How To Become A Civil Engineer's Aide: What It Is and Career Path

What is a civil engineer's aide and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Karen Panetta Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a civil engineer's aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.15 an hour? That's $83,509 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 22,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a civil engineer's aide?

Karen Panetta Ph.D.

Dean of Graduate Education, School of Engineering, Tufts University

This is a different generation of graduates, and many employers are going to want to know how you dealt with and responded to the COVID crisis. The response to this tells so much about an individual's ability to deal with and overcome adversity. They seek innovative, upbeat, and definite answers that show that students are prepared for anything and will be resourceful.

They are also looking to see what personal actions and community involvement students participated in. For instance, online tutoring for kids whose parents needed help homeschooling their kids while they worked, or using their engineering skills to 3D print PPE for local nursing homes and other at-risk populations.

Every engineering student comes out with technical skills, but the ones that used them, and showed their compassion for humanity, will be the ones that companies will want to hire.

ScoreCivil Engineer's AideUS Average

Salary

6.5

Avg. Salary $83,509

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 11.32%

Black or African American 3.94%

Hispanic or Latino 11.54%

Unknown 4.68%

White 68.21%

Gender

female 14.12%

male 85.88%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a civil engineer's aide

Explore civil engineer's aide education requirements

Most common civil engineer's aide degrees

Bachelor's

73.8 %

Associate

10.8 %

Master's

7.7 %

Start to develop specific civil engineer's aide skills

Skills	Percentages
Civil 3D	39.72%
Auto CAD	23.18%
Construction Projects	17.99%
GIS	5.41%
Construction Sites	5.17%

Complete relevant civil engineer's aide training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New civil engineers's aide learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a civil engineer's aide based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real civil engineer's aide resumes.

Research civil engineer's aide duties and responsibilities

Manage production of full sets of contract documents (grading, drainage, water, sewer, paving and SWPPP).
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection

Apply for civil engineer's aide jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a civil engineer's aide job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do civil engineers's aide rate their job?

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Civil engineer's aide reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020

Pros

I Wana build my career in airport engineering

Cons

Less money in this civil engineering works

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019