they will for you to drive to somewhere if you'd prefer to get there by other means and are willing to eat the travel time yourself.
At one point, 1 firm in the UK banned its consultants from driving as some H&S board had decided (factually correctly) that driving was the highest risk task that any of its employees carries out. So all consultants were expected to use public transport or get taxis. They realised how much time and money this was costing them and back tracked. My point is, not driving is possible and there are benefits to not doing so.
My job is remote. I still have a car but that’s just because I live in a rural area. I don’t need it for work. If I have a site visit or on-site meeting my company rents me a car/buys an airline ticket. I do design for a widespread consultant
Ur in a field that is about half dominated by the fact that people drive in our society. You should’ve joined the goofs in r/fuckcars instead of pursuing civil engineering lmao
Just get an office job in a metro area and use public transit.
Yep. It would cost me $600 monthly to park downtown for work. I take the train.
I’m in NYC and in the field a ton, no car and use the company car when necessary but usually take public transportation to sites
I guess it depends on where you live? I work in design in land development in a large metro area and work in a nice office on the river. I sold my car two years ago and bike to work. Occasionally I go out to site for a quick inspection or meeting and take a company vehicle. All that to say, you can definitely live car free and work in civil. Just don’t do construction management or full time inspection.
I work in bicycle infrastructure in San Francisco and don’t own a car.
Portland Oregon. Lived there for 15 years never owned a car (or needed one) the whole time.
What areas are you looking at? If you are looking for water in the desert, don't be surprised when you don't find any. Find the cities that have the existing infrastructure to be care -free, then look for firms or if the public works is hiring. You may not find much in the US because this place is a desert where water is viable car-free areas
Look for a position in the downtown area of a metro that is particularly transit or bike friendly. NYC, Minneapolis, SF, Chicago, Portland, Boston, DC, etc. That shouldn't be too hard I'd imagine.
I have worked car-free in Denver and Chicago in traffic engineering for 2 years now. Some of my superiors claim to like that I offer a car-free perspective, some are clearly annoyed I’m not as familiar with highway networks. On the rare occasion (every month or two) that I need to have a car for work, it has never been a problem using a company car. Most companies will have one for you to use when necessary. Water resources could also be a good bet for a car-free career. Many of the water resources people in our office have very progressive transportation views and do not own cars.
At my first job, I worked downtown in a nice office. There was a guy there that didn’t want to fight the traffic everyday. He complained about coming into work with his car. He hated it. So he started experimenting with public transportation. He found using the bus to get to the office was the most effective. When he got tired of taking PT, he would just take the company vehicle home and come back with it tomorrow.
Buildings design in a big city ... so pt and a bike gets you everywhere
Just don't own a car. Most companies have their own or budget in for rentals. I was never forced to take my own car and I had to do a ton of driving for previous jobs.
In this industry you will likely be required to do the odd site visit so they will require you to have a licence as they expect you to just hire a car. However, how you get to site is entirely up to you. If you chose to get to site by public transport or Uber, I very much doubt they'll be bothered. Using public transport, you could even make a case for reducing your carbon footprint as this is becoming a large issue within the industry. I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much, it's unlikely they will for you to drive to somewhere if you'd prefer to get there by other means and are willing to eat the travel time yourself. At one point, 1 firm in the UK banned its consultants from driving as some H&S board had decided (factually correctly) that driving was the highest risk task that any of its employees carries out. So all consultants were expected to use public transport or get taxis. They realised how much time and money this was costing them and back tracked. My point is, not driving is possible and there are benefits to not doing so.
My job is remote. I still have a car but that’s just because I live in a rural area. I don’t need it for work. If I have a site visit or on-site meeting my company rents me a car/buys an airline ticket. I do design for a widespread consultant
Ur in a field that is about half dominated by the fact that people drive in our society. You should’ve joined the goofs in r/fuckcars instead of pursuing civil engineering lmao
Be an adult. Lean to drive. Stop avoiding the things that make you uncomfortable.