What Is Civil Engineering?

In the field of engineering there is really only one discipline considered to be older than civil engineering, and that is military engineering.

Of all the areas of engineering you can work in, civil engineering not only employs the most people, it is still amongst the fastest growing types of engineering.

So if you’re currently researching engineering careers and trying work out which one is for you, then there’s no doubt that you should explore whether or not becoming a civil engineer is something that would interest you because there are plenty of jobs available right now, and the projected job growth for the industry is good.

 

Civil Engineering Definition

Civil engineering is all about infrastructure. So if you think about any group of people living in a town or city, there are so many different things that are required to make sure everything runs smoothly and chaos is avoided.

• Roads need to be built and maintained

• Buildings need to be designed and constructed with safety in mind.

• Dams & bridges must be built

And so on.

Civil engineering is at the heart of this infrastructure.

Sub-Fields Of Civil Engineering

Because civil engineering covers such a massive amount of tasks and responsibilities, there are many different sub-fields or specialties within this discipline.

Some of these sub-disciplines of civil engineering include:

• Structural Engineering

• Urban Engineering

• Geotechnical Engineering

• Transportation Engineering

• Coastal Engineering

• Construction Engineering

• Resources Engineering

• Materials Engineering

Civil Engineering Job Description

If you are interested in pursuing a career in civil engineering then you are going to have a wide range of jobs and responsibilities depending on the sort of thing you specialize in.

You’ll normally start out your career helping out more experienced civil engineers and coming to grips with the responsibility of the position.

Once you have built up some experience you are going to be given more and more responsibility, eventually getting to the stage where you’ll be given your own projects to take care of.

There are a number of different stages of construction projects, and as a civil engineer you might be involved in any one or all of these stages.

Design

The first stage is always the design stage where ideas are floated about what is required, and these ideas are turned into some sort of concrete plan of action.

Implementation

The next stage is the implementation of the idea. So basically the construction stage.

Asa civil engineer you may be called on to help supervise in the construction stage to make sure that the project runs smoothly and any problems that arise can be dealt with immediately.

Maintenance

After construction has been completed it’s important to have some sort of maintenance plan in place to ensure the longevity of whatever was built.

Civil Engineering Salary & Career Info

Civil engineering salaries are definitely above average when compared with the typical wage across all industries.

When you first get started you can expect to earn somewhere around the $50,000 level, with your earnings rising steadily towards the $80,000 average as you build up some experience.

The top earners can expect salaries in excess of $100,000/yr.

As mentioned earlier there are plenty of jobs in civil engineering. In the U.S alone it is estimated that over 280,000 people work as civil engineers.

And even though the industry is already quite large, it should still see strong growth over the next ten years of around 30% compared to current levels.

So if civil engineering is where you think you might like to work, at the very least you know that you’re entering a strong industry with good employment prospects.