If you're an engineering graduate in Gujarat looking for a stable government job with an actual technical role, GPSC Assistant Engineer is one of the best options on the table. It's not a desk job pushing files around. You get to work on roads, buildings, irrigation projects, ports, and government infrastructure, and you carry the title of a Class-2 gazetted officer from day one.
This post covers the 2026 recruitment cycle in full: how many posts are open, who can apply, the exam pattern, syllabus subject by subject, salary, past cut-offs, and how to prepare without wasting six months on the wrong books.
Quick Answer
GPSC has released a fresh Assistant Engineer notification for 2026, covering 235 posts in Civil and Mechanical engineering (Advt. 24, 30 and 31 of 2026-27, under Roads & Buildings and Gujarat Maritime Board). Online applications closed on 19 June 2026, and the Preliminary Test is expected in two parts — General Studies on 26 July 2026 and the subject paper on 30 August 2026 (both tentative). A separate Electrical AE cycle (139 posts under Roads & Buildings) ran earlier in 2025-26 with its exam in October 2025, so if you're targeting Electrical, watch OJAS for the next fresh advertisement.
Latest Notification and Important Dates
The table below covers the current live cycle for Civil and Mechanical AE posts. Dates marked tentative can shift by a few weeks, so always cross-check on gpsc-ojas.gujarat.gov.in before your exam.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Advertisement numbers | 24/2026-27 (AE Civil, R&B), 30/2026-27 (AE Mechanical, GMB), 31/2026-27 (AE Civil, GMB) |
| Notification released | May 2026 |
| Online application starts | 5 June 2026, 1:00 PM |
| Online application ends | 19 June 2026, 11:59 PM |
| Consent deposit window | 5 to 20 June 2026 |
| Preliminary Test — Part 1 (General Studies) | 26 July 2026 (tentative) |
| Preliminary Test — Part 2 (Subject paper) | 30 August 2026 (tentative) |
| Prelim result | To be announced |
| Interview | To be announced |
For reference, the last Electrical AE cycle (Advt. 10/2025-26, 139 posts under Roads & Buildings) had applications open from 25 June to 9 July 2025, with the written exam held on 10 October 2025. If GPSC opens a fresh Electrical AE drive, expect a similar cycle length of roughly 3-4 months from notification to exam.
What the Job Actually Is
A GPSC Assistant Engineer is a field-and-office technical officer working under a state department like Roads & Buildings, Narmada Water Resources, or Gujarat Maritime Board. Your day-to-day work depends on your branch. A Civil AE supervises road and building construction, checks quality of work at sites, prepares estimates, and clears contractor bills. A Mechanical AE handles machinery, equipment maintenance, and technical inspection for department projects. An Electrical AE looks after electrical installations, substations, and power-related infrastructure for government buildings and public works.
You'll split time between site visits and office work — measurement books, tender documents, technical reports. It's a Class-2 gazetted post, so you get authority to sign off on technical decisions early in your career, which is rare in the private sector at the same experience level.
Vacancy Details / Post Breakdown
The current 2026 notification has 235 posts split as follows.
| Advertisement | Post | Department | Vacancies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24/2026-27 | AE Civil | Roads & Buildings | 200 |
| 30/2026-27 | AE Mechanical | Gujarat Maritime Board | 11 |
| 31/2026-27 | AE Civil | Gujarat Maritime Board | 24 |
| Total | 235 |
Category-wise split (approximate, across the three advertisements): General around 104, EWS 21, SEBC 60, SC 15, ST 35, with additional horizontal reservation for Ex-servicemen and PwD candidates. GMB posts come with a note worth knowing — if you're selected under a GMB advertisement, you become a Gujarat Maritime Board employee, not a direct Gujarat government employee, which can mean slightly different service rules. Check the official advertisement PDF on OJAS before applying if this matters to you.
Eligibility
Age limit: You need to be between 21 and 35 years old as of the last date of application (19 June 2026 for this cycle). Age relaxation is available as below.
| Category | Relaxation |
|---|---|
| SC/ST/SEBC/EWS male (Gujarat origin) | +5 years |
| All women (General category) | +5 years |
| SC/ST/SEBC/EWS women (Gujarat origin) | +10 years |
| Ex-servicemen | Service period + 3 years |
| Persons with disability | +10 years |
Education: You need a B.E. or B.Tech degree in the relevant branch — Civil, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering — from a recognised Indian university or an AICTE/UGC-approved institute. No minimum percentage is stated, but you must have a valid final degree or provisional certificate by the time you apply.
Language: Basic working knowledge of Gujarati or Hindi is required, along with basic computer literacy, checked at the interview stage.
There's no domicile restriction to apply, but reservation benefits apply only to candidates of Gujarat origin.
