Careers: Civil engineer
Civil engineer
What do civil engineers do?
Civil engineers specialise in infrastructure such as roads, rail projects, bridges and oher key projects. They work to bring a designers’ drawings to life, but also get involved on site using their professional expertise to organise people and materials on site to ensure the project runs to time and budget.
They oversee construction on the ground and work in conjunction with consulting engineers as they have a good understanding of the design and construction processes.
Civil engineers are diverse and can work in many different sectors such as transport, marine, highways or waterways. Although all are very different, each branch of civil engineering has the same goal - to provide a safe, solid infrastructure.
Civil engineers are good problem solvers as projects usually experience some problems, particularly where they are complex projects.
A civil engineer’s typical tasks include:
- The ability to work with a range of people, from members of the public to clients, electrical workers and bricklayers
- The ability to solve problems quickly.
- Good communication skills and the ability to work in team with other parties such as consulting engineers.
- Confidence in negotiating modifications on a project from the architect or consulting engineer.
- Provide close supervision of the construction element of the project.
Qualifications and training
To be a civil engineer, you will need a degree, BTEC or HND in civil engineering.
There are several stages of training. This includes completing a period of initial professional development followed by a professional review and then entry into the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE).
Salary
Newly-qualified gradates into the sector can expect to earn roughly £16,000. Chartered engineers earn about £27,000, while an associate will usually make about £32,000.