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

What is a highway design engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Alan Hancock

As an applications programmer, you will write the code for software used in computers and other electronic devices. You will test and evaluate applications and make improvements and advancements to applications so they can be user-friendly. You will need to write and maintain programmable code outlined in technical instructions and specifications as needed by your company.

An application programmer will compile and write documentation for program development. They also identify and communicate technical problems and solutions.

To become an Applications Developer, you will need a bachelor's degree in software engineering or a related field. You will need to write software, and by all means, do consider certifications. Once you have the training and experience to be an application programmer, you can expect your average base salary to be around $66,000 a year.

What general advice would you give to a highway design engineer?

Alan Hancock

Civil Engineering Technology Instructor, Dakota County Technical College

It is a high, well-paying field that dates back at least 5,000 years to the Egyptians. It cannot be outsourced and will always, no matter what, be needed. Electricians have only been around about 120 years, and IT only about 30 years. We are proven and stable.

ScoreHighway Design EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $71,899

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 15.92%

Black or African American 3.76%

Hispanic or Latino 11.06%

Unknown 4.63%

White 64.32%

Gender

female 27.43%

male 72.57%

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 highway design engineer

Explore highway design engineer education requirements

Most common highway design engineer degrees

Bachelor's

84.8 %

Master's

7.1 %

Associate

7.1 %

Start to develop specific highway design engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Autocad	16.84%
Highway Design	16.83%
Engineering Design	15.91%
Roadway Design	12.29%
CAD	11.18%

Complete relevant highway design engineer training and internships

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

Research highway design engineer duties and responsibilities

Implement safety and quality standards to attain the ISO certification.
Design a route using AUTOCAD.
Contribute and assist in preparation of tender documents and BOQ items.
Evaluate the soil conditions from the geotechnical reports and perform foundation analysis.

Prepare your highway design engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your highway design 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 highway design 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 highway design engineer resume templates

Build a professional highway design 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 highway design engineer resume.

Apply for highway design engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a highway design engineer 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 did you land your first highway design engineer job

Rzigui Aymen

Highway Design Engineer

Highway Engineers are basically civil engineers, there is no specific academic discipline known as "Highway Engineering", it is simply a branch of civil engineering. During their time in university, civil engineering students study Concrete structures, Steel Structures, Dams, Bridges, Tunnels, Roads, Railways, Soil mechanics, Maritim constructions, etc... It is a very wide field which makes it hard for civil engineers to be experts in all of these areas. However, these students can pursue a Master's degree in one of these areas to gain more expertise in that particular field.

After graduation, fresh civil engineers decide which area they see themselves in, some of them pursue a career in structures and will have the title of "Structural Engineer", some others will pursue a career in roads and highways and will hence have the title of "Highway Engineer" or "Road Engineer", some others will pursue a career in Hydraulics and water storms and will have the title of "Drainage Engineer"

It is important also to highlight that a Highway Engineer job isn't just about designing highways, the expertise expands to all types of roads like urban roads and rural roads as well as railways and high speed railways.

a Highway Engineer is expected to work on infrastructure projects that bring value to the economy of a given country and the community living within it, some of the projects that a highway engineer can work on include but not limited to: Highways, interchanges, High Speed Rails, Public Transport Enhancement projects, Rural Roads, urban roads within a given city, parking lots, roundabouts, etc

How do highway design engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

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1 star

Highway design engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2023

Pros

It can gurantee you a good salary and if you are creative you can do many things.

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019