started as a labourer on a pipe crew at age 15, age 22 now finishing third year of civil engineering tech. i definitely got some shovel time under my belt before going to school, heck i still get too much (if there is such a thing) shovel time on the weekends (yes i am lucky enough to work a construction job on the weekends only)
we have to do calculus in our civil engineering tech course here in Winnipeg. unless you take a 2 year course, in which case you're not a technologist, you're a technician.