Taking Engineering Professions and Career Goals - Essay Example

Running Head: Engineering Engineering Author Name University Name Professor Name Course Name & Number Date of Submission Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Duties of civil engineers and obstacles 3 2.1 Duties of civil engineers and obstacles 3 2.2 Obstacles 4 3.0 Examples of the works and trends of the profession 5 4.0 Importance of the field to the society, examples of the works from the field and interesting aspects of this achievement 6 5.0 Motivating factors for taking engineering professions and career goals 7 List of references 8 Introduction Civil engineering began in Egypt when the construction of pyramid were constructed by Imhotep in 2630 - 2611 BC. However modern engineering began in 1800s where John Smeaton was the first “Civil Engineer” in England in 1761 while in USA a civil engineering graduate was in 1840 and in England civil engineering degree was established in 1886 producing John Wesley Gunn as first civil engineers. It involved the construction of roads, railway lines, dams, bridges, buildings and similar projects. Modern civil engineering breaks from the fundamental notions of old civil engineering, since a modern civil engineer is involved in management of projects as well as ensures that small and large scale projects embrace technological. The emergence of modern civil engineering addresses issues by implementing various strategies such as; sidelining the constraints governing space, site testing, and time, exploiting the benefits on internationalism, and utilizing technological advances. Furthermore, the role of the civil engineer was revised, becoming less constrained and focusing on fully participating in the production of infrastructure that represent individual and collective memories and identities. A civil engineer is defined as acquiring and applying technical and scientific knowledge to design, build and analyze physical infrastructure. This involves the use of various equipments, machines and computers. Civil engineering helps to eestablishing a long-term development and maintenance of major infrastructure that caters for increases in world population and environmental infrastructure. It offers variety of career choices in designing, constructing, teaching, research and management. Duties of civil engineers A civil engineer performs many functions in areas of planning and designing, directing and supervising of building of and maintenance of infrastructure like buildings, roads, irrigation projects, railroads, harbors, channels, bridges, airports, dams, power plants, pipelines, water and sewage systems. He provides documentation and drawings of various proposed infrastructure that explains how it constructed, maintained, assembled, fabricated or modified. Civil engineers are also responsible for decision making on an infrastructure after collecting, analyzing and testing results then communicates this to subordinates and co-workers supervisors. A civil engineer should think creatively while carrying out his duties of designing, developing, constructing or creating a new idea. He is also tasks with the responsibility of planning and organizing an engineering project. Civil engineering involves scheduling of projects activities and estimating costs of projects. The analysis of maps, drawings, survey reports, photographs and site soil is one important aspects of civil engineer. They are also involved in plan and design hydraulic systems, transportation systems. Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards. Obstacles There are many obstacles affecting civil engineers work and include unprecedented weather and climatic conditions for example rainfall which could carry away or wash out the raw materials during construction. These are aspects that the project may not have direct control over but which slows or halts the construction process. Site condition obstacles include delay by authorities to surrender the roads to the contractors on time. It also includes failure to corporate by the rural folks who may not accept the stipulated rates of buying the land on which the road is to be constructed or may totally be opposed to the building of the road altogether. Language barriers between the contractor and the folks may also be a barrier and a risk to the finishing of the road construction. Economic and financial obstacles include abrupt change of government policies on the minimum wage in the course of the road construction period, delay or failure to process financial releases by donors in donor funded road construction projects. Of concern is inflation which increases production costs since the unit cost of inputs consequently increases. Loss of money value in forex exchange affects the costs of the imported inputs. Technical obstacles include contractors’ and/or donors incapacity to fully fund the project leading to premature stalling and improperly finished projects. It also encompasses the lack of or inadequate qualified staffing which could otherwise offer the best technical expertise. Examples of the works and trends of the profession Examples of works observed in the field include roads, Bridges and houses. City planning and even the civil engineering of individual infrastructure have come to start taking these virtual dimensions of space into account. Computer systems monitor traffic, weather and more all throughout the cities they inhabit, and adjust everything from resource allocation to traffic signal timing to keep the city functioning at an optimal level. This integration of civil engineering and machine is something that may very well end up creating the large-scale changes in the minds and hearts of individual.  