Civil Engineer

Civil engineers work in all aspects of planning, designing, and constructing or repairing a building or infrastructure project to ensure that structures and systems are assembled correctly. Depending on the job, civil engineers may be involved in a project from start to finish or for certain stages of it.

Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines because it deals with constructed environment[1] including planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

Civil engineering projects can come through the public sector, from government agencies, or through the private sector, and can be either large or small in scale, with civil engineers working in fields such as planning, budgeting, project and asset management, research, analysis, and more.

Some common duties of civil engineers include:

• Performing technical and feasibility studies, using reports, surveys, maps and plans and related data
• Understanding and accounting for health and safety, building and other engineering regulations
• Assessing environmental impacts and determining risk factors that may impact the project delivery

Where Do Civil Engineers Work?

Civil engineers work in a range of different environments depending on their area of work or specialism. Although civil engineers do spend time on site, they will also frequently work in an office environment, creating plans and checking procedures.

Civil engineers are required for a large variety of projects across the world, so there is always the possibility of travel with a civil engineering career, while your knowledge could also find you working on a range of different types of project.

Regardless of location, engineers need to obey contract law in their relationships with other parties, and any failure of an engineer’s work could lead to negligence claims or even criminal charges. Suffice to say, you will need the appropriate training, and often certification, to work as an engineer!