What an environmental engineer really does
You figure out what is in the soil, water, and air, design how to clean it up, and explain the risk to people who are worried about it.
FieldScience and engineering
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Considerable preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for environmental engineers, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Reviewing lab results from soil, groundwater, or air sampling and comparing them to regulatory limits
- Writing and updating investigation reports and quality assurance documents
- Planning field work, including site specific health and safety plans
- Evaluating and designing cleanup systems for contaminated sites
- Working with geologists, toxicologists, regulators, and clients on a shared problem
- Tracking budgets and progress and reporting to project managers
- Occasionally presenting findings at public meetings
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- You are responsible for keeping field crews safe around contamination, not only for the engineering. Health and safety of other workers: 38% very high responsibility, 38% high (O*NET Work Context)
- Dealing with upset people is common, because clients, neighbors, and regulators all want different things. Dealing with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous people: 50% once a month or more (O*NET Work Context)
- Most weeks run long. Duration of typical work week: 62% more than 40 hours (O*NET Work Context)
- You do get out of the office, often in bad weather, but most time is still at a desk with data and reports. Outdoors, exposed to all weather: 30% once a week or more; Spend time sitting: 62% more than half the time (O*NET Work Context)
- Phone calls are constant, with labs, drillers, regulators, and clients. Telephone conversations: 89% every day (O*NET Work Context)
How people get into it
A bachelor's degree in environmental, civil, or chemical engineering is the usual entry (62% of O*NET respondents say a bachelor's is required and 29% say a master's). New engineers take the FE exam, complete OSHA HAZWOPER training for field work, and work under a licensed PE before seeking their own license.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: The trial does not include field work: drilling oversight, collecting groundwater samples, wearing respirators and Tyvek suits, or the slow cycle of waiting weeks for lab results and months for regulator comments. It also does not cover groundwater modeling software. You act as a staff engineer working under a licensed PE, which is how the work is really supervised.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 17-2081.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.