Architects and civil engineers! Please help me choose which course to do

DatArcher

I have just started college today and I am torn between which course to do. I accepted an offer that I made for the architecture course in the college that I'm attending but even before the semester started, I was changing to the civil engineering already. I've been told that the civil engineering is a "better" course and to maybe stay away for architecture as it can be dodgy field.

Some of the things that put me off the architecture course: -It is a very office intensive job obviously which I'm not saying that that bothers me a lot but I would prefer to be outside or onsite.

-But the biggest thing that put me off was when my brother (a carpenter/joiner that works as a carpenter onsite) told me that the civil engineer and the architect work together a lot doing similar things but the architect was being paid 2/3 of the pay that the civil engineer was being paid and the fact that In Ireland, it can take up to and over 6 or 7 years of even more to become a fully qualified architect, plus having to make name for yourself along the way. I'm not saying that money is every thing but that just scares me for some reason. Anyways, what I think I'm meaning to ask is, Is it difficult to start off a successful career as an architect? I know that it won't be easy but is it worth the work to train for 7 or 8 years? And is there good employment for architects? I know that architects will always be needed but like, is it very demanding or stressful?

At the open days for the college I went to the architecture course talk and I have to say, I really enjoyed the talk and I really enjoy admiring well designed houses and buildings that I see dotted about the place, so I think I definitely have a passion for architecture. The few weeks after I finished my secondary school exams ( high school exams), I was convinced to do the civil engineering by a number of people but even after only attending the 2 hour induction class today, I'm already not liking it but I think I can get to like it. My dad knows one of the architecture lecturers in the college who he was contacting about changing my course from the architecture to the civil and even he said, that it be a better decision to do the civil engineering over the architecture.

So I have, as I said changed to the civil engineering from architecture even before taking a single architecture class let alone the one one civil engineering introduction class that I took. But I'm wondering is it the right choice? Any views would be great, especially from Irish civil engineers or architects, but as I said, any views would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time for reading!!

sydthebeat

the aptitude youd need for both courses are extremely different... it would be quite strange that anyone would have the personal aptitudes to be a good architect AND a good civil engineer at the same time.

Architecture is very 'design' orientated. Artistic and aesthetically minded traits suit this.
Problems are overcome by expressing creativity and pushing the boundaries beyond accepted norms.

Civil engineering is very 'mathematically' orientated. Practical and technical traits suit this.
Problems are broken down to be resolved in the best reasonable manner.

before anyone bites my head off that "architects can be technical" and "engineers can be creative" .. i totally agree. they are both part of the built environment so there are obvious cross overs.

BryanF

Op how's your maths?
A Civil eng's IMHO (as an arch tech) can move into project management 'site based roles' and they do seem to diversify into other fields more often than Archs. Archs get to site as well, but the percentage of concepts/design projects that make it to site, can dictate this - unless you're in a large company and seek out those roles- which is possible. But is this simply because archs just don't want to change from their chosen profession, perhaps they enjoy what they do?

DatArcher

BryanF wrote: »

Op how's your maths?
A Civil eng's IMHO (as an arch tech) can move into project management 'site based roles' and they do seem to diversify into other fields more often than Archs. Archs get to site as well, but the percentage of concepts/design projects that make it to site, can dictate this - unless you're in a large company and seek out those roles- which is possible. But is this simply because archs just don't want to change from their chosen profession, perhaps they enjoy what they do?

Em, my maths isn't to bad, I think. I did ordinary maths for leaving cert and got a b2. And the only time I really struggled at maths was when I wouldn't take the time to actually sit down and learn/figure it out

Metric Tensor

Hi OP

I'd say the Architect being paid significantly less than the Civil Engineer is a rarity in Ireland. Based on anecdotal evidence architects at a similar point in their career to engineers earn slightly more. (However, many engineers branch off into potentially more lucrative fields such as contracting, etc. - as pointed out ByranF).

I'm a Civil Engineer and I was lucky to be born with a talent for maths so I never found it difficult but a college degree in engineering will be a struggle unless you are towards the upper end of the population in terms of mathematical ability. (In Ireland you can't get direct entry into a university civil engineering degree without honours maths - there are ways around this, special exams, IT courses, etc - but it will give you an idea of what is expected.) P.S. - OP - just to add that after college as a Civil Engineer there is no doubt that you could position yourself in a job where the mathematical content is not too taxing - can't avoid it in college though.

Calahonda52

OP:
Post a link to the two courses that, as the song says, has you torn between two lovers.

The language is important here so to best help you we need to see the two courses as an B2 at OL in LC maths is not the best set of clubs to have in the bag but it may be enough.

having said that, a lot of things are possible iff you put your mind to it.

In passing, this bothers me:

but like, is it very demanding or stressful?

Why do you ask?
here you are, on the cusp of a career and you are already influenced by anecdotal evidence of rates of pay on 1, repeat, 1 site and concerns about demanding and stressful jobs.

In my experience, if it was not not very demanding and sometimes stressful then it quickly became a crap job with near to zero job satisfaction.
This leads to the question: which one do u prefer.?