Become a Traffic Engineer

Traffic engineers specialize in the design, construction, and maintenance of highways, and determine safe and effective traffic flow. They plan traffic signals, exits and entrances, and intersections. You will use the concepts and principles found in civil engineering when you learn how to become a traffic engineer.

Steps

Getting Your Education

1. Build the proper foundation in high school. For a career in traffic engineering, you’re going to need a proper mastery of algebra, logic, geometry, and statistics. You should also have decent writing skills and familiarity with computers.
2. Search ABET for the right college. ABET stands for Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. ABET is a non-profit organization that accredits colleges’ and universities’ associate, bachelor, and master's degrees programs in engineering. They hold high standards for licensure that assures students they will be learning the best and most relevant information for their fields.
   • To search for your college, visit http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx
   • U.S. News & World Report publishes a list of the best civil engineering colleges and universities every year. You can cross-reference your findings from ABET with this list to find the absolute best match. To see U.S. News & World Report’s list, visit https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/search?_sort=school-name&_sort-direction=asc and sort by “civil engineering” major.
3. Get your undergraduate degree in civil, electrical, mechanical, or chemical engineering. Further education in urban planning, geography, business management, public administration, computers, and economics could be beneficial. Graduate studies may also be useful, if you can spare the additional expense.
4. Join a student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Talk to those in the industry—students, engineers, and employers—to find out if you are a good fit for this career path. ITE has student chapters across the United States and Canada, as well as Argentina, Spain, Australia, and more. Fees tend to be nominal and vary by chapter. Membership is open to current university students of all majors.
5. Gain big data experience. Big data analytics is an emerging field that analyzes trends that appear in vast swathes of data by way of coding and algorithms, and increasingly, big data is being used to understand traffic flow patterns.
   • Familiarizing yourself with some fundamental concepts in big data analysis could make you a much more competitive candidate. Take online courses on Coursera / eDX, like this Data Science specialization from John Hopkins: https://www.coursera.org/specialization/jhudatascience/1.

Obtaining Your Licenses

1. Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam to become an engineer-in-training. In order to begin working, even as an intern, as an engineer, you need to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam.
   • This is an examination distributed by the National Council of Examiners of Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). This test is designed for recent graduates and those who are close to graduating from ABET-accredited schools. It is administered year-round by approved Pearson VUE test centers.
   • To find your nearest center, visit http://ncees.org/exams/test-center-locations/ .
2. Find a job as a Traffic Engineer in Training. Once passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, you are now eligible to work in different engineering firms and under the supervision of a professional engineer (PE). Search for a firm that specializes in traffic engineering and has plenty of room for vertical growth. Cross-check the company on sites such as Glassdoor to see how well they treat their employees and what you can expect as an employee.
   • Working in this professional environment allows you to accumulate the four years of experience required in order to get licensed as a PE.
3. Learn your state’s licensure requirement. Each state has different requirements for licensure as a professional engineer. To find out the requirements for your state, visit https://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure/licensing-boards.
4. Get licensed as a professional engineer. NCEES administers the Professional Engineer examination under a similar process as the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. The examination is tough. As of April 2017, first-time takers in the traffic engineering field had a pass rate of 68%.
   • There are different private institutes that can offer preparatory courses for the PE exam. Some names include Brightwood Engineering Education, Cognistar Engineering Exam Prep and Education, and PE Readiness Courses from MGI.

Finding Your Traffic Engineering Job

1. Search entry-level jobs in places like Glassdoor, Indeed, Craigslist, and your local newspaper. With all of the proper licenses, you are ready for to be a professional traffic engineer! Websites like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed are fantastic job aggregators, and companies post open positions. You can sort by location and experience level.
   • Like with any other job, make sure your resume emphasizes your skillset and is clear, concise, and well-organized.
   • Be prepared for an interview. While your education and experience should speak for you, you need to be able to communicate how you can be an asset to the company. Find some sample interview questions and practice answering with a friend. For more information on how to do well in interviews, click here.
2. Get ITE certified. Once you’ve landed your first traffic engineer job, you can start to accumulate the time and experience required for this prestigious certification. ITE offers a certification examination as a professional traffic operations engineer.
   • To become certified, you must have at least four years of professional practice in the field and hold a valid license to practice civil, mechanical, or general professional engineering.
   • Those with this certification will find themselves with better paying and more rewarding opportunities.
3. Continue your education. Once you are working in the field, your knowledge will exponentially grow. However, as technology changes, so too will the demands of your field. Taking the occasional course at a nearby community college or reading up on different interdisciplinary methodologies in traffic engineering blogs and forums will keep you relevant and on the cutting edge.

References

See also

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What links here

• Become a Civil Engineer
• Avoid Traffic