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You wouldn't believe the number of jobs that require ACI or NICET that go unfilled because nobody is qualified.
Imagine two people one is a college graduate with a degree in civil engineering the other is a high school graduate but with ACI and NICET II and III certification in Construction Materials Testing in the areas of Asphalt, Concrete and Soils.
Who is going to have the easier time finding a job and who will most likely earn more money? From what I have seen it won't be the college graduate. Whoa, I am not knocking college because if you had an engineering degree, civil for example, that would be the holy grail for companies looking and I have no doubt you'd get three solid offers a day for a week if you lived in the north east. All these job offers would be $60k to $100k with a full range of benefits. A civil engineer starting out doesn't make that much.
In my search I found very few schools that offer courses but they are out there. Two years at one will get you am entry Level I certification (Level II will follow three months after starting your first job) and finding jobs would be easy.
Today I don't know how anyone would get into the work besides attending a school specifically geared to it (you want to see ACI and NICET printed in the curriculum which is easier said than done) or do it the old fashioned way which is no longer done.
Thats exactly what I'm gunning for. My teacher told me about the ACI certification and how attending some colleges doesn't count towards that cerrtification.
If you want to make good money doing 'communications' kind of work, get a technical degree in undergrad (aka, mechanical engineering) then get an MBA at a high ranked school in marketing/communication. That is a powerhouse combo.
Out of curiosity I ordered the NICET directory for ENGINEERING TECHNICIANS CERTIFIED IN CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS TESTING in the subfields of Asphalt, Concrete & Soils.
In New York State there are:
NICET IV 11
NICET III 22
NICET II 66
NICET I 71
For a total of 170 certified individuals living in the state. That is the total applicant pool for the state and Level I is very entry level.
Performs construction inspection services on a highway and bridge project in New York. Responsibilities may include inspection of truck load tickets for aggregate, asphalt or concrete, materials sampling, and/or contract administrative duties including field measurement of pay item quantities.
Technical Responsibilities:Reads, interprets and explains construction plans, contract provisions and specifications.Documentation
Responsibilitiesocuments pertinent field and office related activities.
Minimum Requirements:High School Diploma or equivalent and a minimum of 2 years experience with highway and/or bridge projects. NICET II certification is required. Must be able to walk, stand, and climb outdoors at least 8 hours per day in construction environment and in all climate conditions. Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs. Must have and maintain valid driver's license. Required to convey information clearly and effectively through formal and informal documents. H1B sponsorship not available at this time.
WSAoffers an excellent compensation and benefits package including competitive compensation, health, dental, vision, 401k, paid time off, ESOP, and more.
If every person in the state who possessed the minimum qualification applied they would receive 99 applicants. Seeing as how everyone that is qualified is most likely working I doubt they will receive 3 and they might be lucky to get 1.
Browsing through the net I find about 50 job openings like this available in New York State at this time.
NICET Level IV Highway Construction or Professional Engineer
* Positions available in New York and New Jersey
Specific Requirements: 15 years of experience in surface transportation construction and inspection, with 10 years as a Resident Engineer, on toll roads and/or high-volume arterial highways
A minimum of 2 projects in the capacity as Resident Engineer that range between $30 million and $80 million in construction value, Candidates must also possess good management skills and demonstrate experience with managing inspection staff on a project.
Your competition in New York would be 11 people if everyone who fit the qualifications applied. That's a line maybe stretching from the front door to the sidewalk if the distance was short.
There are jobs available in New Jersey as well but New Jersey has only one Level IV.
With 15 years (putting someone who started young in their mid 30's) it would be easy having several $30 million to $80 million projects under your belt.
While salary isn't mentioned I think we can be sure these are six figure jobs.
I am in this boat and if I applied for a job and found out there were two or three other applicants it would freak me out because I've never had competition. Actually I once did apply for a job that had two qualified applicants but the company ended up hiring both of us so that wasn't so bad.
Out of curiosity I ordered the NICET directory for ENGINEERING TECHNICIANS CERTIFIED IN CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS TESTING in the subfields of Asphalt, Concrete & Soils.
In New York State there are:
NICET IV 11
NICET III 22
NICET II 66
NICET I 71
For a total of 170 certified individuals living in the state. That is the total applicant pool for the state and Level I is very entry level.
If every person in the state who possessed the minimum qualification applied they would receive 99 applicants. Seeing as how everyone that is qualified is most likely working I doubt they will receive 3 and they might be lucky to get 1.
Browsing through the net I find about 50 job openings like this available in New York State at this time.
Your competition in New York would be 11 people if everyone who fit the qualifications applied. That's a line maybe stretching from the front door to the sidewalk if the distance was short.
There are jobs available in New Jersey as well but New Jersey has only one Level IV.
With 15 years (putting someone who started young in their mid 30's) it would be easy having several $30 million to $80 million projects under your belt.
While salary isn't mentioned I think we can be sure these are six figure jobs.
I am in this boat and if I applied for a job and found out there were two or three other applicants it would freak me out because I've never had competition. Actually I once did apply for a job that had two qualified applicants but the company ended up hiring both of us so that wasn't so bad.
I didn't mean for you to go off in a tangeant but I was actually interested in automotive engineering under mechanical engineering.
I'm working my way up the automotive tech tree now. I graduate next month and I'm looking for some shops to work for to my hands on craft while I go get the theory from school.
