“Oh, so you are pursuing your civil engineering degree! All set to have a roller coaster ride for your career!”
Did you just hear that? If you have then you must have got annoyed.
A civil engineering degree is parse the professional engineering discipline that studies designing, constructing and maintenance for the physical as well as the naturally built environment. Such works include public jobs like designing and construction of the roads, dams, airports, sewage, railways, canals, structural components of buildings, sewage systems and more.
However, when it comes to career-seeking options, there are plenty of jobs to choose from. If you are pursuing your civil engineering degree, you are ought to develop technical skills and have a thorough knowledge of the subject.
There is a lot that you can do when you have the complete knowledge of science, technology, mathematics, it automatically helps you in designing, creating and building structures elegantly. A civil engineer is said to be the best person in using the available resources and techniques perfectly.
You will be surprised to know that when you are a civil engineer, you have undoubtedly imbibed the following skills-
- A skillful way to problem-solving
- Analytical knack and more
- Awareness about fair of news, recent developments, and ethical issues.
- Brilliant IT skills.
- Communiqué handiness
- Critical thinking ability
- Decision-making dexterity
- Highest competence level in the planning and execution of projects and tasks.
- The creative approach towards the critical situation.
- Updated numeracy aptitude
So what is the spread of career choices that one can have?
Well, that’s the question that every civil engineering degree holder seeks an answer for! To be honest, you are not going to stick to only a contractor’s job.
This day a civil engineer has a wider scope and demand in every spectrum of environmental development. Check what has to say.
But hold on, before we move ahead to the entire list of livelihood that you can enjoy too, here is what you need to know-
- Make eye-catching curriculum vitae
A civil engineering degree is enough for your employer to get you within the organization…but hey, what makes you different from the others. When you are a fresher, there are many others who are on the same line looking out for a profession they can be happy with.
So the deal is, get a hold on any kind of apprenticeship before you head to look for a vocation. Hands-on-construction novice will bring you a long way. The more work experience and internships you show, better is the credibility of your curriculum vitae.
- Tap the archetypal employers
This is the place where you will know the distinctive type of employers to tap for your job opportunities. Since you are an ace civil engineer degree holder, you are welcomed to the wide sector of openings for you.
- Not to forget to tap the construction sector. It could be structured regarding buildings to landscapes, parks and other public environmental developments.
- Transport infrastructure is a vast prospect in your career. Transport infrastructure is huge. It demands time and precision to become a master at this task. Be it the over bridges or the airport runways, the canals or the subways, your expertise will be wanted here the most.
- If you thought you were restricted to only the construction industry, you have sadly mistaken. This day civil engineers are fancied in the electricity, gas and water department. The logic is simple. Your ideas and designing are yearned for production, storage and distribution department.
- A huge number of engineering and manufacturing employers look for civil engineers who can help them with their project specifications.
Job profiles that you are perfect for-
- Building Control Surveyor-
You will be responsible for building regulations and other rules that must be followed for designing houses, buildings, offices etc. The job requires you to examine plans, give opinions on the drawings, and adhere to the specifications and documents required for the approval of the building regulations.
Plus you will be inspecting the buildings to check fire safety, sustainability, building accessibility, energy conservation etc. In fact, you will be the one to issue completion certificates once the work is done.
- CAD Technician
This profile requires you to be good with CAD software. It helps you to create technical drawings and designs. This is typically required in industries of engineering, manufacturing, and construction.
You will have architects and design engineers under you. The CAD technician profile is demanded also in computer-aided industrial design sector to computer-aided engineering (CAE) to computer-aided styling and computer-aided manufacturing design.
In a nutshell, your profile will include jobs of design technician, architectural technician, engineering designer, building services technician job etc.
- Contracting Civil Engineer
This job profile is worth taking the risk as you will be somebody to make the plans of consulting civil engineers ideas to reality. It needs specialization in certain fields such as buildings, coastal and marine, construction of dams and canals, environment, geotechnical engineering, highways and transportation, power, rail, structural work, tunneling, waste management, water, and public health.
You will be responsible for liaison and work along with the consulting engineers to get refinement in the job. It will be your duty to negotiate changes with the architects and the designing team. Provision of plans for construction, ensuring there is equality of workmanship, supervising the construction site, as well as taking responsibility for the logistics of supplies.
- Design Engineer
You will be the person who will be involved with the conceptualization to designing, developing as well as managing the projects that range from construction to build environmental components, materials, vehicles, machinery, etc. It does require you to have leadership skills, project management aptitude, problem-solving traits, and good communication proficiency. The job profile requires you to have specialization in one area of the designing field.
