A geotechnical engineer is a civil engineer who performs analysis and assessments on earth materials prior to construction projects. They examine soil, rocks, underground water flow, and other earth materials to determine which materials should be used in the construction. This examination also enables them to provide advice on the overall design of the structure to ensure it meets required safety and quality standards.
Geotechnical engineers work on an array of structures such as tunnels, dams, roads, railways, and bridges. They work closely with structural engineers and architects in order to efficiently execute their role. They can work in engineering firms, petroleum companies, mining companies, and construction companies. A successful geotechnical engineer should have engineering skills, project management skills, analytical skills, and communication skills.
Geotechnical engineers work full time. The role involves traveling from site to site, and so they may go beyond the 40 hours a week due to travel.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a geotechnical engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.9 an hour? That's $76,743 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 20,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many geotechnical engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed speaking skills, math skills and writing skills.
If you're interested in becoming a geotechnical engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 64.0% of geotechnical engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 24.8% of geotechnical engineers have master's degrees. Even though most geotechnical engineers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a geotechnical engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a geotechnical engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on geotechnical engineer resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a geotechnical engineer. In fact, many geotechnical engineer jobs require experience in a role such as engineering internship. Meanwhile, many geotechnical engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as project engineer or research assistant.