The information your provided is extremely useful thoung and I just may to have fall back on construction type engineering if no income is available..
I didn't mean for you to go off in a tangeant but I was actually interested in automotive engineering under mechanical engineering.
I'm working my way up the automotive tech tree now. I graduate next month and I'm looking for some shops to work for to my hands on craft while I go get the theory from school.
The information your provided is extremely useful thoung and I just may to have fall back on construction type engineering if no income is available..
No problem. I posted so maybe someone else might read it and think "I didn't know such an animal even existed".
Out of curiosity I didn a count of how many concrete certificate holders there are in the united states and this is what I got.
Level I981
Level II1,251
Level III405 Level IV 213
Total 2,850
Retired 31 (No longer active but still included in the counts above)
If you measure the jobs available (google "nicet aci jobs") and look at what is offered that requires nicet certification with aci I think we can conclude the field is not oversaturated.
College is not required yet but I can see it coming.
Take the people looking for a Level IV in New York. There's a total of 213 qualified applicants in the United states and about 15 of those are officially on retired status. I wouldn't look for a long line of applicants.
So I got into an arguement with my friend about the two different career paths.
Who makes more money on average and which one has more potential to make more money ?
Which degree has more job security and which one has the most diversity.(Different types of jobs you can get after you earn the degree.)
My friend told me I was stupid for choosing Mechanical engineer as a career because it fails in comparison to the demand of Mass communications.
But disregard the last statement. I was just curious what your opinions were.
Thanks.
wow. this is a bunch of badadvice.com
a mass communications degree will offer you more job opportunity and flexibility than a mechanical engineering degree for sure. comparing entry level salaries between the two is just plain dumb. what would the specialization be with the mass communications degree? public relations, marketing, journalism, radio and television production, visual graphics, social networking? mass communication is a wide open field. if you went on job boards like indeed.com and typed in communications vs. mechanical engineering, i assure you that you will see way more opportunity with a mass communication degree vs. a mechanical engineering degree. i have a buddy who graduated with a degree from a top institution in mechanical engineering who made significantly more money than i did coming out of college. guess who he's working for now? i guess that's another added value of having a communications degree. i was interested in building my own company, not working for someone else. to the op, do what you feel best serves your needs. have a plan and go for it. don't just go to school because a bunch of folks on an anonymous message board said you could make xxxx amount of money doing x and yyyy amount of doing y. you ultimately control what you are worth in this world!
So I got into an arguement with my friend about the two different career paths.
Who makes more money on average and which one has more potential to make more money ?
Which degree has more job security and which one has the most diversity.(Different types of jobs you can get after you earn the degree.)
My friend told me I was stupid for choosing Mechanical engineer as a career because it fails in comparison to the demand of Mass communications.
But disregard the last statement. I was just curious what your opinions were.
Thanks.
This types of question are hard to answer.
It depends on sector, and it depends on what expertise (if any) you do within your field or study OR
"Mass communications" is very general, and a mechanical engineer would probably earn more.
But I hate it how people get degrees for what is in demand. Really though one should estimate what will be in demand in 5-10 years, and also they should always pair their degree with something else to give them a comparative advantage, and also it's advisable to have a specializtion/concentration within one's program. That allows for one to be unique, general/versatile, and an expert depending on what the situation calls for--you cover all your bases.
"Law". = bad.
"Law" + fluent in Russian + specialization in Corporate Law = Good.
"History" = bad.
"History" + fluent in Chinese + specialization in East Asian history = Good.
A 'mass communications' degree qualifies you to work at McDonalds, where Mechanical Engineering can actually give you a real job.
Any kind of communications degree is essentially flushing tuition money down the toilet.
If it's a generic communications or public relations degree then absolutely. Those are worthless (in terms of getting a "proper" job I mean).
Otherwise, your assessment is innacurate.
The problem is too many people get generalist degrees that are unfocused. People that get generalist degrees or bland MBAs from random scools don't know what they want to do. If one doesn't know what they want to do and isn't charting a path, then it follows they'll have a rough time finding good work.
If it's a generic communications or public relations degree then absolutely. Those are worthless (in terms of getting a "proper" job I mean).
Otherwise, your assessment is innacurate.
The problem is too many people get generalist degrees that are unfocused. People that get generalist degrees or bland MBAs from random scools don't know what they want to do. If one doesn't know what they want to do and isn't charting a path, then it follows they'll have a rough time finding good work.
Communications isn't a technical skill. A person who learns an actual skill in undergrad and THEN learns the business processes which encompass it (processes of which communications is one of) is a person in high demand.
Communications isn't a technical skill. A person who learns an actual skill in undergrad and THEN learns the business processes which encompass it (processes of which communications is one of) is a person in high demand.
Do you disagree with that?
I don't. You're right.
"Communications" (by itself) isn't a technical skill. A "communications" degree (by itself) will not get a proper job.
A communications degree combined with a bonus added skill ("public relations" doesn't count) you might have picked up, and a specialization within communications is marketable. this is true of any degree though.
That's why I was saying these types of questions are hard to answer.
To answer the OP's post, though one on one, a bland engineering vs. a bland communications in terms of $$$ and jobs, then the Engineering one easy wins out. But even then, the engineer will probably be restricted to boring jobs in that field, and possibly can only really work in public sector.
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ocuments pertinent field and office related activities.
