As infrastructure continues to age, civil engineers will be needed to manage projects to rebuild, repair, and upgrade bridges, roads, levees, dams, airports, buildings, and structures of all types. Civil engineers may work for state or local governments or in the private sector at consulting or construction firms. Some civil engineers hold supervisory or administrative positions, while others pursue careers in design, construction or teaching.
If you are applying for a graduate role within civil engineering, it will greatly help your career prospects if you have gained work experience within budgets; ability to maintain an overview of entire projects while continuing to attend to detailed technicalities; excellent verbal and written communication skills. As current U.S. infrastructure experiences growing obsolescence, civil engineers will be needed to manage projects to rebuild, repair, and upgrade bridges, roads, levees, dams, airports, buildings, and other structures.
Employment of civil engineers is projected to grow 20 percent from 2012 to 2022, faster than the average for all occupations. As infrastructure continues to age, civil engineers will be needed to manage projects to rebuild bridges, repair roads, and upgrade levees and dams.
The Field
From the pyramids of Egypt to the international space station, civil engineers have always faced the challenges of the future - advancing civilization and building our quality of life. Today, the world is undergoing vast changes -- the technological revolution, population growth, environmental concerns, and more. All create unique challenges for civil engineers of every specialty.
The next decades will be the most creative, demanding, and
rewarding of times for civil engineers, and now is the best time to find the right career for you. Civil engineers are at the forefront of technology. They are the leading users of sophisticated high-tech products - applying the very latest concepts in computer-aided design (CAD) during design, construction, project scheduling, and cost control.
Civil engineering is about community service, development,
and improvement - the planning, design, construction, and
operation of facilities essential to modern life, ranging from
transit systems to offshore structures to space satellites. Civil
engineers are problem solvers, meeting the challenges of pollution, traffic congestion, drinking water and energy needs, urban redevelopment, and community planning.
Our future as a nation will be closely tied to space, energy, the environment, and our ability to interact with and compete in the global economy. You, as a civil engineer, will perform a vital role in linking these themes and improving quality of life for the 21st century.
As the technological revolution expands, as the world's
population increases, and as environmental concerns mount,
your skills will be needed. There is no limit to the person
the satisfaction you will feel from helping to make our world a better the place to live. Whatever area you choose, be it design, construction, research, teaching, or management, civil engineering offers you a wide range of career choices for your future.
Civil engineering is grouped into seven major divisions of engineering: structural; environmental; geotechnical; water resources; transportation; construction; and urban
planning. In practice, these are not always hard and fixed categories, but they offer a helpful way to review a very diverse and dynamic field.
Preparation
A civil engineer's training should continue throughout his or her entire career. An effective engineer realizes that continuing education is the key to success. In college, an engineer gains an ability to learn that will last throughout life, while at the same time absorbing the basic knowledge and skills that every engineer must master. On-the-job experience, gained through co-op assignments, internships, or summer jobs, is a vital factor in making a young engineer credible to potential employers. Gaining professional licensing is often important to career advancement. Becoming marketable means having the
skills and experiences beyond the basics, perhaps through leadership in student or community organizations, plus having the ability to communicate one's unique qualifications clearly.
Undergraduate
Engineering students usually select their field in the first or second year of college. At the same time that you are coming to grips with the fundamentals of engineering, you should also pay attention to the broader issue of learning to learn a skill you will need to master if you are to continue to develop as an engineer - communication. It is important to develop your writing and speaking skills. It is a good idea to get involved in campus activities that let you develop as a person as you learn to be an engineer.
Co-ops and Internships
Civil engineers will tell you that co-ops, internships, summer jobs, or any other way to gain experience in the field of your choice, will help you land the first job. More importantly, it will give you a chance to find out what you like to do and are good at doing.
Marketability
Anyone looking for a job has to get comfortable with the idea of selling one's strengths. Whether it is a deep specialization or a broad background, you will need to demonstrate how you will help an employer. Marketing includes both a profound knowledge of the product (yourself) and the buyer (the employer). When you find a match between your interests and their needs, the chances of success are high.
Licensing
Every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have laws regulating the practice of professions including law, medicine, and engineering. These laws protect the public health, safety, and welfare by ensuring that those receiving licenses to practice have at least met certain requirements of competence, ability, experience, and character. Licensure laws vary from state to state and are exclusively under the control of the individual state legislatures. But generally, the licensure laws for professional engineers require graduation
Graduate School
While not the only way to get ahead, graduate training can provide the critical depth of training some specialties require. The best sources of information about grad school are your professors and other practicing engineers.
Accredited Programs
Those interested in a career in civil engineering should consider reviewing engineering programs that are accredited by ABET, Inc. ABET accreditation is based on an evaluation of an engineering program's student achievement, program improvement, faculty, curricular content, facilities, and institutional commitment. The following is a current list of all universities offering accredited degree programs in civil engineering.