You will be responsible for liaising with clients, investigating and undertaking the projects. Your expertise in CAD, or CAM, or CAN will help you to design and conceptualize the projects easily. Time management and communicating effectively with consumers and contractors in the project will be your profile essentially.
- Building Service Engineer
How about the building service engineer task! Here you will be in charge of designing to installing, maintaining the building as per its design. You must look into aspects such as acoustics, health, and safety, heating, lifts and escalators, lighting, power and supply, security.
Your core responsibility will include negotiation and development of project contracts, working along with detailed diagrams and drawings. You will be liable for designing site-specific equipment as per the requirement.
You will be developing Building Information Modeling (BIM) to make sure the systems are co-ordinate well. Monitoring building systems and processes, liaising closely with professionals etc. remain an important part of the job.
- Construction Manager
It is a crucial task to make sure that the building project is completed within the due time. You will be in coordination with the architects, surveyors as well as other professionals who will aid you in delivering the same.
Supervising on the construction site, ensuring that the contractors are working in coordination are some of the job abilities of a construction manager. Your job task remained confined with residential projects or commercial undertaking, industrial endeavor, infrastructure plans, environmental development and more.
Your lines of duties remain to plan the work and buying the necessary materials and equipment. Hiring and managing of staff for a given project, supervising the labor force, checking the material, inspection, monitoring subcontractors and so on.
You will also have the responsibility to deliver the project on time, checking the design documents, promoting health and safety and maintaining the same. You will be responsible to hold regular communication and host meetings with the patron to help them know the progress of the work. Plus having an equal liaison with consultants, supervisors, planners, subcontractors and more will be part of your duty.
- Engineering Geologist
This profile involves technical analysis of rock, natural conditions, soil, groundwater, geological hazards etc. You will be typically responsible to check the suitability of the site for construction of a project.
It requires geological factors to determine. An engineering geologist gets involved in analyzing sites for the environmentally-sensitive areas
You are responsible for consulting geological maps as well as aerial photographs that will help for site selection. By using specialized computer software and calculations, you will be able to assist in designing to build the structure.
The job duties involve collating data and producing reports, visiting new project sites, advising on and testing the range of construction materials and so on. It is your plan of action that will be filled with field investigations by drilling and investigating samples of bedrock or deposits etc. The portfolio demands you to take on the task of supervising site and doing the ground investigation.
- Environmental Consultant
An environmental consultant is required at air, land and water level. They are needed for several purposes. When you take up this profession, you are likely to take care of things regarding air, water, and land contamination.
You will be responsible for environmental impact assessment and flood risk. Waste management and recycling come under your job profile. Basically, you will be able to work with a variety of environmental issues. You will be somebody who will give advice and assessment services to clients with a motive to minimize environmental damage.
Tasks such as emission and climate change, renewable energy opportunities etc. are certain job details that you will be responsible for. Your line of duties consists of conduction of field surveys and collect data about the levels of pollution.
There is a need to carry out desk-based research and interpretation of data that will include using certain software-modeling packages. Based on your findings you will be asked to write reports, advise on the best courses, develop conceptual models, researching on investigations and so on will be the tasks you will be involved in.
- Patent Attorney
This is by far the most innovative one for you will be the assigned body to assign if an invention deserved patenting or not. Based on your assessment, innovative and new ideas will get it patented. It requires special laws to know about this part of the story.
By your affirmation, the patents that are granted from the government stay from getting copied for a good 20 years. The post Patent Attorney varies from country to country. Based on the country of residence you will have to adhere to their rules and regulations.
The appointment of a Patent attorney involves discussion of inventions and its proceedings. You will be the person to address the inventors or the manufacturers about how the things should go on with regards to inventions keeping in mind the pros and cons that are going to take place in the environment. As a matter of fact, you will be able to suggest modification and prepare reports to be examined.
To cut the long story short,
There is a varied range of career options once you have sought your civil engineering degree. However, one aspect of every job that counts apart from your final grade is the assignment grade. It is the assignment grade that your employer often sees and decides about your credibility.
Hence, make sure you have flying colors in your homework tasks as it works well as your testimony. Always seek for help if you are stuck to any kind of problem.
There is an armada of job opportunities waiting for you from geotechnical engineer to quantity surveyor, water engineer to structural engineer and so on. There are several career options that become famous with time. Get attached to a community. So before you head towards looking out for vacancies, do check out on this page for job opportunities.
Author’s bio
Nancie L Beckett is known for her ethos. She holds an MBA degree from the University of Florida. Her candid nature makes her students go gaga about it. She is known as the flamingo of online tutors. Her perceptions are bang on and have over 6 years of experience in imparting knowledge on civil engineering subjects. Her blogs are interesting and relatable. Contact her to know more.