Civil Engineering Throughout my lifetime, I have never had to think very much about the working world and everything that went with it. All through high school I took classes I liked or thought would be interesting to me, but never thought that all of those classes were preparing me for what was to come. Before I knew it, it was time to go to college. The four years of high school had flown by and now it was time to choose a major for college. I had never given much thought as to what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The only real occupations that I had really gotten to experience were teaching, the jobs that my parents had, and others such as doctors, dentist, most of the occupations that everyone sees while they are growing up. When I finally decided on my major, I chose engineering, but I didn’t know if I would like it or not. The only prior knowledge I had about it was the fact that my grandfather was an electrical and chemical engineer, and that my parents and teachers said that I would be good at engineering. Recently I have been interested in civil engineering, but what does one do with such a degree? What opportunities are available to a person with a degree in civil engineering on the job market? The broad curriculum that covers many different fields of engineering make civil engineering a major that allows a person to work in nearly any field they wish. So what could a person do with a degree in civil engineering? Civil engineering is one of the most general fields in engineering, and is often considered the “liberal arts of engineering.” Civil engineering is also referred to as the “People” engineering, because wherever there is a civilization, there is a need for civil engineers. A person that possesses a degree in this field shows an understanding of mathematics, chemistry, and physics. Thus there are many different applications of jobs that a person can perform with this degree. As Jeff Olsen, a former graduate in civil engineering at the University of Cincinnati says, Fortunately for an engineer, there always seems to be room for advancement, both inside and outside of engineering. If you want to stay "engineer" your whole career, there are typically two paths an engineer takes during their career. One is to remain technical your whole career. This type of person is someone that likes sitting behind a desk doing desi... ... middle of paper ... ... do. I am the type of person that becomes bored very quickly with the same thing day in and day out, so this fast paced, always-changing work atmosphere is perfect for my personality. As a civil engineer I will choose to work outside with a hands-on approach to the projects I take on. This will be a very rewarding career for me, since I will get to see a specific design all the way through to the finished project, and I will get to observe how this finished project helps the public. I also like the fact that my work would benefit more people in one day than almost any other profession. Since I am good at solving problems and designing and constructing things, I should have no problems as a civil engineer. Because civil engineering has all the qualities I am looking for in a job, I feel that it is the perfect career for me. Bibliography: Olsen, Jeff. Personal Interview. 18 Feb. 2000. Rost, Bob. Personal Interview. 22 Feb. 2000. Chua, Ian Y. H. Civil and Structural Engineering Resource Web. 29 Jan. 2000. 2 Mar. 2000. http://web.singnet.com.sg/~icyh1955/civil.html. Telford, Thomas. “Re: Civil Engineers Handbook.” E-mail to the author. 29 Feb. 2000.
American Society of Civil Engineers, “2009 Report Card for Americas Infrastructure,” March 25, 2009, 4.
In the future I plan to earn degree in the field of engineering. I have always found this area of study to be interesting and I enjoy the combination of math and science. I chose to study engineering because i find the most satisfaction with creating a tangible product. On top of that i believe that the economy in florida is growing and along with that a growing need for engineers like to build the proper infrastructure to support all this development.
I have conducted my research through interview with someone familiar with construction and development as how geometry is used in these fields.
My top five core values are Security, Making Money, Doing Work I Like, Working Environment, and Helping Other People. What this means is that I want a job that pays well and I know I will not lose unless I terribly mess up a project. I would also like to have a career in which I enjoy what I do, which would be working with math, numbers, and at times with people. I would also like to be able to help others to maintain a clean and productive working environment. A Civil Engineer’s career path would allow me to have a job that pays well with an average starting salary around $55,000. By making roads, bridges, or whatever it is that I am designing I would think of that as helping people by making safer designs for the roads and bridges that they use. Also, I have previously job shadowed at a Civil Engineering company called American StructurePoint and everyone there was very kind and helpful and it seemed like a great working environment. Furthermore, if I were to graduate from Purdue with a degree in this field, I would not have much trouble finding a job thanks to Purdue’s reputation. However, this could also pose a threat because there are so many applicants for these jobs that I could lose my job to someone who appears more qualified than my future self. This would break my number one value in Security which would be difficult to live with. However, I think that I would still be able to find other work even with this degree because so much comes with it. Just like I learned from Mr. Ayers, he graduated with a degree in Civil and he no longer does any design because his degree allowed him to take on a management position
Engineers are artists, their job is to create wonders that make life easier. This career of being artisans is only made possible by problem solving skills and amazing imaginations to create everything that people take for granted like hot running water that individuals have access to at all times, big metal boxes that use explosives as propulsion to travel at breakneck speeds down the thousands of miles of road that were made by the engineers, through the paving equipment and the chemical formula of the asphalt. Without engineers mankind would still be in the dark ages. Using horses to travel bumpy dirt roads that only are there because the travelers walked by thousands of times.
