What is Civil Engineering?

So what's a civil engineer?
A civil engineer designs and supervises the building of real dinkum stuff. She/he might also be responsible for the maintenance, repair, evaluation and dismantling of that stuff.

 

Real dinkum stuff?
Yeah, stuff like fire lookout towers, roads, water supply systems, water drainage systems, airports, tunnels under Sydney Harbour, bridges over the Yarra, sports stadiums, toilet blocks, marinas, towers for wind generators, elevated viewing platforms in rain forests. You know, stuff you can point a stick at and say, 'some of that's my work'.

 

Toilet blocks? How uncool is that?
Yeah, and what about a doctor facing a spoilt brat with a yucky nose? Uncool as. All the doctor can do is reach for a tissue. The engineer can use the task as an opportunity to try a different way of doing things.

 

What's the difference between a scientist and an engineer?
Theodore von Kármán, a person who bridged the gap between mathematics and engineering, said, "A scientist studies what is, whereas an engineer creates what never was." Or to use a literary metaphor, scientists write books on grammar, whereas engineers write novels.

 

Where do civil engineers work?
All over. In the city, in the town, in the bush, overseas. In offices, on building sites, in universities, on mountains, in deserts, in places the tourist never gets to (unless the engineer has been there first ;-).

 

I have an interest in civil engineering, but I also have this "help humanity" thing - you know?
When there's a disaster, say a drought in Sudan, a Tsunami in the Indian Ocean or a war creating a displaced persons crisis, civil engineers are needed to provide shelter, transport infrastructure, sanitation, water. Other workers on disaster sites speak highly of engineers - "I like engineers. They're 'can-do' people." Organisations (Non Government Organizations, NGOs) exist which place engineers in these situations. For example, three highly regarded NGO's which are keen to have civil engineers on their books are Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR), Oxfam International (Oxfam) and Engineers Without Borders (EWB). EWB in particular provides opportunities for engineering students to become involved with humanitarian work.