Civil engineering
What is civil engineering?
What do civil engineers do?
Where do civil engineers work?
Work conditions
Employment opportunities
Salaries
Specialisations
Find out more
What is civil engineering?
Civil engineering involves the planning, design, construction, assessment and maintenance of physical structures such as dams, bridges, roads, pipelines, buildings, towers, harbours, and dockyards.
What do civil engineers do?
Civil engineers are responsible for the infrastructure that we take for granted every day — they design and construct our transport systems, our water and gas supply systems, and our sewerage systems, just to name a few!
Civil engineers are also often involved in environmental protection. They may, for example, be involved in assessing the impact of large-scale projects on the environment; the collection and treatment of sewage and industrial wastes; pollution control; and resource management and protection.
Where do civil engineers work?
Civil engineers can work across a diverse range of industry sectors. They frequently find employment in the building and construction industry, and have the option of working in the private sector as consulting engineers, construction contractors, or project managers; or in a range of government departments.
Work conditions
Civil engineers may be required to work long hours and meet strict deadlines while working to a large extent under minimal supervision. They may work in offices, or work predominantly on site, which often necessitates considerable travel to and from work sites.
Consulting and/or contracting civil engineers may be required to travel interstate, or even overseas. Some civil engineers may therefore need to relocate from time to time as work opportunities arise in different locations.
Employment opportunities
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and Engineers Australia report that there is currently a major skills shortage in this profession.
This acute shortage within civil engineering is largely due to the fact that the university system is currently producing around 900 civil engineers each year, yet within the same period a staggering 1800 civil engineers are reaching retirement age.
Along with mining engineers, civil engineers have one of the highest employment rates of all the engineering disciplines. 97.8% of civil engineering graduates were in full-time employment four months after graduating, according to the Graduate Careers Australia GradStats December 2007 survey.
According to DEEWR’s Australian jobs 2008 there are good job prospects for civil engineers. Unemployment in this occupation is low, and future jobs growth is expected to be slight.
Salaries
According to Engineers Australia's 2007 Salary and Benefits survey, the average base salary for a graduate civil engineer in 2007, across the private and public secotrs, was $49,842. Civil engineers with between 4-10 years experience earned an average of $78,905.
Specialisations
- airport engineer
- geotechnical/soil engineer
- harbour engineer
- highway engineer
- public works engineer
- pipeline engineer
- structural engineer
- transport engineer
- water engineer
FIND OUT MORE
Engineers Australia, www.engineersaustralia.org.au
Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA), www.apesma.asn.au