Civil Engineers

What the job really is

Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

At a glance

• Sector: Architecture & Engineering
• O*NET-SOC code: 17-2051
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
• Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
• Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
• Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
• Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
• Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.
• Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data.
• Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction.
• Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility.
• Prepare or present public reports on topics such as bid proposals, deeds, environmental impact statements, or property and right-of-way descriptions.
• Design energy-efficient or environmentally sound civil structures.
• Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Apache Subversion SVN, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit, Bentley MicroStation, C, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, ESRI ArcGIS software, Extensible markup language XML, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Transportation Engineers
• Construction Managers
• Water/Wastewater Engineers
• Construction and Building Inspectors
• Environmental Engineers
• Architectural and Civil Drafters
• Architectural and Engineering Managers

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Civil Engineers — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.