Environmental Engineers

Plenty of career opportunities await candidates in the field of environmental science. One of the most important occupations is becoming environmental engineers. These professionals perform their task for controlling and preventing environmental health hazards like pollution control and waste management among others. Therefore, the environmental engineers' task is to provide solutions to the various environmental problems that we may face from time to time. The field of environmental protection or environmental management is vast and offers many an occupation and career opportunity. However, a maximum number of professionals in this field are working as either environmental scientists or environmental engineers.

While functioning to control environmental health hazards and provide solutions to these problems, an environmental engineer's career requires professionals to work in areas like pollution control, radiation protection, toxic material control, waste management, industrial hygiene, water supply etc. Since each of these occupational categories are vast even in themselves, they have been further divided into sub-categories. In terms of the type of work you do or where you join as an environmental engineer, the area provides candidates abundant career opportunities.

Besides being quite demanding, careers in environmental science also bring a feeling of being contented or realizing dreams to professionals. Working to arrive at tangible solutions to environmental problems and finding one is satisfaction in itself. Again when you see your fellow human beings getting benefited by these solutions, you feel additional satisfaction. It is really quite fulfilling when you spend your time attempting to make this world a better place to live in.

Type of Work & Location
Even when you aspire to make you career as an environmental engineer, you have a wide scope of choosing your area of specialization. Job positions for environmental engineers may include a planner, a researcher, a professor, a program manager, a designer, a pollution control facilities operator etc. Most of the time, professionals will be doing their work in laboratories, at industrial plants or in office buildings. Environment engineers may also spend hours working outdoors at construction sites to monitor on-site operations effectively.

Engineers can land jobs at consulting firms, universities, research firms, laboratory, federal/ state government agencies and other private establishments working in the field of environmental control, protection and management. On an average 75% of the time, environmental engineers will be doing their job indoors while 25% of the time, they would be performing their task outdoors. Usually, environmental engineers work the standard 40 hours a week. To meet deadlines, the engineers may need to work extra hours, depending on the establishment they work for.

Education & Training of Environmental Engineers
To make your career as environmental engineer, you need to posses a bachelor's degree in engineering. The engineering degree can be obtained in civil, mechanical, chemical and environmental science. Candidates with a master's degree in environmental science have higher potentiality in terms of landing jobs. Most of the employers give preference to such candidates. For the advancement of your career, you can also obtain a Ph.D. in environmental science. A doctoral degree in engineering is required if you aspire to be a part of environmental science research.

A solid grounding in subjects like mathematics and science is essential for a career in engineering. In addition to this, you also need to excel in humanities. Knowledge of humanities is required because you will need to interact with the society and people most of time while doing your job. Problem solving skills and excellent communication skills are a prerequisite to making a successful career in environmental science.

Employment Growth & Salary
Numerous job opportunities are available for environmental engineers. By the year 2016, around 68,000 jobs are expected for these engineers. Salary of professionals depends on the degrees they hold and the establishment they join. Those with a bachelor's degree in engineering may earn an average annual salary ranging between $36,000 and $42,000. Master degree holders' annual salary ranges between $40,000 and $45,000. Engineers with a doctoral degree in environmental science or other related field earn higher salary.