Occupation

Civil Engineers

Human Advantage 69%

Significant human skills needed

AI Automation Risk Low Risk
2.7 / 10

This occupation requires complex human judgment, social interaction, and creative problem-solving that are difficult to automate.

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.

Also Known As: Airport Engineer, Architectural Engineer, Asphalt Engineer, Base Engineer, Bridge Design Engineer, Bridge Engineer, Building Construction Engineer, Building Engineer +65 more

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Core Tasks

  1. Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
  2. Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
  3. Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
  4. Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
  5. Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
  6. Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.
  7. Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data.
  8. Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction.
  9. Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility.
  10. Prepare or present public reports on topics such as bid proposals, deeds, environmental impact statements, or property and right-of-way descriptions.
  11. Design energy-efficient or environmentally sound civil structures.

Supplemental Tasks (5)

  1. Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.
  2. Identify environmental risks and develop risk management strategies for civil engineering projects.
  3. Conduct studies of traffic patterns or environmental conditions to identify engineering problems and assess potential project impact.
  4. Develop or implement engineering solutions to clean up industrial accidents or other contaminated sites.
  5. Design or engineer systems to efficiently dispose of chemical, biological, or other toxic wastes.

Education & Training

Job Zone 4 Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Experience: A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
On-the-Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Education Level Distribution

Percentage of workers in this occupation with each education level.

Bachelor's Degree
86%
Master's Degree
10%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.
5%

Relevant College Majors

  • Civil Engineering CIP 14.0801Design and construction of infrastructure.
  • Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering CIP 14.0802Soil mechanics and foundation engineering.

Technology & Tools

Hot Technologies

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Apache Subversion SVN
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
  • Autodesk Revit
  • Bentley MicroStation
  • C
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
  • ESRI ArcGIS software
  • Extensible markup language XML
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Visual Basic
  • Microsoft Word
  • Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
  • Procore software
  • SAP software
  • Shell script
  • The MathWorks MATLAB
  • Trimble SketchUp Pro

Software (74)

  • Autodesk Land Desktop
  • Bentley GeoPak Bridge
  • Bentley Haestad Methods CivilStorm
  • Bentley InRoads Suite
  • Bentley STAAD
  • Bridge design software
  • Cartography software
  • Computer aided design and drafting software CADD
  • Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
  • Cost estimating software
  • Dassault Systemes Abaqus
  • Dassault Systemes CATIA
  • ESRI ArcInfo
  • ESRI ArcView
  • Eagle Point Site Design
  • Email software
  • Finite element analysis FEA software
  • Formula translation/translator FORTRAN
  • GT STRUDL
  • Geographic information system GIS software
  • Graphics software
  • HEC-1
  • HEC-HMS
  • Hydraulic analysis software
  • Hydraulic modeling software
  • HydroCAD Software Solutions HydroCAD Stormwater Modeling System
  • Intergraph MGE
  • MAYA Nastran
  • Mathsoft Mathcad
  • Microsoft ActiveX
  • Microsoft Exchange
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Minitab
  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
  • PTC Creo Parametric
  • Road design software
  • Scheduling software
  • SmugMug Flickr
  • Spreadsheet software
  • Stormwater hydrology software
  • Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
  • The Gordian Group PROGEN Online
  • Trimble Geomatics Office
  • Trimble Terramodel
  • Verilog
  • Web browser software
  • WinTR-55

Tools & Equipment (29)

  • Anemometers
  • Blueprint copiers
  • Compasses
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital cameras
  • Dividers
  • Drafting scales
  • Drafting triangles
  • Electronic distance measuring devices
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser levels
  • Measuring tapes
  • Microfilm readers
  • Planimeters
  • Precision levels
  • Protractors
  • Radar guns
  • Rhodes arcs
  • Rolling scales
  • Steel rules
  • Surveying rods
  • Surveying wheels
  • Theodolites
  • Thickness gauges
  • Total stations
  • Traffic counters
  • Transit levels
  • Two way radios

Where This Career Leads

Career progression organized by specialty track and experience level.

Architecture & Civil Engineering Advanced Manufacturing

Zone 4
Civil Engineers You are here

Local, State, & Federal Services Advanced Manufacturing

Zone 4
Civil Engineers You are here

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Real Talk

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