After your high school exams, students who want to study Engineering must be going through a lot of questions in mind. There is nothing to worry about. All you need to do is to be calm and give time to yourself. Here I shall discuss Civil Engineering and how can you become Masters in that subject.
What is Civil Engineering?
Civil Engineering is a very interesting subject. The job of an expert civil engineer is to develop the plans and construct a project through proper planning. It can be a huge building, railways, roads, bridges, and anything that connects with construction. Civil engineers consult architects who give a design and a proper idea as to how the building may look like.
The civil engineers, with a team, decide what materials shall be used, what the purpose of the project is, how to build up each section according to plan and other factors. The main factor that they keep in mind is the natural disaster and the building is made in such a way so that it can stand up to natural disasters easily.
Where to apply for Civil Engineering?
When you are deciding to become a civil engineer, you need to do Bachelors degree and the Masters Degree in that subject. While a Bachelor’s degree will give you the basic knowledge and a Masters degree will help you in specializing in a particular subject related to civil engineering.
Many countries provide a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering. It all depends upon how you score in the subjects in your graduation and your high school. Apart from that, you can apply to a good university too. A pre-test will be conducted wherein the university will undergo your tests result and if you are eligible and qualify, you can get admitted there.
What jobs can you land up with?
Well, after you have done the engineering course, you can land up with your dream job. You can be:
- A construction Engineer-
Keeping in mind many environmental factors, the job of a construction civil engineer is very interesting. He has to go through the design, properly manage and supervise various projects such as buildings, bridges, and roads, etc. there is a team of surveyors, architects, planners and construction managers who also work with the construction engineer.
- A structural Engineer-
Structural engineers are more of consultants to the architects or the contractors. They are mainly engaged in designing the tunnels, bridges, and railways.
For structural engineers, they have to keep in mind what materials they should use because after the construction, the roadways, bridges will be used mainly by the public.
Snow and wind are the factors that he should keep in mind too. The structural engineer consults with the materials engineers, supervisor, and the environmental engineer too.
You can do Masters in Architecture after graduation or after pursuing a degree in Architecture if you want to be a structural engineer.
- A Building Control Surveyor-
When you are a building control surveyor, first and foremost thing you have to keep in mind is that the building legislation and the building rules and regulations are being followed during the construction of the project. The main duties include inspecting and testing the foundations of the building, testing of the building materials, the drainage system, etc.
In case there is anything that doesn’t match with the building regulations, a building control surveyor has to give a solution that will eliminate the risk and also avoid any delay or any extra expense during the construction of the building. You will have to do a Masters in Materials Engineering which is a specialization of Civil Engineering if you want to go ahead with this job role.
- A Water Resource Engineer-
The job of Water resource engineers is to develop water systems and the types of equipment. One has to deal with the designing, the maintenance and the management of this system- Evaluation of storm drainage system, maintaining a proper pumping system so that it can pump the extra water out from the building when it gets flooded.
A water resource engineer has to work with the structural engineer while construction of the dams and the bridges. One has to do Masters in Hydrology & Water Management in order to pursue this job role.
- A Building Service Engineer-
The job role of a Building Service Engineer is to look after the installation of the lighting, the heating, power and supply issues, health and the safety measures and the other maintenance of the building.
- A Quantity Surveyor-
The job of a Quantity Surveyor is mainly of a consultant wherein his job is to find the solution. This include reduction of the cost of the project, avoiding of any extra expenses, looking after the contractors and his team, keeping track of the total time taken and the cost of the labours, making required financial estimates for the buyers or the clients and also advising them on any legal and contractual processes.
What is the time taken to complete the course?
If you want to pursue any of the civil engineering courses, join in for a Masters degree. It takes two to three years to complete the course. The course should be accredited and abetted by a renounced university or institute.
Civil engineering courses, just like mechanical engineering, allow you to get jobs in government offices too. One earns well enough when he applies and joins in a job. It is a good career and can help you reach further heights if you are good at your job. With years of experience, a good civil engineer is paid well enough and he reaches the highest designation. You get to contact with lots of architects, contractors, environmental engineers, government officials and learn a lot about your job.
What are the steps to become a good civil engineer?
