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What does a civil engineer do?

What does a civil engineer REALLY do? (Need technical details)?

  • In civil engineering courses there is a lot of advanced maths, calculus, differential equations and the lot. I have read somewhere that all this won't be used in the real world and is just included in the university curriculum to prepare students for research or advanced study. So does a civil engineer mostly use software like Civil Autocad to design stormwater systems or beams. So the only thing the engineer has to do is enter numbers and there won't be any of the calculus or trignometric stuff as the software will deal with this? Are there any civil engineers out there with practical experience who can shed some light on this? I am not really good at maths but I would like to study civil engineering. Can you name some of the more popular softwares civil engineers use in the real world? Also, can you give me some examples of when differential equations or advanced maths is used in real world problems. I need details about what civil engineers "really" do. I know that civil engineers design and build roads, bridges, stormwater systems... etc but I want to know HOW they do it. What kind of calculations do they do? Is it alright just to have a basic understanding of statics since an engineer can always use engineering software to design things?

  • Answer:

    You're right Uni courses are very different from the real outside world, but if you want to continue as a researcher I have to admit that you will have to use the uni lessons all the time. But as a Civil Eng, If you're not good at maths it doesn't really matter but If you hate to use all sorts of numbers or not good at reaching the last results in calculations then DON'T GO FOR IT! I think you're wrong about some thing, It's true that an eng uses all sorts of kinds of software's but this is the eng innovation that has to be taken into work. SOFTWARE's like Etabs, Stadd pro, Sap, and... A basic understanding in satatics is a must, to have a good understanding in the rest of the lessons, and about what an eng really does: simply talking It consists of two main parts: 1) Calculating the main forces which are affecting the structure 2) Now by using these calculations and the help of specific standards and codes we check that if the structure can withstand it or not, if not, It must be recheked and supported.

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Depends on the choices you make, are you going to be a civil engineer, or civil/structural engineer? Are you going to go in to design, or construction and project management? At one extreme of being a design civil/structural engineer you will need to know the advanced maths and calculus, you will use design packages and stress-modelling packages, but you will need to know how these packages are calculating the answers so that you can work out if the answers they are giving you are reasonable. At the other extreme if you are going to be purely a civil (earthworks and concrete) engineer in construction and project management, you probably won't use anything more advnaced than high school maths, but you still have to pass the uni exams. Towards the later part of your course you will have to decide whether you want to be civil/structural or pure civil (earthworks, concrete, water etc). Then shortly after you start working in industry decide after the first year or so whether you want to be involved in design or construction. If you don't know, find a large company that has a good graduate program where you can be rotated through the various roles. After 10 years or so you can then decide whether you want to stay purely as a technical specialist or start moving in to the engineering & technical management area. You still need to pass the exams first though, hang in there, once you graduate things get pretty good if you're prepared to move around in the resources and construction industries. Since leaving university as a mechanical/mining engineer I have not used anything more advanced than basic (first year uni) calculus.

Jay

You only need to know a few things: - water + dirt = mud - **** flows down hill - payday is Friday - if it moves, its broken

CRex

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