PURSUING A CAREER IN CIVI ENGINEERING

“Choosing a career in civil engineering is the best decision anyone could make” says Mr. Louis Coetzee, a civil engineering lecturer at University of Pretoria (UP). It sees easy to choose a career, but the important thing is making the right choice, a career that will give you the privilege to express yourself and bring out the best in you. The best way to do this would be, finding out about a particular career before considering it. The bottom line is doing what you love most. Considering a career in civil engineering would not be a bad idea, because it will offer school leavers a chance to build skill and expertise that will be of use to both the government and various public firms in a continuous basis. Like every other profession, it will be considerate to know about civil engineering before pursuing it as a profession.

Civil engineering is a wide field that deals with planning, designing, supervising, managing and maintaining large construction projects such as highways, airfields, harbors, water and sewage systems, and buildings. A person pursuing a career in this field will be surprised how broad it is. Civil engineering is a complex and hectic career to pursue. This profession has historically has been male dominated because of the nature of job but it is amazing to know that women are getting involved these days but not a large number, as most of them are discouraged by the complexity of the work.

To pursue a career in civil engineering, a matric exemption or a senior certificate with mathematics and physics science is required, computer studies, geography and technical drawing is required as well. A compulsory admission test has to be written to study civil engineering. A minimum of 4years full-time BEng or Bsc is required, followed by 3years of practical training under a registered professional civil engineer.  Once a degree is obtained, the next step is getting a license; first, the fundamental of engineering exam must be completed. After the completion of the exam, the person is qualified as an engineer-in-training or an engineer intern.

Within South Africa, different major universities offer civil engineering in which school leavers considering a career in this profession can apply such universities are university of Pretoria (UP), University of South Africa (UNISA), University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN), Wits and University of Cape Town (UTC). For those wishing to study abroad, there are 5 top universities that offer civil engineering as well, such as Stanford University, Purdue University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and University of California Berkeley.

His advice for school leavers who want to pursue a career in civil engineer is to remain persistent, never allow distraction of any kind because they will be surprised how board the profession is and the level of work that is involved. Women rarely consider a career in civil engineering, the nature of work might be the reason for that but Mr Coetzee encouraged women not to back off, rather to pursue their dreams against any discouragement. He believes that the more women employed in the industry, the better the future of civil engineering industry. What a man can do a woman can do even better he says, so women should be encourage to start considering a career in this field. Anyone considering a profession in civil engineering has not made a wrong choice but must learn to be focused and diligent.