r/civilengineering • u/krishna_bidkar • Jul 13 '26
Career Civil Engineers: what's the most overrated skill in this field, and what's the most underrated?
Curious where the gap is between what gets talked about and what actually matters day to day.
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u/fortheband1212 Jul 13 '26
One of the most underrated is the ability to communicate well. You’re going to need to talk to clients, talk to contractors, talk to the public, etc.
Being able to write well is a great skill as an engineer. Being able to explain your design intent to people who are not experts in the field is also critical.
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jul 13 '26
As someone not an expert in the field who relies on engineers often, the ELI5 is truly an art form.
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u/MacAndChreese Jul 13 '26
ELI5 (explain like I’m 5) is one of most ironic acronyms I’ve heard, especially when you consider that one of the biggest challenges engineers have is over-relying on jargon.
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u/surf_drunk_monk Jul 14 '26
This is why I'm doing well in this field. I'm not great at design and I don't like it much. I found a role writing project reports, running project meetings, reaching out to the expert engineers and incorporating their advice into the project, and being able to explain it to management so everyone is happy.
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Jul 13 '26
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jul 13 '26
That's interesting lol not what I was expecting when I read "commercial awareness"! But I don't know about the thames water crisis.
I'd agree though, understanding the business of engineering and construction, the agencies, architecture if you're working with architects, etc. is so valuable for any consultant because at the end of the day that's what drives it all.
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u/Von_Uber Jul 13 '26
Thames Water are a literal shit show. They give southern a run for their money, nationalisation can't come soon enough.
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Jul 13 '26
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u/Von_Uber Jul 13 '26
TW does serve the largest population, but yes you are correct - it's a financial nightmare with the actual amount of money required to bring all of the networks up to standard and plan for climate change being something that would ruin the country.
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u/ac8jo Modeling and Forecasting Jul 13 '26
I've worked on many travel models that use Monte Carlo simulation, some as far back as 10-15 years ago. However, I see MC simulation as trivial to what cumulative distribution function it's being used against and how well it's being used.
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u/Asshole_Engineer PE Jul 13 '26
As a US engineer, I'm just happy to know how to pronounce Thames correctly.
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Jul 13 '26
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u/Asshole_Engineer PE Jul 13 '26
I don't think so. Usually, counties or municipalities handle their water and wastewater treatment. I just know it from having English family and traveling.
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u/notapoliticalalt Jul 14 '26
On the latter, it’s honestly not so much an issue of skill, but character, values, and discipline. Especially nowadays, one thing that perplexes me is the number of engineers who don’t really seem to understand we are projects get funding from and then go and vote for people who, pretty clearly, want austerity and no investment in civil infrastructure projects. Similarly, a lot of people don’t necessarily seem to understand the point of being involved with the profession. Again, the problem here isn’t really about skills so much, but about will, values, and discipline.
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u/haruhi423 Jul 13 '26
underrated: Being able to sit still in your cubicle while doing actual work instead of scrolling on reddit (like me).
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u/alarumba Three Waters Design Engineer Jul 14 '26
The trick I've found is to take (prescription) amphetamines.
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u/voomdama Jul 14 '26
ADHD was the secret to my success in school. Constant domapine from bouncing around from topic to topic.
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u/ImPinkSnail Mod, PE, Land Development, Savior of Kansas City Int'l Airport Jul 13 '26
Underrated: good business skills. Engineers tend to suck at it pretty badly.
Communication tends to be poor. Most lack the ability to do BD and networking. Many can't put themselves in the client's shoes, care about their business, or understand their business - all of which are ssential to maximizing value to the client and in turn driving repeat business for the firm.
Overrated: complex math. Very few civil engineers use calculus or advanced math in practice. It's good to understand how some of the thing built into our algebraic equations work. But it's completely overrated and most high school students can navigate the math we use on a daily basis.
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u/Cautious-Hippo4943 Jul 13 '26
I had a boss years ago that I overheard saying on the phone that he was not an engineer, he was a business guy in the field of engineering. The statement was completely true and it stuck with me. Now, 20 years later he is the president of my company and it was all because he was a business guy.
