Re: What does a civil engineer do exactly?

Dear Joe,

First, a little history:  Civil engineering being four hundred years
old, is the oldest branch of engineering.  The structures that the
ancient Romans and Egyptians built are not considered to have been
engineered.  Most all of the building elements (stone and brick) in use
at that time was loaded by compression only.  They had no means of
determining internal stress, tension, or bending moments.  The master
builders of that time could rarely explain why a structure failed.  It
was not until four hundred years ago that we had mathematical methods
for stress analyses and metal structural members under tension.

The first engineers came from the military for the design of
fortifications.  An attacking army would also use engineers to figure
out a way of defeating a fortification.  Why did engineers design
castles to have moats?  The moat prevented attackers from tunneling
under the castle wall.  Without a moat the combat engineering battalion
or sappers as they were called would advance on the castle by the use of
trenches and tunnels.  When their tunnel was under the wall the sappers
would set fire to the wooden braces and the tunnel would collapse,
bringing down the wall.

When engineers began to take on projects that benefited the general
public they were called civilian engineers or civil engineers.  These
projects included bridges, paved roads, public buildings, sewers,
drainage, irrigation and fresh water supplies.

Today the civil engineering profession is very broad.  Civil engineers
are active in almost all forms of government, military, and industry.
In government civil engineers are responsible for the design and
maintenance of municipal buildings, bridges, roads, airports, sewage,
and drainage systems.  In the military we have the US Army Corp of
engineers that are responsible for flood control on a national and local
level.  The US Army also has several Combat Engineering Battalions.
They are responsible for clearing mines, building bridges for advancing
troops, and destroying enemy fortifications.  One of their famous
achievements was the design and fabrication of a portable harbor used in
the Allied invasion of Normandy.  In industry civil engineers are used
everywhere.  These industries include construction, manufacturing,
fabrication, law, design, management, computers, aero-space, mining, and
many others.

As far as the most prestigious and highest paying jobs are concerned, it
depends on the individual.  Not everyone is cut out for these kinds of
jobs.  Some of the highest-paid engineers are active in sales.  In sales
there is no limit of opportunities.  The best design or product is
worthless until somebody sells it.  Some of the other prestigious jobs
are principle engineer of a large consulting firm, project executive of
a construction firm, and chief engineer of a large manufacturer.  To get
these jobs it takes ten to twenty years of effective hard work and
better than average personal skills.  The most difficult problems that I
have ever faced were not engineering problems.  They were people
problems.  Along with prestige, high salaries, and benefits comes long
hours, extensive travel, and tremendous responsibility.  At this level
these people are in high-risk positions similar to a football coach.  No
matter how good they are or how hard they have worked, if the
performance of the past year or quarter does not make the board of
directors happy they can expect to be fired.

If you are considering becoming a civil engineer I encourage you to meet
as many engineers as you can.  I hope I have been helpful.

Dwayne H. Vidrine, P.E.
Rookie Mad Scientist