Knowledge Suitable for Potential Civil Engineers

Potential Civil Engineers in undergraduate studies or even Civil Engineering graduates in some developing nations are often faced with a shallow understanding of the role of Civil Engineers in a nation’s workforce. God so fashioned man with talents that there would be no vacuum. Some people say they can never be in Army or Police force but there are people yearning to go there. If there is no Army or Police in a nation, we may all be slaves to some group. The same is applicable in every industry on earth.

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Civil Engineering is a very diverse profession but this knowledge is not usually well cultivated in the intellect of young Civil Engineers. Because of this, some young Civil Engineers in Nigeria for instance struggle to learn how to build houses, and when one cannot learn this or excel in it, the person may become frustrated without knowing that he may have been posited to do better in other aspects of Civil Engineering.

The absence of industry in other fields of Civil Engineering also contributes to this trend. There are many disciplines under Civil Engineering in which a Civil Engineer can work. One needs to find the one that suits one and one should pursue it because passion is needed for excellence. According to Okonkwo (2012), Civil Engineering is concerned with the design, construction, and maintenance of public services such as bridges, water supply systems, buildings, towers, highways, tunnels, sewage treatment systems, and roads. Major areas of specialization in Civil Engineering include:

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1. Structural engineering: This involves the analysis and design of structures like towers, buildings, bridges, dams, jetties/wharves, etc.

2. Water engineering: This involves the design and operation of water purification systems and testing procedures to provide potable water supply for communities.

3. Highway/transportation engineering: This involves the design, construction, and optimization of highways, railroads, interchanges, roundabouts, and mass transit systems. They also develop tools for measuring traffic control devices such as signal lights.

4. Construction/building engineering: This involves the design and development of building techniques and the management of construction projects often known as project management. They work to improve construction methods and materials.

5. Geotechnical engineering: This involves the analysis and understanding of the behaviour of geomaterials (soil and rocks). With this knowledge, the engineer can propose and design foundation types to bear loads of structures. In the oil and gas industry, geotechnical engineers provide their expertise in oil and gas exploration and installation of oil/gas pipelines.

6. Geodetic/photogrammetry engineering: This area deals with the mapping or surveying operations involving contour plans and maps of construction sites and surrounding areas to establish alignment and proper placement of engineering projects.

7. Urban planning engineering: This area involves the design of the components of a city like buildings, roads, schools, banks, filling stations, etc. to meet the overall objectives of the society. Urban planning engineering is always projecting toward the future in his design.

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As I noted earlier, passion is very important in every decision-making. Before you choose a course to study, ensure that you know something about the course and see whether it would fit you and whether the industry you would work in after your graduation would suit your skills and interests. A young Civil Engineer who started an internship in a construction company stopped after a few months and cited the stress in the work as his reason. One can conclude here that his passion is not strong in the profession. As a Civil Engineer, one can work in the following industries:

1. Building construction industry as project manager, site engineer, structural or geotechnical engineering consultant.
2. Highway/transportation industry as project manager, site engineer, technical engineer, or consultant.
3. Ministry of Work as supervisory engineers that supervise the work of construction companies.
4. Public utilities such as water supply systems as design engineers or maintenance engineers.
5. Mining industries as geotechnical engineer.
6. Railway as design, maintenance, or supervisory engineer.
7. Academic institution as teacher/researcher.
8. Agriculture industries as structural/geotechnical engineer.
9. Oil and gas industries as an asset maintenance engineer, structural engineer, or geotechnical engineer.

Following closing in the trail of passion is excellence. To ensure that one secures his job in either of these industries, it is necessary that one excels in an area of specialization. From the first day in school, focus and study hard to understand the IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES in the general aspect of Civil Engineering and when you choose the area to specialize usually at the tail end of studies as applicable in Nigeria, endeavour to tailor the understanding to your area of specialization. Understanding the general principle of Civil Engineering is very important because owing to the shortage of industries in the labour market in Nigeria, one may find himself in an industry in which one has not initially chosen to specialize. With the knowledge one has, it is easy to adapt.

Ancillary to the knowledge of principles is the knowledge of SOFTWARE. By nature, Civil Engineers do a lot of novel projects which mostly pass through design stages. Previously, designs were done manually but as the world continues to develop, fast and efficient design deliveries are required such that construction targets are met, and software is needed to achieve this. Following the outbreak of coronavirus in China in 2020, a large hospital was built in ten (10) days. Without the use of software in various phases of the work, it would have not been possible. Software is designed based on the principles mentioned above. Knowledge of the principles is necessary to effectively and economically use the software. Learning a new software is usually a difficult task but without its knowledge, it may be difficult if not impossible to get a job in most Civil Engineering industries. It is also necessary that one should know the software applicable to some industries so that one would not learn in vain but should learn the ones necessary for one’s industry. Listed below are different industries and software applicable to them.

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A. Building Construction

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. AutoCAD (drafting)
3. ArchiCAD, Revit, and Sketchup (drawing/modelling)
4. Atlantis, 3D max, V-ray, and Lumion (Beautiful and natural view of models)
5. CSC Orion, StaadPro, Etabs, Autodesk Robot (for structural design)
6. CADS RC, Revit, Tekla structures (for detailing)
7. MS Project and Primavera (for project management)

B. Highway/Transportation

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. AutoCAD (drafting)
3. Autodesk Civil 3D, Civil CAD, and MX roads (design/drafting)
4. MS Project and Primavera (for project management)

C. Water Supply Systems

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. Kanal ++ (modelling)
3. Epanet and Aqua ++ (design)

D. Quantity Estimation

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. QE Pro
3. Autodesk quantity take-off

E. Geotechnical Engineering Applications (mining /oil and gas)

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. Plaxxis
3. Geo 5
4. FLAC 3D
5. SACS (offshore platform)
6. SAFE and Staad Foundation (foundation design)

F. Surveying/Urban and Regional Planning Outfits

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. Arc view
3. Geomatics

G. Bridge/Tower Design

1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. AutoCAD (drafting)
3. StaadPro, MIDAS (design)

H. Programming

1. Python
2. Matlab
3. MS Excel
4. Etc.

The list of software could be endless. It is necessary that one learns the basic software a Civil Engineer should know such as Microsoft Office application packages and other common and applicable in one’s country such that those on site can adequately interpret the design drawings. One should also learn how to use an important programming language. If one finds oneself in a management position, one should endeavor to learn MS Project and/or Primavera. Depending on the industry one finds oneself, learning one or two additional software to the basic ones can help one secure new jobs or retain present job. As I noted earlier, knowledge of software and its principles of applications go pari passu.

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Reference

Okonkwo, U. (2012). The Engineer: Professionalism in Society (1^st edition). SCOA Heritage Systems, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.