Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between highway engineers and project field engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a highway engineer and a project field engineer. Additionally, a highway engineer has an average salary of $71,538, which is higher than the $71,292 average annual salary of a project field engineer.
The top three skills for a highway engineer include autocad, highway design and civil 3d. The most important skills for a project field engineer are shop drawings, project management, and OSHA.
| Highway Engineer | Project Field Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $71,538 | $71,292 |
| Hourly rate | $34.39 | $34.27 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 24,499 | 78,589 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Highway Engineers are responsible for the design and implementation of road network projects. They are involved in road network maintenance, local road schemes designing, supervising construction teams, preparing tender contract documents, and administering risk assessments. Other duties include preparing construction cost estimates and ensuring health and safety directives are adhered to and prepare the project budget. Highway engineers also work with multi-stakeholders such as transport specialists, the public, and the client to deliver within the timeline.
Field engineers are engineering professionals who work on-site in a different setting to direct workers and report to the management about the status of different projects. These engineers are required to resolve malfunctions or other crises such as construction or machinery problems while overseeing repairs and technical improvements. They must conduct research and studies on-site and installing new systems and technology to ensure smooth operations of machinery. Field engineers must also communicate with clients to discuss and determine the needs and explain complex issues of projects.
Highway engineers and project field engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Highway Engineer | Project Field Engineer | |
| Average salary | $71,538 | $71,292 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $92,000 | Between $56,000 And $90,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Roseville, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Oklahoma |
| Best paying company | Parsons | OHL USA |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Energy |
There are a few differences between a highway engineer and a project field engineer in terms of educational background:
| Highway Engineer | Project Field Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Most common major | Civil Engineering | Civil Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Columbia University in the City of New York |
Here are the differences between highway engineers' and project field engineers' demographics:
| Highway Engineer | Project Field Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 92.9% Female, 7.1% | Male, 91.1% Female, 8.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 16.6% White, 64.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 11.2% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |