Careers > Civil Engineers

Civil Engineers

$89.94K Median Salary 25K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 8.2% Job Growth

Find Colleges for this Career Find Certificates for this Career

About This Career

Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

Reported Job Titles

City Engineer, Civil Engineer, County Engineer, Design Engineer, Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer, Licensed Engineer, Project Engineer, Railroad Design Consultant, Structural Engineer

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Problem Sensitivity

Written Comprehension

Written Expression

Information Ordering

Mathematical Reasoning

Category Flexibility

Fluency of Ideas

Near Vision

Number Facility

Visualization

Far Vision

Flexibility of Closure

Perceptual Speed

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Originality

Selective Attention

Knowledge

Design

Engineering and Technology

Building and Construction

Mathematics

English Language

Physics

Administration and Management

Customer and Personal Service

Law and Government

Public Safety and Security

Computers and Electronics

Transportation

Skills

Active Listening

Complex Problem Solving

Critical Thinking

Mathematics

Reading Comprehension

Speaking

Science

Systems Analysis

Time Management

Operations Analysis

Judgment and Decision Making

Active Learning

Monitoring

Writing

Coordination

Systems Evaluation

Instructing

Management of Personnel Resources

Negotiation

Persuasion

Service Orientation

Social Perceptiveness

Technology Skills

Computer aided design CAD software

Presentation software

Analytical or scientific software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Development environment software

Geographic information system

Project management software

Electronic mail software

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Office suite software

Internet browser software

Map creation software

Spreadsheet software

Document management software

File versioning software

Enterprise application integration software

Operating system software

Word processing software

Business intelligence and data analysis software

Object or component oriented development software

Data base user interface and query software

Calendar and scheduling software

Industrial control software

Tools

Levels

Distance meters

Scales

Triangles

Microfiche or microfilm viewers

Photocopiers

Tape measures

Speed sensors

Measuring rods

Electronic counters

Notebook computers

Compasses

Thickness measuring devices

Theodolites

Rulers

Measuring wheels for distance

Global positioning system GPS receiver

Level sensors or transmitters

Map measurers

Two way radios

Anemometers

Digital cameras

Protractors

Desktop computers

Abilities

Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

Design: Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Engineering and Technology: Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Building and Construction: Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Physics: Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Transportation: Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Science: Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Technology Skills

Computer aided design CAD software: Autodesk AutoCAD; Autodesk Revit
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Development environment software: Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Suite
Geographic information system: ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS systems
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Map creation software: ESRI Site Scan for ArcGIS; OpenDroneMap
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Document management software: Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat; Filing system software; Records management software; Transcription system software
File versioning software: Apache Subversion SVN; Continuous integration software; Git; Version control software
Enterprise application integration software: Electronic Data Interchange EDI systems
Operating system software: Microsoft Windows
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Business intelligence and data analysis software: BrightEdge; Conductor Searchlight; IBM Digital Analytics; Searchmetrics Suite
Object or component oriented development software: Oracle Java
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Industrial control software: Industrial Scientific iNET; QuestSuite Professional