Civil Engineers

Overview and Key Facts

What Do They Do?

A civil engineer could...

Overview Listen to this section

If you turned on a faucet, used a bathroom, or visited a public space (like a road, a building, or a bridge) today, then you've used or visited a project that civil engineers helped to design and build. Civil engineers work to improve travel and commerce, provide people with safe drinking water and sanitation, and protect communities from earthquakes and floods. This important and ancient work is combined with a desire to make structures that are as beautiful and environmentally sound, as they are functional and cost-effective.

Do You Have the Skills and Characteristics of a Civil Engineers?

1. Reading Comprehension: ? Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
2. Critical Thinking: ? Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
3. Operations Analysis: ? Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
4. Systems Analysis: ? Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
5. Active Listening: ? Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

6. Complex Problem Solving: ? Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
7. Speaking: ? Talking to others to convey information effectively.
8. Mathematics: ? Using mathematics to solve problems.
9. Time Management: ? Managing one's own time and the time of others.
10. Science: ? Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

Core Tasks

Think about if you'd like the typical tasks a Civil Engineers might do:

• Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
• Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
• Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.
• Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.
• Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
• Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction.
• Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility.
• Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
• Design energy-efficient or environmentally sound civil structures.
• Prepare or present public reports on topics such as bid proposals, deeds, environmental impact statements, or property and right-of-way descriptions.
• Identify environmental risks and develop risk management strategies for civil engineering projects.
• Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
• Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data.
• Conduct studies of traffic patterns or environmental conditions to identify engineering problems and assess potential project impact.