How To Become A Construction Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a construction engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Karen Panetta Ph.D.

If you want to take your career to new heights, you should look into becoming a construction engineer. As a construction engineer, you'll get to build upon your construction knowledge to oversee the design, planning, and implementation of large building and infrastructure projects. As part of this job, you'll be expected to develop construction plans, oversee engineering processes, draft technical support documents, and communicate with project leadership.

To guarantee successful project completion, you may need to oversee a variety of infrastructure systems, such as roads, dams, water supply systems, and utilities. You may also find yourself responsible for budgetary issues, time management, along with the oversight of the overall progress and safety of a project. In fact, your chief task as a construction engineer is to ensure the project is safe, smooth, and structurally sound.

To get into this field, you'll typically need a bachelor's degree in construction engineering or engineering. Those who wish to specialize in a specific type of construction engineering or work in an upper-level position should get a master's degree.

What general advice would you give to a construction engineer?

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.

ScoreConstruction EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.8

Avg. Salary $74,680

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 11.24%

Black or African American 4.05%

Hispanic or Latino 11.85%

Unknown 4.71%

White 67.85%

Gender

female 9.30%

male 90.70%

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 construction engineer

Explore construction engineer education requirements

Most common construction engineer degrees

Bachelor's

64.9 %

Associate

11.9 %

High School Diploma

8.9 %

Start to develop specific construction engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Tractor Trailer	17.59%
Construction Sites	16.09%
Cranes	15.06%
Bulldozers	11.29%
Grade Stakes	8.45%

Complete relevant construction engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New construction engineers 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 construction engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real construction engineer resumes.

Research construction engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage 3D BIM coordination, improving field production and reducing rework.
Manage all aspects of work packages which include subsea EPC's contractors (i.e.
Manage all trades installing formwork, concrete, interior finishes, built-up and rubber roofs, and EIFS.
Calculate sub-contractors weekly accomplish work for payroll.

Prepare your construction engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your construction engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a construction engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable construction engineer resume templates

Build a professional construction engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your construction engineer resume.