Civil vs. Computer Engineering: Degrees No Longer Guarantee Success

Civil or Computer Engineering: A Generation at a Crossroads

Civil engineering is no longer the ticket to the upper class it once was. Nor is computer engineering the El Dorado tech gurus promise. Available data paints a nuanced picture where choosing a degree has become a bet on the future labor market rather than a vocational decision.

The Decline of Public Works in Spain

Between 2006 and 2016, Spanish construction firms – Sacyr, ACS, FCC – secured mega-projects abroad: the Panama Canal, high-estimulante ilegal rail lines in Latin America, or highways in Eastern Europe. A newly graduated civil engineer could start earning €35,000 annually without experience, while a site foreman reached €3,000 per month. That era is over. Chinese competition and Scandinavian firms have displaced Spanish companies. Domestic public works have not recovered since the 2008 bubble burst. Now, many civil engineering graduates find work in construction execution, but with tighter salaries and less social mobility than before. The University of Granada, home to one of the historic Schools of Civil Engineering, maintains its prestige, but professional opportunities have narrowed.

Computer Engineering: Sky-High Salaries for a Minority

On the other side, computer engineering offers dizzying figures: a machine learning engineer in London can earn £130,000, a quant in finance exceeds £200,000, and Meta’s signing bonuses to poach talent from OpenAI are larger than Mbappé’s move to Real Madrid. Mediocre developers at Google or Apple earn $250,000–$300,000 annually. But that is the global market, not Spain. Here, entry-level salaries hover around €25,000–€30,000, and precariousness is real: there are testimonies of computer engineers ending up driving for Uber or chaining temporary contracts at Telefónica. The promise of foreign paychecks clashes with the difficulty of accessing those positions.

The AI Factor and Offshoring

Artificial intelligence has become the major threat to 90% of computing jobs, according to some analyses. A programmer who only dabbles in languages can be replaced by code-native AI, which also works at near-zero marginal cost. Competition from professionals in low-wage countries aggravates the risk. In contrast, civil engineering offers regulatory shelter: local regulations, geotechnical, structural, or hydraulic knowledge are difficult to offshore. A civil engineer in Spain needs to know the CTE (Technical Building Code), Eurocodes, and specific seismic standards, something a professional cannot do from India. This creates a moat that, in the short term, protects employment.

The Shift Towards Healthcare and Vocational Training

Faced with uncertainty, many parents and students are turning towards healthcare degrees (medicine, nursing) or Vocational Training (FP). Nursing, despite being extended to four years, is still seen as a safe option: guaranteed employment, decent salaries, and the possibility of passing civil service exams. FP in electricity, plumbing, or programming is also gaining trinc: the example of Karlos Arguiñano, who studied a culinary module, is used to remind us that success does not always require a university degree. The question of what to study reveals fatigue with traditional engineering fields.

Most likely, the labor market for both engineering disciplines will polarize: the best engineers – in civil or computer science – will command superstar premiums, while the base sinks into precarious or irrelevant jobs. Choosing today remains a gamble, not a certainty. And perhaps the smartest decision is not to decide: train in transversal skills, learn languages, and be willing to relocate.