Civil Engineering Career

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I am looking at becoming a Structural Engineer.

I want to hear from other people who work as Structural Engineers, or otherwise have qualifications in Civil Engineering.

I have a Bachelors of Civil Engineering and have worked in the industry for 5 years.

That said, I'm likely getting out soon, but I can answer questions if you have them,

What prerequisites did you need to study Civil Engineering?

How long did you study and how hard was the material? What was it like?

How do you find working as a Structural Engineer? What commonly are the duties, tasks and expectations?

Well in Australia in High School i did:

2 unit Maths
2 unit Physics (or chemistry)
2 unit Engineering Science

plus not compulsory:
3 unit Computer Science

I was supposed to study 3 unit maths instead but I found out that the first year of the degree was covering it anyway so I didn't both

I assume by study you're referring to the degree not high school. It's a 4 year degree but i went part time for a bit of it because of work and home, so it became 5 1/2 years. The uni I went to is the top engineering uni in Australia. My course covered such things as:

Geology
Hydrology
Steel
Concrete
Management
Theory of Structures
Theory of Materials
plus others that aren't coming to my head right now.

In terms of what it was like, well if it's what you want to do, then that doesn't matter. When I started, it was what I wanted to do but towards the end I kind of just wanting to finish and now I'm think of changing careers. I don't have anything against engineering, it's just that sometimes I feel as if I need to be stimulated by more artistic endeavours.

Each year of the degree increase in difficulty and knowledge. By the end you do projects. I did mine on terrorist bomb damage to buildings as it's something I was into, like Risk Management and Failure Analysis.

At the moment I'm working as pre-cast concrete engineer and I do a mixture of design, quoting and testing which keeps it interesting. I don't do management and I'm not really interested in it. My uni friends do various things. One works for a highway company, another for a steel fabricator.

The two biggest skills required: a passion for mathematics and a problem solving ability

Any other questions?

I have a Computer Engineering Degree (BSc.). At the time that I was in university, the first year and a half of the program was common for all engineering disciplines.
I can tell you that (at least from my experience), in this common period there will be:

- Three calculus courses
- Four physics courses
- A "Volts for Dolts" course
- A "Bits for Twits" course
- One chemistry course
- One material science course
- One linear algebra course
- One statistics course
- One technical communication course
- One economics course
- One computer modeling course
- A "Mandatory Option"

After the first year, one applies from being in General Engineering into the Department that one wishes to be in (eg. Civil Engineering). Any who pass the first year of engineering will be guaranteed a position in a department. However, entry to a particular department is not guaranteed. Instead, entry to a department is based upon the number of positions available in that department, the number of applicant to the department, and their GPA.

The coursework is rather difficult with each course generally requiring half again the work of courses in other programs (eg. humanities). In addition, it is customary in engineering to take six courses a semester, rather than the typical five. Attrition in the first year is high (~80% in my memory). If one does not pass all of their first year courses on the first go, the odds of attaining a position in a popular department is rather small. After that, the difficulty is inversely proportional to the time in the program.

I have a rather good chum who is in Civil Engineering. From conversations with him, I have found that studies in Civil Engineering will start to diverge in the second year depending upon optional specialization (eg. Structural, Transportation, &c). Expect courses in: material science, physics, thermodynamics, project management, & geology).

Civil Engineering is one of the more diverse engineering disciplines. Generally, one is working on larger projects, thus the need for project management and contract law. This necessitates adequate "soft-skills". In addition, a good dose of common sense is required for Civil Engineering (if the result of a calculation does not make sense, do not use it).

I suppose that the most important fact to remember in any aspect of engineering is that "the devil is in the details".

Ah! I forgot about entrance requirements...

The entrance requirements were:

- Top English*
- Top Chemistry*
- Top Physics*
- Top Math*
- High-School Calculus

* "Top" denotes the highest difficulty-level of that subject (ie. no remedial, or mid-level version of the course).

im an applications engineer. i got the job cause the regular guy was sick and the boss saw i could do it cheaper so thats all i had to do

I would be careful with that term. Unless one actually has an engineering degree, and is a member of the applicable engineering professional society, it is illegal to represent oneself as an engineer, at least that here in Canada. Several years ago there were suits regarding "Microsoft Certified Engineers", which are not actually engineers.

If you do have these requirements, please disregard my statement...

all my business cards say applications engineer. and its my official title on all the work papers.

There's an international body that covers the professional degrees elligble for one to call themselves an engineer. Most western countries are signatories, including Australia. People do practice engineering without a 'licence', like law and medicine.

I concur that people do practice engineering, medicine, and law without the appropriate authority. However, that does not make the action legal.

I didn't say it was legal. I meant that they practice illegally. If you're not a certified qualified structural engineer and you sign your name as one, then you can be tried with fraud here. I'm pretty sure it's the same in America for other professional occupations.

I can't remember the name of the body. IPESMA rings a bell for some reason. Can't remember if that's it though.

Ah! I am glad to see that we are on the same page.

I am not certain about your reference to "qualified structural engineer". Here in Canada, there is no distinction between differing branches of engineering in terms of right to practice (eg. a fellow with a degree in Chemical Engineering may practice Computer Engineering if he believes himself to be qualified. This is true except for a very few number of specialized fields that are strictly regulated, such as Nuclear Engineering). All Professional Engineers are denoted as PEng. (except for possibly in Quebec, where a French equivalent may be used). In addition, each Province has their own Engineering Association. Thus, one must join the association for a particular province in order to practice as an engineer there, even if only for a single project.

You cannot sign engineering designs here in Australia unless you are acredited within your own specialisation. Our engineering courses do not have a common thirst year thread, they are specialised from the outset, which is sometimes why it is hard for foreign students to enrol mid course. I could not sign off on chemical engineering work because my degree is specifically in Civil Engineering. As civil engineering was the first engineering course, the nominal letters are BE. A chemical engineer is BEc from memory, it could be different. A mechanical engineer is BEm I think. We call engineers with degrees here Professional Engineers, in order to distinguish from other professions like train drivers. In Canada from what I've read, you all get a universal engineering science letters. All structural engineers in Australia are covered by the Australian Institute of Engineers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controvers ... m_Engineer

Hmm... I am intrigued by the diverse paths that our two countries took in terms of the education of engineers.

I was not aware that engineers in Australia are confined to their area of specialization as well. This could explain the confusion I have had with Australian engineers in the past. I thank you kindly, sir, for giving me this piece of knowledge.

How much leeway are you provided in practicing neighbouring areas of specialization? For example, as a structural engineer, would you be able to practice some aspects of Transportation Engineering as these two disciplines abutte?

Well there is leeway. I can only speak for civil engineering, but my degree did actually cover Transport Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Engineering Law, Management, Surveying etc so yes, I could do any of those things as there are strong overlaps in terms of procedure - but - I wouldn't be able to use my qualification to do - say - mechanical engineering or aeronautical engineering as it involves rather different principles.

I know people who did my degree who now work in transport, environmental and law fields.