I majored in political science. I took a job as an engineering technician because I had experience working as a laborer for a concrete company during summers in highschool and college. Being a civil engineering technician requires no education whatsoever you just read a manual, pass a test and a practical and that's it. Your job is basically testing concrete, asphalt, and soil backfill on construction sites requires only basic math and report writing skills. The hardest part of the job is when the site superintendent cusses you out cuz his concrete is out of spec. I did that for about three years at about 30- 40k per year and did well enough to be invited into the office to schedule/check other technicians reports. After about two years doing that at 50-60k a year I started helping with the actual engineering side of my company doing geotechnical engineering. Not like calculations and actual engineering but the project management for the engineering projects. So things like, purchasing renting and maintaining equipment, setting up traffic control, coordinating drilling subcontractors, writing permits, environmental sampling, miss utility tickets, sending samples for lab testing, classifying soils according to visual methods, performing field tests ect. After about two years doing that my boss told me I would never go anywhere in the company without a technical degree and that they would pay for me to go back to school if I wanted. I looked into getting a BS in geology or a BS in civil but for the amount of time involved it turned out a masters of engineering was the best way to go. I was accepted to a middle tier state school to do a non thesis masters in geotechnical engineering. I took two classes per semester plus the additional undergrad coursework required for my student contract during the summer. I will be done by Christmas. Currently sitting at a 3.93, registered Eit in New York state, no student debt to speak of, making good money doing work I enjoy at a great company with fantastic benefits. I feel like an imposter most of the time, I worry that one day something bad will happen and I'll be a liability for my company because I have a non traditional background. I also feel kind of gross that I drank and partied during undergrad while real engineering students were busting their asses and getting weeded out.