Career of the week: Civil Engineer
Career Profile: What do Civil Engineers do?
Civil engineers supervise and direct the design and construction of roads, bridges, water supply systems, and structures. They take the local environment into account, anticipating earthquakes and hurricanes as well as the stress of daily use. Civil engineers, who work in engineering’s oldest discipline, have long been valued for their ability to create the structures and systems used every day.
Citizens rely on civil engineers to keep structures safe and create new systems for more efficient living. These specialized engineers can be found wherever population growth and expansion call for new or updated transportation, structural, and geotechnical engineering.
A Day in the Life of a Civil Engineer
Civil engineers comprise the most popular engineering specialty, with 256,000 engineers nationwide in the field. The daily duties of individual civil engineers depend on job specializations. A large amount of technical and computer work is typically required, and civil engineers must be familiar with different schematics, maps, and drafting software.
The career may require travel, as civil engineers move from place to place to work on different projects. Civil engineers can spend time outside, surveying the progress of construction and taking a close look at problems.
Civil Engineer Training and Education
A bachelor’s degree is the standard for many entry-level jobs in civil engineering, although more advanced careers may require more training. All engineers offering their services directly to the public must be licensed and many civil engineers hold official professional engineer (PE) certification.
Training programs tend to group courses into different emphases, typically geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and transportation engineering. Popular coursework includes instruction in surveying, highway engineering, land surveying, water quality engineering, and computer methods.
Civil Engineer Employment & Outlook
Civil engineers should be the largest job increase among all engineers in the coming years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports. An 18 percent employment growth is expected with 46,000 jobs across the civil engineering industry.
The increase is due in part to a general population growth and the related need to improve civil infrastructure nationwide. Civil engineers are needed to repair existing roads and other public structures, as well as design and create new structures. An increasing emphasis on “green” building is expected to increase the need for civil engineers with experience in pollution control systems.
Typical Civil Engineer Salary
Mean annual wages for civil engineers was $75,230 in 2007, according to the BLS. Those working in architectural, engineering, and related services saw earnings of $76,540, while those working for state and local government earned $67,880 and $74,030, respectively. The state of Washington had the highest concentration of civil engineers in 2007, with mean annual earnings of $77,540.
source: collegegrad.com
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In: Careers · Tagged with: Career Profile, Civil Engineer, Civil Engineers, Computer Methods, Computer Work, Design And Construction, Drafting Software, Emphases, Engineer Career, Engineer Employment, Engineer Training, Geotechnical Engineering, Group Courses, Highway Engineering, Population Growth, Professional Engineer, Quality Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Water Supply Systems
Companies that pay 100% Medical Benefits
While many companies are cutting benefits due to increasing related costs, the companies listed here are still offering healthcare and many other great benefits at no cost to their employees. This is almost unheard of in this day and age.
Integrity Applications Incorporated
Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network
In addition to the companies mentioned here, many smaller businesses with fewer than 100 employees offer prepaid health insurance as an incentive to attract new employees. This can be a huge factor in considering employment along with the other usual considerations such as career growth and job stabililty.
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In: Business Stories, Job Search Advice · Tagged with: Boston Consulting Group, Career Growth, Eog Resources, Health Insurance, Health Network, Integrity Applications, Lehigh Valley Hospital, Mcmaster Carr Supply, Medical Benefits, Netjets, Nugget Market, Perkins Coie, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Salary Information, Shared Technologies, Stew Leonard, Supply Microsoft, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market
Honesty is the Best Policy When Climbing the Corporate Ladder
Look around you. Some people that you work with today may be your boss tomorrow. Isn’t it funny how some professionals can easily climb the corporate ladder while others never quite get there regardless of how hard they try or what they do? Most people try to get there using an honest and hardworking approach, while others may look to more underhanded tactics like office politics, extreme aggressiveness or by misrepresenting their work and accomplishments.
Recently, more than 4,500 business professionals across the Beyond.com Network of thousands of niche career communities, participated in a poll to gauge if they have ever succumb to office politics in order to get ahead in their job. We were glad to see that more than 79 percent of professionals believed in honest hard work and did not get involved in office politics, which often times can come back to bite you later.
We have all seen characters in movies and TV shows (and in personal experience from time to time) where office politics, blackmail, and bribery play a role in career advancements. However, it’s important that you don’t see these characters as mentors towards advancing your own career. Instead, you should look to incorporate the following tactics to get noticed, climb the corporate ladder with pride and get ahead in your career.
- Be Enthusiastic. Get excited about new opportunities and be sure to volunteer to participate on projects that will help the company grow or overcome a challenge. At the end of the year, be sure to demonstrate the positive impact that you have made and communicate it to your manager BEFORE your annual review.
- Be a Team Player. Companies like to see people help one another and work together effectively to accomplish a goal. If there’s an opportunity to volunteer to be on a team or if a coworker is buried in paperwork, offer your assistance to help dig them out. But, it’s important that you don’t volunteer just to make yourself look good or be noticed. Co-workers and managers can see right through it.
- Be Friendly. Make an effort to get to know your colleagues regardless of where they are on the corporate ladder. Even showing the smallest bit of interest can give you that extra push in the right direction. But, it’s important to be sincere.
- Build Relationships. It is important to build relationships up and down the corporate ladder, not just with senior management that you think can help you get ahead. Again, you never know when a co-worker or professional on your project will be the next boss that will make the decision on your movement up the ladder.
- Be Respectful of Other’s Time. Showing up to work, a meeting, or an event on time shows a lot about someone’s character. If you’re the person that is constantly late, it may send a signal that you believe your time is more valuable than everyone else’s and that’s not a good message to be sending.
- Put in Extra Time and Effort. If you didn’t finish all of your work during the workday, put in the extra effort to meet your deadline. We’re not saying that you should be at the office all hours of the day, but putting in a half an hour here and there will certainly show management that you care about your job.
- Advance in Your Skills. Advancing in your skills doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going back to school full time—it could be as simple as attending a workshop or sitting in on a webinar to get caught up on the latest industry trends, lingo, and procedures. Want to earn bonus points? Invite others to join you.
- Be Flexible. If you’re working on a project and the deliverables or priorities change, don’t have a meltdown. Simply go with the flow and adjust accordingly. Showing that you have the ability to change course and still perform is a great asset and certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. If you are inflexible or negative, others will see you as a barrier not an enabler.
- Practice What You Preach. If you say you’re going to do something—do it. It’s a great quality to be known as that colleague that is dependable and follows through. If you announce to your manager or your team that you’ll be taking on a specific task make sure you deliver on it.
- Show Your Appreciation. Thank your colleagues whenever possible. A simple thank you can go a long way and get noticed by others.
It’s easy to incorporate these tips into your daily routine and when you do, you will better position yourself for career advancement and prove that nice guys (and girls) can finish first!
source: atlantacareerpath.com
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In: On The Job Advice · Tagged with: Aggressiveness, Blackmail, Boss, Bribery, Business Professionals, Career Advancements, Career Communities, Climbing The Corporate Ladder, Coworker, Honesty Is The Best Policy, Mentors, New Opportunities, Niche, Office Politics, Paperwork, Personal Experience, Poll, Pride, Team Player, Tv Shows
