Basic Skills required in Civil Engineer for landing a job offer.

Civil engineers are the backbone of the construction industry, they are the people who can design, built, execute and operate the major construction projects, such as road, railway, airport, tunnel, dam and bridges. They must possess a pool of skill sets which is required from initiation phase till completion of the project.

Civil Engineers play a vital role as Techno-Manager where he not only utilizes his technical skills but also uses his managerial skills to take quick and effective decisions to provide green and sustainable solutions to the world. Civil engineers are known for executing complex projects making the nations proud. Construction activities require a perfect blend of technical and managerial skills.

Skills are broadly divided into two categories i.e Managerial and Technical Skills.

Managerial Skills:

The basic Managerial skills to become a civil engineer are:

1. He should be dedicated and able to handle pressure and time constraint.

2. Innovative thinking- on seeing a land one must have a good plan of constructing a perfect building using green materials.

3. He must know all aspects involved in construction industry. He should be good with thumb rules.

4. He must be good with number crunching.

5. Creativity, innovation, and pro active approach.

6. Good Analysis Skills - complex data interpretation (Trigonometry, Geometry).

7. Good Soft skills.

8. Ability to forsee things – Risk assessment and mitigation plan.

9. Leadership Skills and positive attitude.

10. Project Management Skills.

Technical Skills

Advanced skills in mathematics, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus and statistics are essential to a civil engineer, who must apply the appropriate mathematical formulas and principles in his design work as well as to problem solving. As project budgets and costs are an integral part of his responsibilities, he must also be proficient in reading and interpreting financial spreadsheets. He must be highly skilled in physics and the practical application of scientific rules, methods and the technology involved in the many aspects of the project, including design principles, construction methods and materials, soil analysis, and numerous environmental factors. It is also important for a civil engineer to be skilled in architectural design techniques and working with blueprints, maps, drawings and models, as well as computer programs used in architectural design and construction.

From a technical perspective, construction engineers need to know a little bit about everything that is happening on site. Civil engineers are constantly adapting to evolving issues and solving problems. Highly technical issues will always be passed back to Design Engineering for resolution.

The basic Technical skills to become a civil engineer are:

1. Ability to read and understand complex drawings

2. Ability to review drawings for construct-ability (Can I actually build this? - this happens              more than you would think.)

3. Ability to revise or create drawings to resolve issues

4. Ability to understand and apply complex technical specifications, standards, and                     

      procedures (These documents do not require a very technical background to 

      understand, but do require a high level of reading comprehension)

5. Ability to perform simple mathematics and solve crude engineering problems

6. Sound knowledge IS codes

7. Knowledge of Concrete, Steel and Geo-tech.

8. Knowledge of construction software. (i.e. AutoCAD, Staad Pro, MS-Projects, Primavera    

      etc.)

9. Knowledge of basic electrical construction (basic conduit, supports, boxes)

10. Knowledge of basic mechanical construction (pumps, valves, piping)

In general, the role of the civil construction engineer is to be able to relate the Design to the Builder. Design engineers have no idea how to actually build what they put on drawings, and craft have no idea how they came up with the design. The construction engineer has to know enough about both to get the job done. A good construction engineer will keep the project going forward by quickly responding to issues he/she can handle and forwarding the more technical issues back to design engineering for resolution. After all it is necessary to have a balance of both Managerial and Technical qualities to land a Construction job offer from any construction company around the Globe.