An engineer must be competent in both solving mathematical problems, such as cost, and being able to communicate with the public about projects. For example, a civil engineer may need to compute the cost of a project that was outlined in 2009. Since that time prices of property, material, and labor have all risen by more than five percent. The engineer would take the original prices and use the researched information to finalize the present day price (College in Colorado). A civil engineer also needs to have the skills to write about a project that can incorporate the successes, problems, and exciting portions of the development (College in Colorado). Having these skills honed is important throughout the entire civil engineers career.
I chose chemical engineering as the career I wished to research. This career interested me the most mainly because I found out that this career involves two of my favorite subjects, which include both math and science. I have had the discussion of what I wanted to major with several different people and each telling me that engineering is a good paying job. I found out that engineers don't always stay in a office but they tend to get out and explore to perform mathematical or scientific research. Sometimes engineers are sent to different parts around the world and I find traveling being something I have always wanted to do. Chemical engineers work with chemicals to conduct research and design chemical manufacturing processes. I chose this career knowing that I would be doing some of the things I adore doing and that’s looking at complex problems hoping I can find the solution them.
Engineering is the application of scientific, economic design and a wide range of other specialized fields of engineering. As an engineer, there are four major different areas of engineering work that I can concern about, that is chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Beyond this four, sources separate to other main branches. Based on the electrical engineering is concerned with the basic forms of energy that run the world, there is a hopeful future in taking this major as my direction of future. However, what exactly is the benefit of this major; am I suppose to choose this major; what kinds of job opportunities that I am able to get and various of other questions are what I concerned the most.
Civil engineering is a very demanding yet fulfilling career, as the engineer is able to work on a project from its inception right to its completion. When you drive over a bridge, see a building, fly out of an airport, or visit a museum, a civil engineer has had a major part in that
Earthquake Engineering is a branch of Civil Engineering that is in charge of protecting the society from natural disasters like Earthquakes. This branch of Civil Engineering mainly studies how structures behave when they are hit by a seismic wave. Earthquake engineers main responsibilities are to design structures that can stand an earthquake and to make sure that all structures have the required building codes. In addition, they need to estimate the probable damages to structures after an earthquake.
Structural Engineering deals with the design and construction of all types of structures including buildings and bridges. Emphasis is placed on mechanics and the behaviour of materials.
First and foremost, civil engineers, and engineers in general, will always be in high demand. Society will always be expanding and demand for the construction of dams, bridges, buildings, etc. will be infinite. Because of this, engineers generally easily find work when they leave college. Also excellent pay an traveling a lot and have a chance to see new places. The main disadvantage is job pressure. The buildings and projects you head up as a civil engineer are sometimes massive in scope and budget. Significant failures can lead to significant losses for your company, or a raise in the company's insurance premiums. Faulty engineering can also lead to calamities in communities from building degradation, road and bridge problems and water system malfunctions. Problems with your work can hurt your employer's reputation, or your own. There are lot of cost & risk involved with the job. Hence, there is lot of pressure as liability can be high on errors. This career path is good many jobs are opened and to be able to make more money or be on the top you would need years of experience the more experience you have the better and more work you will
A drawback of this career is that it requires a lot of education and only 48,000 people are accepted in engineering jobs which is a small amount of how many people are trying to become an engineer. In all honesty I do not know what makes me qualified to pursue this career because liking the job will not get me qualified. The amount of schooling required for you to become and engineer is quite a bit considering that you have to study beyond the normal four years. So, I am pretty sure I can make it through college, but at the same time I am not sure if I have the dedication it would
Why do I want to be a civil engineer? Well, I am mainly interested in becoming a civil engineer for two reasons. My first reason is that I want to see something I designed on paper become real. I have always thought that was the coolest thing about engineers: they can design things like skyscrapers on paper, and then have them built because they are free of all errors. My second reason is just me wanting to have a career and not just a regular job at a factory, where there is always the chance of jobs being offshored or done by machines instead of people.
One advantage to being a civil engineer is the fact that there is great pay potential in the future of this occupation. Another advantage of being a civil engineer is because it is important to the community. Civil Engineering contributes to the community's "infrastructure evolution by designing buildings” (Kokemuller, Neil). On the other hand, civil engineering has some disadvantages. These engineers must work constantly under the denunciation of the reviewer of the worksite or the project. In addition to that, civil engineers must continually explain their thinking and why they made a certain decision. This, to me, would cause a lot of pressure and I wouldn’t necessarily like that. Aside from all the pros and cons, the occupation of civil engineering can be decided on based on your past experiences with the field of engineering. Jessica Potts, marketing executive at topEngineer, had some advice to aspiring Engineers. She said to do your research on the job to see if that is really what you want to do; use all of your resources available. Next, she said to gain experience. This could be through volunteering opportunities, or on-the-job work experience. “You’ll never regret time where you’ve learnt something new, you’ll only regret where you haven’t had the chance to learn enough” (Potts, Jessica). Lastly, she tells us that the people that don’t commit to a specific field of