As a civil engineer, you have the opportunity to be what many people long for – rich and famous. If this is not enough for you, consider the personal satisfaction that comes from seeing skyscrapers, huge bridges, and airports all built by the plans that you engineered and developed. The pride of seeing these can be intensely rewarding, and well worth the long hours. Being a civil engineer, while a great career financially, is also a career that can give you the best sense of yourself, a look into your abilities and a pride in yourself and your company. Being a civil engineer is, indeed, a rewarding career.While I may have already convinced you to become a civil engineer, you should probably hear the specifics of the job description. As a civil engineer, you can expect to perform a variety of jobs, and great communication skills will help you with each. Some of the job functions include initial consultations with clients who are considering your engineering firm to oversee the building of whatever it is the client wants built. In this meeting, or shortly after, you will probably need to meet with architects on the job to further explore specific requirements of the job.
After the initial consultation, and winning the bid for the project, you will need to analyze the location for the project and perform tests to insure that the location is perfect. If you determine that it is, you will need to design blueprints for the project. For this step, you will probably again work closely with the architect on the project. If you have a blueprint designed, you need to analyze the cost of materials and time to ensure that the project is, in fact, workable.As an engineer, you have a duty to also ensure that the environmental impact of your structure is not so great as to warrant changes in the blueprints for the project. You will also need to ensure that government guidelines and regulations, at all levels, are followed every step of the way. To do this, you will need to monitor and manage the project at every step, which will require your presence at the project site. Soon, your structure will be erected, a magnificent site for all to see.As a civil engineer, you are not limited to skyscrapers and bridges – you can choose from a huge variety of specialties, including geotechnical engineering, water resources, and structural engineering, to name but a few.
The average salary of a civil engineer is around $80,000 a year, with the highest paid engineers earning over $100,000 a year, and the lowest paid engineers earning around $50,000 a year. To be in the top earners, you will need not only years of experience in your field, but also a ripe market, such as the industrial machinery field. Location is everything, as the old saying goes, and such is true when considering salary as well. High paying engineering jobs are generally clustered around certain areas. Find these areas, and you’ll find steady work and financial security.