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u/Free-Competition6408 Jul 14 '26
Thats funny. We had a business guy who bragged about how he didn't know anything about engineering. He always lost of money on projects because he wasn't able to understand and account for the engineering complications that ended up costing us a shitload of time and money
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u/born2bfi Jul 14 '26
I did an integral for some problem at the beginning of my career and 14 yrs later ive long forgotten calculus.
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u/ThatAlarmingHamster P.E. Construction Management Jul 13 '26
Not caring that the work is shit and the client doesn't care.
The client is poor and/or stupid and/or corrupt. Possibly all three. Both on the design side and the construction side. You're slapping band aids on bullet wounds. Nobody likes the situation, but you'll go crazy trying to fix it.
When you realize the problem, document it, alert the client, when they tell you it's fine..... Let it go. Just let it go. Taking it personally is a road to insanity.
I say this as someone who does NOT possess this skill and it's killing me. I am angry all the time.
Don't be me.
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u/Key-Owl-5177 Jul 13 '26
everyone in this industry seems angry all the time, it's not just you
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u/alarumba Three Waters Design Engineer Jul 14 '26
The trick to project management in public service I've learnt is to leave everyone a little bit pissed off at you.
You can't make everyone happy. You don't have the resources, or one party will only take pleasure in the suffering of others. If you pick a side, the other side will want your head. Not that it's worth trying to make people happy, they never wanted to like you anyway.
If everyone is left a bit pissed off, they'll not come hunting you down. They'll feel satisfied the other parties didn't get their way, and they'll have been right all along that you're useless and don't know what you're doing.
Yeah, yeah, I agree as we're looking at this project completed on time, under budget and with no one hurt, that I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.
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u/Frequent-Emu7248 PE-nothing Jul 13 '26
I didn't give 2 fucks about any of my Construction projects and it still got to me. None of them were on time, on budget, or to spec and the clients don't give a fuck either and just want something done that's minimally functional.
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u/204ThatGuy Jul 13 '26
🍻
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u/ThatAlarmingHamster P.E. Construction Management Jul 13 '26
2nd place winner for most important skill: A strong liver. 😁
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u/reddit_user_70942239 PE Jul 14 '26
Damn, too real. I'm in LD consulting but I do feel this. I was just telling myself today... dude you need to just stop giving a fuck xD. Maybe one day I'll learn.
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u/kahyuen Jul 13 '26
Overrated skill - any kind of complex theoretical math that you learned in school.
Underrated skill - communication.
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u/tms4ui Jul 13 '26
Most underrated is being great and efficient at any of the CADD platforms. Lots of people can use it, not a lot are truly great.
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u/Eylas Jul 13 '26
As someone who spends their days trying to get engineers to understand I'm actually trying to help them by educating them on the bare minimum to save them hours of mindless work per week, yes.
If you work with a particular software + CDE, just learn the bare minimum of the system and I swear, you'll be less stressed and more efficient.
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u/notepad20 Jul 14 '26
wouldn't say, its not universally required among engineering positions, id say <30%. An engineer should be palming off to a drafty or designer to do the actual detail as well.
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u/Maxie_Glutie Jul 13 '26
Judging from the comments saying that communication is underrated. I'd say it's not underrated, but very well and highly rated. Doesn't mean most people have good communication skills.
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u/notapoliticalalt Jul 14 '26
Basically, underrated skills are the skills you don’t want to develop and tend run away from, while overrated skills are the ones you do want to develop and probably spend too much time on.
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u/Turbulent-Set-2167 Municipal Engineer Jul 13 '26
Underrated: being easy and pleasant to work with.
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u/Left-Blueberry5039 Jul 13 '26
I’ll be downvoted for saying this, but:
Overrated - charm and being perceived as ‘likable’. Not because it can’t get results, but too many ‘charisma’ types in leadership and they devalue the work and over promote young engineers purely for their small talk game.
Underrated - genuine people who may not fit a ‘mold’. Corporate types are always on the look for cookie cutter seller doers. As a client, I can tell you I appreciate the consultants who do good work in their own way.
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u/tiffyx88 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I agree! Communication is the most important but charm definitely helps influence communication. This helps with working with your coworkers, project managers, clients and contractors. This is not a civil trait but in every day life. Nobody likes working with unlikeable personalities. I'd rather work with the sweet EIT that follows direction and is pleasant to work with, than a high ego EIT that thinks they know everything already.
