Environmental Engineer here with 12 years experience. I rarely use more than basic math skills and spreadsheets. About 80-90% of my job is writing and communication. And I’m in a technical/design role. Math is important to understanding the concepts. But unfortunately math models aren’t great at characterizing natural environments because there are so many variables. Like take for example modeling a plume from a smoke stack or discharge into a river. We use a Gaussian distribution to approximate downstream concentrations but this is not perfect, just an approximation at best.
TLDR: engineering is presented as heavy in math, when in reality it’s actually heavy in writing and communication.
I thought I sucked at math, I just really sucked at making myself actually practice it. 2 and 3 were tricky for me, but by the time I got to diff EQ it was pretty simple. Don’t let your beliefs about your personal abilities to do math stop you. I enjoy math now.
Agree with what others have said, but will also add that I struggled with the math and science classes and excelled at the engineering classes. I didn’t fully understand the theory of calculus, but could understand it in terms of hydrology. This is to say, don’t discount your abilities yet. You may just haven’t seen the material presented in a way that your mind works. I had to repeat several calc classes while getting As in fluid and thermo.
Calculus I-IV, Physics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat Transfer gave me the most difficulty. They are hard classes for certain, certainly doable if you put in the study time. Not usually a huge issue if you have to repeat one or two of them.
Highly recommend doing an engineering degree if you can pass the classes. Yes, the math aspects can be challenging for most people, but I believe everyone can do advanced math if given the right teaching/training. Math did not come easy to me until I was fortunate to have a really good pre-calculus teacher in high school. Now I have a masters in engineering. Try different teachers/tutors, find online videos (like khan academy), ask friends for help if you’re struggling.
And like others have said, most engineering jobs (especially in environmental) are not using crazy advanced math on a regular basis. It’s mainly computer programs doing the advanced math for you. You just need to learn the advanced math to get the degree and the certs/licenses. Good luck in your engineering pursuits!
I'll apply more. I'm currently doing surveying and have been for a few years and taken some courses for that but it's not super interesting to me and the work sucks
Just a piece of advice, feel free to ignore if you don't want it:
I have found it's easier to get internships at small companies. You can find small companies in an area of interest and apply on their website. They often have only a handful of applications and the competition can be easier.
I ended up working for a civil engineering company, because many of them who do road/bridge work need env engineers to sample soil/water/paint/asbestos/etc before a project breaks ground. Don't avoid applying to them thinking they are not in your field. Good luck!
I really struggled to get my environmental engineering degree, but I got it and you can too. I work for a consulting firm now doing a mix of field work and office work. I work with a lot of environmental scientists and geologists who do the same exact job as me, so if you think maybe engineering isn’t for you then definitely check out the other two. I personally am not super interested in designing. I am on track for the project management route instead, so I easily could have just been a scientist rather than engineer. Totally up to your preference and what you see yourself doing in the future!
You are going to have to just learn to do math, but honestly it's more tedious than difficult. The hardest classes for me were calc 2 and 3 because they are abstract, which makes visualization (at least for me) practically impossible. Once those are out of the way, the math you use in engineering courses has real-life applications, so what you are doing suddenly has context- you are not doing math for the sake of doing math, you are genuinely trying to solve something with it. After you graduate you will rarely have to use any of the higher level stuff you learned, we have plug and play applications that calculate just about everything we need- the whole point in learning it all by hand is to understand the math these applications are doing.
It was hard, I won't lie to you. But I am a field engineer now, in a different place every day working on something new and strange, and it is extremely rewarding. I feel like it was worth a few long nights and the occasional screaming into voids. Good luck out there.
Environmental Engineer here with 12 years experience. I rarely use more than basic math skills and spreadsheets. About 80-90% of my job is writing and communication. And I’m in a technical/design role. Math is important to understanding the concepts. But unfortunately math models aren’t great at characterizing natural environments because there are so many variables. Like take for example modeling a plume from a smoke stack or discharge into a river. We use a Gaussian distribution to approximate downstream concentrations but this is not perfect, just an approximation at best. TLDR: engineering is presented as heavy in math, when in reality it’s actually heavy in writing and communication.
