Traffic engineer - viable career?

engineerfear1

I've been thinking of switching from the civil/structural discipline to something along the lines of traffic engineering or even urban planning. I always thought these were interesting areas and think I'd be well suited to that kind of work.

I've been working as an engineer for nearly 4 years and now I'm feeling the itch to try something different. The only fear I have is that I may not be the most employable. Are there many job prospects out there in this area?

Also, I come from a civil/structural background and only had one or two modules in college which covered this kind of topic. I assume I would need a full post graduate masters in traffic engineering or similar, or is there another way of entry?

Gumbo

Any experience/interest in Fire Safety or Fire Prevention?

godtabh

I've been working as a traffic/highways engineer for the last 4/5 years. The field is very very varied

annfield1978

Relatively busy area to get into. most small civil structural practices requires TIA, Mobility Management Plans etc to be pulled together for Planning Applications

For the Trasnport Planning roles, you would more than likely look to the likes of Systra/ Jacobs/ AECOM/ Steer Davies Gleave/ ILTP/ CH2M etc. There you would get into Micro Simulation Modelling (VISSUM) or Macro Simulations (Saturn). These companies would be planning projects such as BRT Schemes, or upgrading of Major Motorways/ Urban Junctions

annfield1978

https://www.tcd.ie/civileng/content/documents/MSc%20in%20Transport%20Engineering,%20Policy%20&%20Planning.pdf

Seems like a relevant course if looking to career change

godtabh

What is probably in vogue now is development planning engineering.

Basically a civil engineer with many hats i.e. drainage, minor structures and highways

I've done micro simulation at a basic level. Can get very specialised. To do macro right there is probably only a handful of people in Ireland who do it at a very hight level