Despite growing up in a rural area, I’ve always been attracted to cities. Being close to amenities and culture meant being close to where the action was. In North America, over 80 percent of the population lives in urban centres, a trend that’s only going to increase as time goes on. Infrastructure is needed to support these people, as well as to ensure that business can proceed as usual. Street lights need to light, sewer drains need to drain and roads need to be built and maintained. And that’s where engineering professionals enter the picture.
A Wide Umbrella
A lot of different disciplines play a role in the life of a city, but at the heart of the engineering department you’ll find the civil engineer. “It’s a very broad discipline, more so than chemical or mechanical engineering,” says Kent Novakowski, Department Head of Civil Engineering at Queens University. “As a consequence, students sometimes don’t see how they might fit in, because they associate civil engineers with buildings or bridges. That’s not all we do.” Indeed, everything from design and construction of roads and water treatment plants to the implementation of environmental projects like coastal protection and brownfield remediation fall under the umbrella. “Many civil engineers work in the environmental field, and there’s no real distinction between civil and environmental engineers.”
While architects usually spring to mind when one thinks of construction projects, it’s the civil engineer that powers the project. “We’re the technical side of things, while the architect is the artistic side,” reveals Novakowski. “One of the main reasons that a civil engineer needs to be accredited is because they provide an element of public safety. How do you know a bridge will survive? Because it’s been designed by an accredited engineer.”
It's a Personality Thing
Like all engineering, the discipline is math and science intensive. “When you’re looking at beam deformation or loads in regards to structural elements, there’s a lot of similarities between civil and mechanical engineers,” says Novakowski. “However, it’s a different personality type. In the environmental aspect of civil engineering there’s almost an element of estimation that you don’t have with the pure calculation of the structural engineering side of the equation, and that’s something you need to accommodate in your personality. Some people are fine with that and others are not.”
Once in the field, a grad will progress from junior engineer up the ranks, and their day-to-day tasks will change accordingly. “Say a civil engineer is involved in the development of a subdivision,” offers Novakowski, by way of example. “They would design all the infrastructure, spending part of the day in the office using AutoCad or another drawing package. Another part of the day might involve evaluating the progress of elements of the subdivision project.” While communication and interaction are important at all stages of a career, they are critical for the senior engineer. “You’d have more interaction with clients and management, as well as more writing responsibilities,” says Novakowski. “You’d also have more people reporting to you.”
Limited Licence
Getting a degree in civil engineering is a great path to getting a job in a municipal engineering department, but there are other ways to get there. Steven Fifield has been working in the City of Victoria’s engineering department for 35 years, and currently holds the title of Manager of Underground Utilities. While he doesn’t possess an engineering degree, he’s paired his academic background in Applied Science Technology with his work experience, and has been granted a limited licence to practice professional engineering in a defined scope of work by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. “When you go the route of getting a limited licence, you have to qualify and state your scope of work and qualifications by showing that you’re capable of working within that scope,” says Fifield. “Anytime I put my professional stamp on a drawing, I also have to include the scope of my qualifications. If, on the other hand, you have a degree in engineering, you can become a professional engineer and determine the scope of your work.”
There were multiple reasons for his decision to apply for his limited licence in engineering. “At this point in my career I saw no advantage to returning to school, and I decided that utilizing my experience was the way to go,” offers Fifield. “It’s gotten me the recognition of being a professional in the field of engineering, but it’s certainly been the long route.”
It’s a profession as old as cities themselves, and the need is only going to increase for civil engineering professionals. If you’ve got a mind for math and a fascination for cities, you may have just found your calling.