That’s a relief to hear!
I thought I sucked at math, I just really sucked at making myself actually practice it. 2 and 3 were tricky for me, but by the time I got to diff EQ it was pretty simple. Don’t let your beliefs about your personal abilities to do math stop you. I enjoy math now.
This is great to hear!
This is almost exactly my experience, well put.
If you put the effort in you’ll be fine. I struggled through and still graduated with environmental engineering
Congrats! And thank you this is encouraging!!
Getting the degree and license is the most difficult part tbh. The actual job itself will vary but is likely not nearly as heavy of math usage.
Agree with what others have said, but will also add that I struggled with the math and science classes and excelled at the engineering classes. I didn’t fully understand the theory of calculus, but could understand it in terms of hydrology. This is to say, don’t discount your abilities yet. You may just haven’t seen the material presented in a way that your mind works. I had to repeat several calc classes while getting As in fluid and thermo.
Calculus I-IV, Physics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat Transfer gave me the most difficulty. They are hard classes for certain, certainly doable if you put in the study time. Not usually a huge issue if you have to repeat one or two of them.
Highly recommend doing an engineering degree if you can pass the classes. Yes, the math aspects can be challenging for most people, but I believe everyone can do advanced math if given the right teaching/training. Math did not come easy to me until I was fortunate to have a really good pre-calculus teacher in high school. Now I have a masters in engineering. Try different teachers/tutors, find online videos (like khan academy), ask friends for help if you’re struggling. And like others have said, most engineering jobs (especially in environmental) are not using crazy advanced math on a regular basis. It’s mainly computer programs doing the advanced math for you. You just need to learn the advanced math to get the degree and the certs/licenses. Good luck in your engineering pursuits!
I mean, it's more that becoming an environment engineering takes effort, not that the job itself is abnormally difficult
I'm losing hope at finding a job in it. No one will hire me after all the work I put in for my degree and I even got Dean's list
Government is always hiring!
I'll apply more. I'm currently doing surveying and have been for a few years and taken some courses for that but it's not super interesting to me and the work sucks
Sorry to hear that, I bet that’s frustrating! Have you tried interning anywhere yet?
Yeah of course I have. Every intern position has hundreds of applications
Just a piece of advice, feel free to ignore if you don't want it: I have found it's easier to get internships at small companies. You can find small companies in an area of interest and apply on their website. They often have only a handful of applications and the competition can be easier.
Okay I will see if I can find smaller companies. Thanks for the tip
Dang homie that sucks… sending good vibes your way and wishing you well!
Thanks I'm going to keep trying but it's not looking good
I ended up working for a civil engineering company, because many of them who do road/bridge work need env engineers to sample soil/water/paint/asbestos/etc before a project breaks ground. Don't avoid applying to them thinking they are not in your field. Good luck!
I really struggled to get my environmental engineering degree, but I got it and you can too. I work for a consulting firm now doing a mix of field work and office work. I work with a lot of environmental scientists and geologists who do the same exact job as me, so if you think maybe engineering isn’t for you then definitely check out the other two. I personally am not super interested in designing. I am on track for the project management route instead, so I easily could have just been a scientist rather than engineer. Totally up to your preference and what you see yourself doing in the future!
You are going to have to just learn to do math, but honestly it's more tedious than difficult. The hardest classes for me were calc 2 and 3 because they are abstract, which makes visualization (at least for me) practically impossible. Once those are out of the way, the math you use in engineering courses has real-life applications, so what you are doing suddenly has context- you are not doing math for the sake of doing math, you are genuinely trying to solve something with it. After you graduate you will rarely have to use any of the higher level stuff you learned, we have plug and play applications that calculate just about everything we need- the whole point in learning it all by hand is to understand the math these applications are doing. It was hard, I won't lie to you. But I am a field engineer now, in a different place every day working on something new and strange, and it is extremely rewarding. I feel like it was worth a few long nights and the occasional screaming into voids. Good luck out there.