As civil engineering becomes ever more involved with machinery it becomes ever more lifelike. In some ways, our civil engineering is coming to resemble us. Our thoughts and feelings, as the Situationists tell us, are dependent in large part on our environments, on our buildings and cities. As these things become more responsive and aware, so will their ability to affect their inhabitants’ thoughts and emotions grow. The residents of such buildings and cities could conceivably come to integrate their lives with the “lives” of the buildings and cities that they live in. Such buildings and cities of the future could come to be considered types of “multiperson entities” that incorporate both human and machine elements. This nascent possibility of buildings and cities as conglomerate machine-human entities is perhaps the ultimate expression of the drive of the Situationists. To live in or interact with buildings and cities in such an environment would inevitably force the minds of its inhabitants into channels that are very different from today. This is civil engineering as the ultimate engineer of Situations. Machine and intuitive thought working in conjunction have the capacity to make individual buildings as well as cities into machines that redirect the thoughts and emotions of their inhabitants into more useful and, ultimately, satisfying paths. Importance of the field to the society, examples of the works from the field and interesting aspects of this achievement From the field study we noted that a civil engineering plays an important role to society by providing quality bridges, roads, and houses as was seen in field study. The filed study showed that through civil engineering projects human interaction is possible. The field study shows that civil engineering uses spaces on earth and above water to accommodate large volume people who want to interact or move to other places. Self-sustaining civil engineering projects like the bridge in the case study is important since meets current needs without compromising future generations’ abilities to meet their own needs. This also means that, to maintain the sanity and well-being of the society, an infrastructure must be able to withstand the elements and must also be well-built so that the owner will not have to deal with maintenance in the near future. Thus, one must not be alarmed of the high cost of a infrastructure as high costs ensure that it is stable, aesthetically pleasing, and puts the owners’ future fears to rest. Awareness for the environment is needed nowadays, considering the current climate conditions. Recent developments have kept the environment in mind. The combination of environmental awareness and proper infrastructure and design keep the balance of individuals and proper design ensures safety, well-being and happiness of people. Motivating factors for taking engineering professions and career goals Whereas our past was shape by the natural environment, and present and future is increasingly being shaped by the built environment as civil engineers strive to create perfect built environments by building new buildings, roads, dams, bridges, dams, pipelines, sewerage systems and other huge structures, planning cities, influencing landscapes, public and regional parks. This makes me interested in design-build aspect of civil engineer. I love creating interesting infrastructure and the thoughts of creating something inhabitable while being completely green is an aspect I would like to acquire more knowledge on, and possibly make it a reality one day. I want to construct structures that are integrated with their environment and hope to be one of the best civil engineers that can give humanity a means of communications as well as interaction within the built environment. This field has numerous opportunities to be exploited. Opportunities, however, come and go, but whenever they come, they favor the prepared. Possession of civil engineering education is the basic tool one needs to exploit these opportunities. Therefore, pursuing civil engineering education right now will perfectly prepare me and position me in a position from which I can exploit future opportunities in the engineering arena. First, the education will introduce me to various as aspect of civil engineering that I am not yet familiar with and enhance my knowledge of the aspect that I am already familiar with. Second, it is a training platform that will expose me to engineering theory through class room academic studies and practical experience through engaging in practical engineering activities. After my training, I will possess the ability to handle various types of civil engineering developments in any environment. I will be able to advise investors and other developers on suitability of various types of development, materials and sustainability since our generation is highly environmental conscious. At the end of the training, I will graduate as a qualified civil engineering, a qualification that will usher me through the flood gates of the opportunities in this field. I am not entirely new to civil engineering. Civil engineering has always been my passion, which I have nurtured from a tender age. My father is a general contract and I have already had some civil engineer experience working under him. I possess surmountable experience in internal and external working of infrastructure both deconstruction and new construction. I have working knowledge with bridges and roads, leveling, landscaping and underground city pipes. These are a clear indication that I have already taken bold strides toward achieving my career objectives. In addition, I am an insatiable consumer of civil engineering literature. To me, civil engineering is more that a passion and a career but a way of life. References List Augustin, S., 2009. Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Dowling, D., Carew, A. & Hadgraft, R., 2013. Engineering Your Future: an Australian Guide. Milton, Australia: John Wiley & Sons. Franck, K. & Lepori, R., 2007. Architecture from the Inside Out: From the Body, the Senses, the Site and the Community. Seattle: Academy Press. Goldberger, P. 2011. Why Architecture Matters (Why X Matters Series). New Haven: Yale University Press. Wang J.X. and Roush M.L., 2000; What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management, Marcel Dekker, VU, College of Arts, 2013.Handbook of communication skills for first students in the college of engineering Read More