How to Become a Civil Engineer: All You Need to Know

A civil engineer is a fairly old profession and has existed since ancient times. To become a civil engineer, you must first have an ASCE certificate, that is, The American Society of Civil Engineer's Civil Engineer Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century. At the same time, you need to have mathematical computing ability, physical analysis ability, and architectural knowledge. You need to have the ability to handle urgent issues and excellent communication skills.

7 Steps to becoming a civil engineer

Civil engineering refers to the planning, construction, and maintenance of all infrastructure related to earth and wood. Civil engineers are responsible for facilities such as energy, water conservancy, and transportation. The significance of civil engineers lies in improving the quality of life of the people and transforming the living environment, while analyzing the structure of the building and the environment of the building site, and strengthening building safety.

Step 1: Understand the civil engineer description and responsibilities

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that involves the design, construction, and maintenance of physical and natural built environments, including roads, bridges, canals, airports, railways and other facilities. Civil engineers are mainly responsible for the design, planning, measurement, and supervision of construction and maintenance of these project developments.

Step 2: Think before you do: whether is it worth to be a civil engineer

Advantages of becoming a civil engineer:

1. High salary

An experienced and skilled civil engineer can enjoy this very decent salary. Relevant professional certificates, whether they have achieved good results, and the college they graduated from are all factors that determine salary.

2. Sufficient jobs

Civil engineering is a branch of engineering. It has been called "evergreen", which means that compared with other engineering branches, the employment of civil engineers is broader, and there are many career Opportunities.

3. Promotion opportunities

Civil engineers are a profession that requires a lot of communication, so assignments or business trips are very frequent. In all countries, there is a shortage of civil engineers. If you are good enough, it is possible when you are traveling or traveling Get better work platforms and opportunities. At the same time, you may be recruited by the government to build infrastructure in some areas of the country.

4. A sense of accomplishment and gain

Civil engineers design and build building facilities mostly for civilian use. Stadiums, tunnels, ventilation and drainage systems, and power grids are closely related to people's lives. After completion, they will have a great impact on people's lives. Knowing this, you will learn from it. Gain satisfaction and fulfillment.

Disadvantages of becoming a civil engineer:

1. Long working hours

For a project, you must work overtime or take up personal time. Your mobile phone may have to be on standby for 24 hours. To cope with unexpected situations, your vacation may also become very unstable.

2.Dangers at the worksite

Civil engineers sometimes have to be present at the scene. Vehicles, equipment, construction steel, and even dust and soot on the scene will cause very serious harm to the engineer itself, and also have dangers that other occupations do not have.

3.Huge working pressure

You are sometimes responsible for a project by yourself. The core tasks of measurement, estimation, and other tasks are all done by you. If something goes wrong, the consequences will be very serious, so you must work up to 120 points. Over time, this will be a burden for you.

Step 3: Research Best colleges and universities for the job

1. University of California--Berkeley

2. Stanford University

3. University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign

4. Georgia Institute of Technology

5. University of Texas--Austin (Cockrell)

6 .Purdue University--West Lafayette

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

8. University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

9. Carnegie Mellon University

10. Virginia Tech

11. Cornell University

12. Northwestern University (McCormick)

13. University of California—Davis

14. Arizona State University (Fulton)

15. Auburn University (Ginn)

Step 4: Go through College

We must be very systematic about what civil engineers do and we need to understand the curriculum. Civil engineering and architecture are very different. Civil engineering is mainly about creating, designing, and connecting people to the world. Civil engineering requires you to have professional skills in mathematics, geography, physics, computers, fine arts, and design. Mathematics is like breathing air for civil engineers, physics is a necessary tool, and art is the language that can express your design ideas. To learn basic professional knowledge, you will begin to prepare for professional certification exams, such as Certified Construction Manager, Certified Recycling Systems-Technical Associate.

Step 5: Internship Opportunity

If you are already qualified to start a civil engineering job, there are several internship directions you can consider to start your career plan.

1. Real estate companies: Real estate companies are biased towards management. Students in civil engineering majors are generally in engineering positions, and only some of the more outstanding students can enter the real estate company for internships, with high gold content. I can get technical training.

2. Design Institute: The threshold of design institutes is higher than that of real estate companies. Most of the students who can go to design institutes are graduate students, and there are fewer undergraduates. The design institute is mainly responsible for the design, and the environment is better, but the retention is more difficult.

3. Cost consulting company: Students in engineering management in civil engineering and engineering cost majors can choose to go to a cost consulting company for the internship, but the disadvantage is that they lack the overall grasp of the project and can only do something relatively simple.

4. BIM company: This direction can be said to be Fang Xi with the highest gold content. Entering BIM company can be said to be a high-end, high-tech direction for civil engineers.

Step 6: Prepare relevant skills for a civil engineer

The skills required by civil engineers are roughly divided into the following types

1. Professional technology

Engineering majors cover a wide range of fields, and there are many general subjects to serve civil engineering, including mathematics, physics, biology, computer technology, modeling technology, and art skills. At the same time, you must have professional engineering knowledge in surveying and mapping, building analysis, materials science, architecture, and so on.

2. written writing ability

Every level of civil engineer must be able to inform or communicate with colleagues clearly and concisely. In general, civil engineers have to deal with professionals with multiple backgrounds and occupations, so diverse communication skills are the skills that civil engineers must-have.

3. Oral communication skills

Oral communication skills are also very important, which requires us to listen to the opinions of officials, customers, other members of the team, and construction workers to solve their requirements and problems. For civil engineers, good communication skills are a shortcut to solving problems. When we can communicate with staff and team members concisely and clearly, work can be carried out more easily.

4. Organizational ability

One of the duties of a civil engineer is to supervise and evaluate the completion of the work at the project site, and to ensure that human and financial resources are fully utilized, so the ability to reasonably allocate work is very important.

5. Analysis ability

In each different phase of the project, civil engineers will encounter many different data, parameters, variables, etc. These data will have a negligible impact on the results and project progress. At this time, civil engineers are required to analyze these data to ensure that the best benefits can be achieved in ensuring work progress and results.

Step 7: Find a relevant civil engineer job, and apply it.

As college students who have just graduated, we should mainly look for related jobs in the direction of design and construction. We can choose to go to the design institute after graduating into a smaller design institute. It is a good policy. After all, we can get started faster and the internal environment is slightly looser. You can learn more at the beginning of the design. The limitation is that the engineering regulations to be contacted are smaller than those of large design institutes. The construction is more difficult. The work needs to be with the construction workers. The front-line construction experience is an important stage in the future when engaged in the management of the construction unit or contracting the project itself.

Important Tools for a civil engineer

Mathematical analysis skills, modeling skills, speaking skills, architectural expertise, proficient computer technology, fluent communication, and writing skills.

Develop your career path

If you are going to be a civil engineer, as the goal of your future career you must first choose the right major and college. In university, you need to take multiple elective courses and professional courses. The courses you need to take are majors in architecture. Classes, civil engineering courses, and some degree in physics, mathematics, and modeling are also required. These will be used as tools for your future work. Participate in community activities and competitions a lot, and you can develop your expression skills and teamwork. Ability, at the same time, your mentor can provide you with a very good internship or job opportunities. After graduating from college, you should take the certificate of a registered engineer. You can choose some real estate companies or cost consulting companies for internships and experience the industry situation. After officially entering the work, you can choose the design direction, enter the design institute to make the transition, and you can also choose the construction direction, walk on the front line of construction, and experience the work of the construction workers and the construction industry environment.