Sikorski attended the gimnazjum in Rzeszów (now Konarski's High School in Rzeszów) from 1893 to 1897, then transferred for a year to a Rzeszów teachers' college. In 1899 he attended the Lwów Franciszek Józef Gymnasium, and in 1902 he passed his final high school exam there. Starting that year, young Sikorski studied engineering at the Lwów Polytechnic, specializing in road and bridge construction, and graduated in 1908 with a diploma in hydraulic engineering. In 1906 Sikorski volunteered for a year's service in the Austro-Hungarian army and attended the Austrian Military School, obtaining an officer's diploma and becoming an army reserve second lieutenant ("podporucznik rezerwy"). In 1909 he married , whom he met while at the high school in Lwów. In 1912 they had a daughter, Zofia. After graduation he lived in Leżajsk and worked for the Galician administration's hydraulic engineering department, working on the regulation of the San river, and later was involved in private enterprises related to construction, real estate and petroleum trade.