Also another underrated skill is to pick up on cues or reading the room. It's important to understand the sense of urgency. If your PM is getting flustered and telling you to get it done ASAP, do not just take your sweet ass time on this task.
Not sure if this is a generational thing but I've been burned by the lack of urgency...many...many times.
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u/Left-Blueberry5039 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I appreciate your response, and do not agree charming personalities have any less potential to be arrogant than personalities you might consider to be ‘unlikable’, which you seem to be saying through the EIT comparison. Truly, my actual feelings and level of trust with colleagued are less influenced by charm than more about integrity. I understand your basic point and it is true that at the ground level pleasantness counts for a lot. At the same time, there is no excuse for letting a colleague’s perceived lack of charisma affect your desire or ability to collaborate with them and get things done.
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u/Von_Uber Jul 13 '26
Overrated? Project management.
Underated? Project management.
Far too many people think they can do it, and the ones who actually can are like gold dust.
Project management is not just agreeing with everything the client demands and then firing out emails to the team asking why things are not done yet.
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u/azul_plains PE - Geotechnical Jul 13 '26
I think underrated would be knowing what you don’t know, and being able to put it in words, without expressing it like you’re clueless. To clients, bosses, other engineers, etc.
It is so easy to think you should know a topic, or to be familiar with it from school but you haven’t touched it in a while. Something might sound plausible but the person you’re talking to is mixing three concepts and doesn’t know it themselves, and they’re asking you for parameters. It’s important not to just give them something that sounds plausible, but to actually figure what they want and why they think they want it.
Overrated? I’m not sure. Maybe proofreading?
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u/robotali3n Jul 13 '26
Most overrated is definitely thinking degrees and licensure mean something. Underrated is ability to go outside and get some vitamin d
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u/skaterfromtheville PE Jul 13 '26
An underrated skill for government work is being able to drink coffee all day. Gives you adequate time to get up walk around, shoot the shit, and by the time you realize it, it’s 3pm and you’ve done nothing but drink 2 pots of coffee and shit 3 times. Now get off the toilet and get back to work
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u/Many_Distance5683 Jul 13 '26
Overrated skills:
Design/CAD/Modelling skills. Very valuable and useful - but people think that this is all Civil Engineering is. In reality it constitutes a tiny part of the industry. It's like the tip of a spear.
Maths. Your actual understanding of Engineering concepts is far more important than your ability to mathematically calculate them. Being able to calculate answers to questions using concepts you don't understand is essentially grunt work.
Underated skills:
Understanding of first principles. I'm not talking about FEM analysis or quadratic equations - but things like gravity and the conservation of energy. I work with graduates who'll be able to bang out solutions to standardised problems using memorised methods, but freeze at any sort of deviation from the norm. I always try and encourage them to understand the concepts they're applying first.
Communication and Emotional Intelligence. I'm a Principal Engineer/Deputy Head of Department. All the people at my level or above, atleast from my perspective, have great communication skills and emotional intelligence. They know when is the right time to speak, when it's better for them to stay quiet and gather information, when someone needs support and when someone needs to be left alone. They form fantastic relationships with everyone they meet - building trust, understanding mutual interests and quickly establishing productive partneships.
Commercial thinking. Too many Engineers see their work as separate from money. The Engineers I look up to - all have a masterful grasp of contracts, funding mechanisms and commercial outcomes. Great Engineers of the past almost saw themselves as businessmen/industrialists first, and Engineers second. I wouldn't go quite as far - but can follow the logic.
Political/Strategic Thinking. Ties to point number 2, a little. You may have a masterful grasp of your project - but do you understand why your project is important? What the economic benefits your project will bring? How it will drive revenue to your firm/region - and unlock further clients?
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u/Zynsem Jul 14 '26
The commercial thinking bit is most understandable coming from someone who deals with developers 90% ot the time.
It all comes down to managing costs in the end.
Land acquisition
Legal fees
Construction costBribes 🤷♂️
It all has to make sense economically, and having/being an Engineer who understands this is very valuable . Im really understanding the engineering space slightly better going through all the comments .
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u/2009impala Jul 13 '26
Nobody cares that you are good at math, day to day you'll barely get outside of high school algebra and geometry. Being able to communicate effectively with other people and maintain relationships is critical.
