Civil Engineers shape the built environment, and use their creativity to improve the world we live in for a sustainable future.
Every building, road, bridge, harbor, airport or energy facility will have relied on the creativity, imagination and skills of Civil Engineers. However, in the modern world these existing projects have aged, and civil engineers are now also needed to manage construction projects to rebuild, repair, and upgrade bridges, roads, levees, dams, airports, buildings, and structures of all types, making it an in-demand and highly lucrative field. Today Civil engineers design, construct, maintain, and operate infrastructures, while simultaneously safeguarding public and environmental health and upgrading neglected structures and systems.
- Follow safety rules, guidelines and standards for all projects.
- May plan, assign and supervise the work of others.
- Review of reports and plans prepared within the office.
- Coordinate and manage any field survey tasks and personnel.
- Liaise with clients and agencies, subcontractors, and design teams on projects.
- Plan, organize, and carry out pavement evaluations and investigations.
- Engage with clients to define and achieve a successful outcome.
- Coordinate with local and nationwide teams for project delivery.
- Analyze survey reports, maps, and other data to plan projects.
- Participate in team meetings, all staff meetings, and other non-billable planning sessions.
- Work with engineering team on the production of design drawings.
- Evaluate, select, and apply standard engineering techniques and procedures.
- Provide cost estimates and budget projections for technical proposals.
- Write and review/approve reports and specifications and make presentations.
- Assist with/review scope, budget, and schedule of new project tasks.
- Develop and apply advanced engineering solutions to complex problems.
- Perform independent research and analysis for significant and complex engineering projects.
- Conduct field studies and surveys to collect technical data.
- Contribute to company standard detail and specification development and updates.
- Prepare design reports and construction plans using local and state standards.
- Willingness to travel to construction site locations is expected.
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The History Of Civil Engineering
It is considered the second engineering discipline historically. The first type of engineering consider to be a profession was military engineering. The new field was a response to this and was a way for engineers working on non-military projects to set themselves apart from military engineering.
Traditionally, Civil Engineering has covered any professional engineer who applies physical and scientific principles to solve the problems of society. The history of the profession has always been linked to advances in the understanding of physics and mathematics. Because it is a broad profession, it is often broken down into specialized sub-disciplines, these have expanded as our knowledge of structures, materials science, geography, geology, soils, hydrology, environmental science, mechanics, project management, and other civil engineering subfields have grown.
We often think of large infrastructure projects when we think of Civil Engineering. While it is true that some Civil engineers work at the highest level of the planning, design, construction, and operation of multifaceted projects or research and that these types of construction engineering projects can take place at huge scales like the construction of national transport networks or water networks, but Civil Engineers also work at small scales with the development of individual roads or buildings.
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What Do Civil Engineers Actually Do?
As the field of Civil Engineering is broad, and people might have a very particular specialty, it can be difficult to visualize what your day-to-day might look like. What’s more, emerging technologies mean you will be committing to lifelong learning to keep your knowledge fresh. Most civil engineers will work out-of-office buildings or as part of a remote team designing structural plans for projects, some will do site visits and some projects might even need you on site full time. What you do day-to-day will depend on your specializations, your experience and your job role. For example, the day-to-day working in a team of transportation engineers might be very different to what a foundation engineering firm might do.
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DAY TO DAY AS A CIVIL ENGINEER
However, generally you would normally expect your work within Civil Engineering to include tasks like:
- Working with clients and others professionals involved in a project like architects or subcontractors
- Communicate effectively with a range of audiences. You won’t just be talking to other engineers but business leaders, those representing Professional Organizations, vendors and professionals within the engineering economy.
- Working on management tasks like creating job specs, supervising other engineers, and working through tender processes
- Technical or feasibility studies, these would involve on-site investigations.
- Using a number of different of computer software programs for developing designs.
- Being responsible for undertaking complex calculations or checking colleagues calculations.
- Fixing any design and development problems that occur on a project.
- Managing a project budget or resources.
- Ensuring that the scheduling of material and equipment purchases and deliveries fit into a project plan.
- Making sure engineering aspects of a project complies with regulatory requirements like health and safety.
- Assessing the environmental impact of projects and how a project interacts with the natural environment.
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