Application Process and Fee
You apply only online through OJAS. GPSC doesn't accept offline or postal applications for this exam.
| Category | Application Fee |
|---|---|
| General/Unreserved | ₹100 + postal charges |
| SC/ST/SEBC/EWS (Gujarat origin) | Exempt |
| Ex-servicemen | Exempt |
| PwD candidates | Exempt |
On top of the application fee, there's a separate refundable consent deposit — ₹504.72 for general male candidates and ₹404.72 for women, reserved category, PwD, and ex-servicemen candidates. This amount is refunded if you appear for the exam and forfeited if you don't, so don't skip it thinking it's optional.
Steps to apply: register on OJAS, fill personal and educational details carefully (corrections after submission are limited), upload photo/signature/certificates in the specified format, pay the fee and consent deposit online, then download the confirmation page. Keep your scanned documents ready before you start — a rushed application often has errors that are hard to fix later.
Exam Pattern
Selection happens in two stages: a Preliminary Test and an Interview. There's no separate Mains exam for AE, unlike some other GPSC Class-1/2 posts.
| Stage | Sections | Questions | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary Test | Part 1: General Studies | 100 | 100 | 60 minutes |
| Preliminary Test | Part 2: Subject (Civil/Mech/Electrical) | 200 | 200 | 120 minutes |
| Interview | Personal interview | — | 100 | — |
Both parts of the Prelim are objective, multiple-choice, and negative marking applies — you lose 1/3 mark for every wrong answer. You need a minimum of 15% marks in the preliminary test to be considered further, though the real cut-off for shortlisting to interview is much higher and depends on category and competition that year.
Final selection is based on the interview marks combined with prelim performance as per GPSC's weightage formula — broadly, both stages carry significant weight, so you can't coast through the interview on a good prelim score alone.
Detailed Syllabus
General Studies (Part 1, common to all branches)
This paper tests broad awareness, not deep subject knowledge. Topics include: History and Culture of India and Gujarat, Geography of India with special focus on Gujarat, Indian Polity and Constitution, Indian Economy and Planning, General Science, Environment and Ecology, ICT and computer basics, General Mental Ability and Reasoning, and Current Affairs (national, international, and Gujarat-specific). For this section, free general awareness study material and a habit of reading current affairs daily will carry you a long way. Reasoning questions in this paper are usually basic, so a quick pass through a reasoning guide is enough.
Civil Engineering (Part 2)
Building Materials and Construction, Solid Mechanics, Structural Analysis, Design of Steel Structures, Design of RCC and Masonry Structures, Estimating and Costing, Construction Planning and Management, Surveying (plane and geodetic), Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics, Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering, Irrigation Engineering, Environmental Engineering (water supply, sanitation, waste management), Geotechnical Engineering (soil mechanics, foundation design), Transportation Engineering (highway and pavement design), and Bridge Engineering.
Mechanical Engineering (Part 2)
Engineering Materials and Metallurgy, Engineering Mechanics and Strength of Materials, Theory of Machines and Machine Design, Mechanical Vibrations, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machines, IC Engines and Automobile Engineering, Manufacturing Processes (casting, welding, machining), Industrial Engineering and Production Management, and Refrigeration and Air Conditioning.
Electrical Engineering (Part 2, for the Electrical cycle)
Basic Electrical Engineering and Circuit Analysis, Electrical and Electronic Measurements, Electrical Machines (DC and AC), Electromagnetic Fields, Power Systems (generation, transmission, distribution), Power Electronics, Control Systems, Digital Electronics, Microprocessors, Signals and Systems, Non-Conventional Energy Sources, and Electricity Acts and Rules relevant to Gujarat.
Whichever branch you're preparing for, work through your core engineering subjects using standard degree-level textbooks first, then switch to solving GPSC-specific MCQs. Free mock tests and topic-wise practice sets on Pareeksha help you get used to the objective format and time pressure, which is very different from writing long-form answers in college exams.
Salary, Pay Scale, and Career Growth
GPSC Assistant Engineer comes under Pay Level-8 of the 7th Pay Commission, with a starting basic pay of ₹44,900, going up to ₹1,42,400. Add DA, HRA, and TA on top of basic pay, and your gross monthly salary in a city like Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar typically lands between ₹65,000 and ₹80,000 in the first year or two, depending on posting location.
Career growth is a strong point here. From Assistant Engineer, the usual path goes to Deputy Executive Engineer, then Executive Engineer, and further up to Superintending Engineer and Chief Engineer over a full career, along with pension benefits and job security that's hard to match in the private sector.
Previous Year Cut-off
GPSC hasn't published separate cut-offs for Mechanical and Electrical AE in recent public data, but here's what's available for Civil AE from the last two completed cycles, out of 300 marks in the Prelim.
| Category | 2020 Cut-off (Male) | 2020 Cut-off (Female) | 2019 Cut-off (Male) | 2019 Cut-off (Female) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unreserved | 42.70% | 38.59% | 46.77% | 42.18% |
| SEBC | 36.70% | 33.12% | 42.03% | 37.82% |
| SC | 35.20% | 32.28% | 40.33% | 37.41% |
| ST | 30.23% | 27.16% | 33.53% | 30.16% |
Treat these as reference points, not fixed targets. Cut-offs move up or down depending on how many people apply, how many vacancies are open that year, and how tough the paper is. Aim to comfortably clear the unreserved cut-off regardless of your category — it gives you a safety margin.