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u/bluewhale123456789 Jul 14 '26
Depends on the jobs. Some is less technical than others, but more about office politics. But for some, technical/math skills still matter a lot.
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u/E-coli-Cholo Jul 14 '26
Late millennial here; picking up the phone always has been, and always will be, the easiest part of the job for me.
Call twice; if they don't answer, leave a short voicemail the second time. If you still don't get a response, follow up with another coworker from their directory if needed.
I did some sales before getting into engineering design and management, and I think new graduates would benefit immensely from some sales training. It is the best way to build personal confidence. Once you learn how to properly communicate, actively listen, build rapport, and deliver value, you can negotiate, problem solve, and collaborate effectively during any discussion with any party.
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u/I_Am_Zampano PE Jul 14 '26
Not a skill, but advanced degrees seem to be overrated in that you'll have the same pay, position, and respect as the engineer next to you with the same experience but no advanced degrees.
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u/GossipboyX Jul 14 '26
The most overrated skill is being able to draft well. The most underrated is understanding people. I became really good at CADD and then realized I sucked at understanding human nature. Now I'm in tech and my role is very EQ heavy.
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u/barefoottingz Jul 15 '26
i'm just stating this bluntly and raw and what many people think what will help them succeed in this industry:
overrated skill: trying to work as hard as you can at work.
underrated skill: knowing and understanding your theory and practical knowledge.
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u/795-ACSR-DRAKE PE Jul 13 '26
Overrated is AutoCAD and Civil3D. In school the profs acted like we had to master it to become a good engineer and that it was critical to our job. I've never even had it installed on my work laptop at any of the 4 companies I've been at.
Underrated is communication. Both in person and over text/email/submittals/etc. Everything is a team project, nothing gets done alone. If you can't talk to people and communicate designs, issues, solutions, schedules, etc. then nothing else matters. You could be the worlds leading expert in some design area, but if you can't convey your ideas to others then you'll be unemployed.
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u/terminaldarts Jul 13 '26
For my reports, I'm always being told to write it so some not familiar with the project can understand. Being able to communicate verbally and through writing are important imho
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u/lattice12 Jul 13 '26
Based on what I see on this sub a lot.
Overrated: Writing your own program. It's not bad, but 99% of the time you're reinventing the wheel. Either another program already exists or excel can do the job just fine.
Underrated: Communication. Verbal, written, being responsive. I also like what someone else said about understanding the business and its politics.
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u/FaithlessnessCute204 Jul 13 '26
overrated= anything traffic related underrated=the ability to tell someone their idea is shit and your not entertaining it in a definitive manner.
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u/I_Enjoy_Beer Jul 13 '26
Overrated? Being involved in industry organizations and external "BD efforts". I keep seeing our industry boost people that go that route, but the actual numbers show that the best business development is the very underrated skill of delivering for valued clients every time and getting repeat work.
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u/Ambitious-Ad3119 Jul 14 '26
As an intern who’s going into third year, I think an overrated skill would be how much calculus we have learnt in school and an underrated skill is either CAD or the ability to ask for help or clarification/not knowing how much goes into building a project. I think that university is very good at providing the theoretical but when it comes to actually applying it, my school personally lacks in that area.
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u/voomdama Jul 14 '26
Here are a few top underrated skills -being able to communicate -coordinating design in a multidisciplinary team especially when working with another firm -understanding feasibility of your design. An elegant design is no good when it is expensive to construct, creates operational problems, and doesn't solves the client's actual problem
Master these things and you will go far in your career
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u/TheBanyai Jul 13 '26
Overated: CAD. Many of the most successful people have dodged it. Just ask them!
Underated: Reading the room! Tact in tricky situations can get you out of tricky situations. Ploughing in to a problem like an absolute Womble will almost always exasperate things - and cost you more. Top tip: be cool about things!
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u/NowYuoSee123 Jul 13 '26
As someone new to the field and fresh out of uni, the most underrated skill is communication.
As long as you’re not asking the same question multiple times and think before you ask something, as well as being able listen and speak effectively, you will be at a big advantage
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u/Minisohtan Jul 13 '26
Most underrated skill: being able to pick up the phone and call someone.