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What isa day in the life of a civil engineer composed of?

I'm a Civil Engineering major and I will be attending Florida International University in the fall of 2016. I usually struggle with indecision in terms of my major and I tend to want to shift to Information Technology, Computer Software, and Mathematics. I am a HUGE STEM person. #engineering #civil-engineering #architecture

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Michael’s Answer

First off Congrats! I am happy to hear you are leaning towards the Civil profession. I cant speak for the IT and computer software careers but they offer a great opportunities as our world only becomes more reliant upon computers. Civil engineering as you may have read has a lot of different fields but all deal with maintaining and constructing the infrastructure society uses everyday. Airports, highways, bridges, watermains, stormwater management, waste water treatment plants etc. I happen to be in the Land Development sector of Civil engineering. I love my job because it is different everyday. Generally, I work with clients and/or architects to develop plans for new buildings such as grocery stores, apartments, homes, and public facilities parks. Each project varies in complexity but the common thread is that you are developing construction drawings. To get there you can expect the following: Land surveying, reviewing the history of the property, preliminary plans, cost estimates, stormwater management design, "green" designs, grading, local+state+federal permits (this is a big part). Coordination with other disciplines such as landscape architects, surveyors, geotechnical, traffic engineers, and structural engineers. Many of this is needed in other types of Civil projects such as a local roadway improvement project. Here is an example of the projects we have recently done on Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/terracg/


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Kacey’s Answer

I am an Outside Plant Engineer for Verizon and my job involves a mixture of outside civil engineering work and computer work. My group decides where and how we install physical fiber optic cables to feed a wide variety of technologies, maybe you have heard of 5G :). OSP Engineers work with many construction crews to make sure our projects get built correctly, that they have all of the materials they need and make sure the quality of the work meets our standards. When I'm not working outside I am usually working in GIS, reviewing engineering drawings, taking care of customers and handling the reporting to other parts of our company. I particularly love my career because no two days are ever the same and I get a chance to get my hands dirty but also do technical computer work. I often tell people the thing I like best about my job is that I get to imagine how to build something, design it and be there while its getting built. Women in engineering, especially outside plant engineering are so rare. I am often told that I'm the only one some people have ever met. This career path is extremely demanding and fast paced so be prepared for a challenge!

Kacey
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