Here we shall discuss the steps that can help you get your dream job:
- Earn a Bachelor’s Degree first-
The first and the most important thing are to earn a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Here you need to study a variety of subjects under mathematics, statistics, engineering and management studies, fluid dynamics and architecture. You will have class lectures, short projects, internships, and many on-fields projects too.
Many students land up with leadership and managerial roles after this course. Those who want to pursue teaching in this field can do an M.Phil or a Doctorate too.
- Do an Internship-
The next steps allow you to do an internship in the course you are studying. Since there are various areas of work in this course, students generally go for specialized courses. Such as – construction engineering, maintenance engineering, structural engineering, transportation engineering and many more. If you are doing an internship from a reputed industry, it will add more value to your CV.
The internship adds value because you get to network, get connected with many officials, professors, and people working in this field. The on-field job helps you in developing and polishing your talents and you get a peek into the real world too. You tend to understand the industry norms, the policies, learn many practical skills and gain in-depth knowledge about the subject. Many students tend to earn a full-time job offer from the internship if he/she does well.
- Choose a specialized field-
After doing an internship; you need to choose your specialized area since this course of study has many variations. Choose your specialized field only after realizing in which variation you are best at.
- Pass the certified examinations-
If you want to be a proper licensed civil engineer, you need to go through certain certification exams. You need to attend an accredited institution. After a bachelor’s degree complete the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination become an Engineer-in-Training, and then compete for the professional hours that help you to give the Principles and Practices of Engineering Examination. Thus, you become a professional.
– Land a job- After completing all the steps, you land with an entry-level job. It depends on how your sources are or how well you are connected with. That is why you need to do the internship well so as to make a place for your career in the industry.
There are many good institutes which help you in preparing for the engineering exams. All you need to do is to get enrolled in one of them and study well. It is not a very hard exam. All that is needed is hard work, attending the lectures, doing proper practical classes and getting known into the industry.
What classes to attend in Masters of civil engineering?
While you are pursuing the Master’s degree, you can come up with:
-Airport Engineering- The basic design management and how to build an airport is being taught in the class. This class focuses mainly on noise pollution, what causes them and what are the solutions to it. It also teaches how one can select a proper site. What is the effect of the airport on the techniques of building, etc?
– Air-Pollution Engineering- This course teaches aerosol mechanics. It also focuses on the projection designing of the airport mechanics keeping in mind the rules and regulations. It helps in understanding how the atmosphere changes the air conditions resulting in air pollution.
– Concrete Engineering- This course teaches how in a structural design you can use the concrete slabs, what are the definite properties in concrete management, what are the materials used here, how the concrete will react when it comes in contact with the tension and the compression forces.
– Structural Risk Analysis- This course is very interesting as is teaches you the fundamentals of Bayesian statistics. It also helps you in calculating the risk while construction of a project and also the evaluation of the risks.
All these courses that you will study in the class will give you in-depth knowledge of civil engineering.
Skills of a successful Civil Engineer
The skills of a successful civil engineer are that he is a problem solver, good math-minded person, a good team leader, a proper decision maker, understand the rules and the regulations of his job, and is well-known with the factors of civil engineering. The tools and techniques that he follows during his job includes-Distance meters, Software which calculates analytics, the creation of map software, drafting and rolling triangles and scales, Auto-Cad Software and Project Management tools and software.
With all these upgraded techniques and software you can develop yourself as a trained and experience civil engineer. You can take help from your seniors as well and whenever you have questions regarding the job you can clarify with the management. Whenever you are handling a team, you can teach your juniors the experiences that you went through. Being a good team leader is also important since the job of a civil engineer mainly is to work within a team.
An experienced engineer also looks after the safety issues of his team as well. Whenever there is a project going on in a site, the head civil engineer is always present there to survey the whole project. If there are any sudden changes and decisions to be taken the head civil engineer has to be present there. Also sometimes there are many calculations and change in designs too which can only be done by an experienced civil engineer. Thus the job of the civil engineer is very much interesting as it includes a lot of experiment and team building process.
If you want to become a successful civil engineer just go through the steps mentioned above. There are some sites too that can help you in getting more details. They are:
Author Bio:
Nancie L Beckett is one of the most loved mentors who mentor students on their subjects. She has done her MBA from the University of York and has over 6 years of experience in this field of study. Students love her since she makes learning fun. She helps her students with projects and assignments and uses the easiest methods of learning.