Environmental Engineers
Environmental Engineers is the O*NET name for people who research, design, plan, or perform engineering duties in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental hazards using various engineering disciplines. The skills rated most useful are writing, speaking, and reading comprehension. The job can ask you to design, or supervise the design of, systems, processes, or equipment for control, management, or remediation of water, air, or soil quality. The strongest interest signal is Investigative (6.1 of 7), then Realistic (5.2) and Conventional, which gives it the code IRC. Getting in usually takes a bachelor’s degree plus a period of work experience, a level O*NET calls considerable preparation. If you want research, analysis and working through hard problems, keep it on your list. If you need creative work with room for original expression, it may feel thin.
What they do
Research, design, plan, or perform engineering duties in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental hazards using various engineering disciplines. Work may include waste treatment, site remediation, or pollution control technology.
Main tasks
- Design, or supervise the design of, systems, processes, or equipment for control, management, or remediation of water, air, or soil quality.
- Assess the existing or potential environmental impact of land use projects on air, water, or land.
- Collaborate with environmental scientists, planners, hazardous waste technicians, engineers, experts in law or business, or other specialists to address environmental problems.
- Advise corporations or government agencies of procedures to follow in cleaning up contaminated sites to protect people and the environment.
- Develop proposed project objectives and targets and report to management on progress in attaining them.
- Monitor progress of environmental improvement programs.
Skills
- Writing
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
Who this career fits
May suit you if
- You enjoy working out why something happens, not just what happened.
- You like ending the day with a physical result you can point to.
- You are ready to spend around four years on a degree, then build experience.
- You are comfortable relying on writing and speaking.
May not suit you if
- You lose interest when a job asks for long stretches of analysis.
- You need creative expression to be a big part of your day. Artistic rates 2.0 out of 7 here.
- You want to avoid a four-year degree or its equivalent.
Interest profile
O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code IRC takes the three highest, and Investigative comes first here.
Preparation
Considerable preparation. Most jobs here ask for a bachelor’s degree, and employers usually expect a few years of related experience as well.
Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Bachelor's Degree. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.
Also called
- Air Pollution Control Engineer
- Engineer
- Engineering Consultant
- Environmental Analyst
- Environmental Consultant
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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.