Best Books and Preparation Strategy
Don't try to relearn your whole engineering degree from scratch. You already studied this for four years — the goal now is revision plus MCQ practice, not first-time learning.
For the technical paper: Go back to your core semester textbooks for high-weight subjects — Structural Analysis and RCC Design for Civil, Theory of Machines and Thermodynamics for Mechanical, Power Systems and Electrical Machines for Electrical. Solve previous GPSC AE papers alongside standard objective-type engineering books, the kind used for GATE and ESE prep also work well since core concepts overlap.
For General Studies: Many engineering candidates lose easy marks here because they assume their technical score will carry them. Don't make that mistake — 100 marks is a third of your total prelim score. Spend at least 45 minutes daily on GS. A good study plan breaks this into weekly targets so you're not cramming everything in the last month.
Rough month-wise approach if you have 4-5 months:
- Month 1-2: Revise core technical subjects branch by branch, one subject a week.
- Month 3: Add daily GS revision alongside technical revision, mix in quantitative aptitude practice for the mental ability portion.
- Month 4: Full-length mock tests weekly, review every wrong answer, track weak areas.
- Last 3-4 weeks: Only revision and mocks, no new topics.
Use the Reading Room for free study material if buying every reference book isn't in your budget right now.
Common Mistakes and Honest Advice
The biggest mistake technical candidates make is treating GS as an afterthought. You can be a topper in your engineering subject and still miss the cut-off because GS pulled your total down. Give it real time.
Second mistake: not practicing enough MCQs under time pressure. Engineering exams in college are usually descriptive. GPSC's format is 300 objective questions in 3 hours — roughly 36 seconds per question if you want to attempt everything. Negative marking punishes guesswork, so practice with a timer from day one, not in the last week.
Third, don't stop preparing once you clear prelims. The interview carries real weight in the final merit, so revise your project work and branch fundamentals well before you get the call.
Finally, keep checking OJAS regularly. GPSC sometimes shifts exam dates by a few weeks, and missing an update is an avoidable loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the GPSC Assistant Engineer 2026 notification out? Yes. GPSC released Advt. 24, 30, and 31 of 2026-27 for 235 AE posts in Civil and Mechanical engineering. Applications closed on 19 June 2026.
How many vacancies are there in GPSC AE 2026? There are 235 total vacancies — 200 AE Civil under Roads & Buildings, 24 AE Civil under Gujarat Maritime Board, and 11 AE Mechanical under Gujarat Maritime Board.
Is there a separate notification for Electrical AE? The current 2026 cycle covers only Civil and Mechanical. Electrical AE had its own cycle earlier (Advt. 10/2025-26, 139 posts, exam held October 2025). Watch OJAS for the next Electrical-specific advertisement.
What is the age limit for GPSC Assistant Engineer? You need to be between 21 and 35 years old as of the last date of application, with age relaxation up to 15 years for reserved category women from Gujarat.
What is the application fee for GPSC AE? ₹100 for general/unreserved candidates. SC, ST, SEBC, EWS (Gujarat origin), Ex-servicemen, and PwD candidates are exempt from the fee.
What is the exam pattern for GPSC AE Prelim? 300 objective questions worth 300 marks in 3 hours total — 100 marks General Studies in 60 minutes, and 200 marks subject paper in 120 minutes, with 1/3 negative marking for wrong answers.
What is the salary of a GPSC Assistant Engineer? Pay Level-8, starting basic pay ₹44,900, going up to ₹1,42,400, with gross monthly salary typically around ₹65,000 to ₹80,000 including allowances.
When is the GPSC AE 2026 exam date? The Preliminary Test is tentatively scheduled in two parts — General Studies on 26 July 2026 and the subject paper on 30 August 2026. These dates can change, so confirm on OJAS closer to the date.
What is the qualifying marks for GPSC AE prelim? You need a minimum of 15% marks in the preliminary test to be eligible for further consideration, though actual shortlisting cut-offs for the interview stage are much higher and vary by category and year.
Can a fresher apply for GPSC Assistant Engineer? Yes. There's no work experience requirement — a B.E./B.Tech degree in the relevant branch and meeting the age criteria is enough to apply.
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Final Word
GPSC Assistant Engineer is a solid post for engineering graduates who want government stability without giving up technical work entirely. The 2026 cycle for Civil and Mechanical is already underway, and if Electrical is your branch, keep an eye on OJAS for the next round — it usually follows a similar pattern once R&B or another department needs fresh AEs.
Don't overthink your prep. Revise your core subjects, put honest hours into General Studies, and practice enough MCQs that the exam format feels familiar rather than stressful on exam day. Start with free mock tests to see where you stand right now, then build your plan backward from your weak areas. That's a far better use of your first week than reading ten different blog posts about the exam.
For official updates, always rely on GPSC's official website and the OJAS application portal rather than third-party pages — advertisement PDFs there are the final word on dates, fees, and eligibility.
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