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What’s wrong with the making process of a Civil Engineer?

Whats wrong with the making process of a Civil Engineer 2 1 1 Civil Engineer

Civil Engineering is a part of engineering that deals with mathematical and scientific knowledge to improve infrastructures like bridges, dams, buildings, roads, railways, and common utilities to help improve human lives and our society. The civil engineering profession involves a lot of sub-disciplines and deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the built environment.

Every aspirant who pursues a career in civil engineering goes through a similar process and has a similar mindset. As a civil engineer, you automatically become a part of this ecosystem.

Civil Engineering Ecosystem

In a civil engineering ecosystem, you work with people that are related to the field like construction companies, contractors, architects, and government organizations. Your whole career revolves around this ecosystem for the coming years. This ecosystem can be further divided into two parts – 

  • Academic Ecosystem
  • Industrial Ecosystem

 

In your academic phase, you go through the process of choosing your career, work your way through college to get a degree, and gain the required knowledge and qualification to pursue a career in civil engineering.

In an industrial ecosystem, you start to implement your theoretical knowledge to practical use by working in the field and making contributions to uplift human lives and society.

But in the past few years, we have seen a huge decline in the number of aspirants choosing civil engineering as a career option. In the past decade, civil engineering has registered the lowest placement rate of a mere 38% between 2012-13 and 2015-16 among six engineering streams approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

According to industry experts, the students graduating from engineering colleges do not always possess skills that the industry requires resulting in their not getting hired.

Why are we facing such a problem even though the construction industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in a developing country like India?

The first step to becoming a civil engineer is to choose a college and university. Most universities have a fixed syllabus that does not match the current trends and techniques of the market. This does not help the students who dedicate four years of their life to developing appropriate skill sets and gaining experience.

Another reason is the lack of effort put by students to work on live projects in their final year. Thus, freshers are generally not the first choice for organizations as they need to put in a lot of time and resources to train them. So either these freshers receive positions from the bottom of the barrel or are underpaid.

Even after getting a degree in civil engineering, the knowledge and skills you develop do not match the market requirements. So if you are not able to stand up to the expectations of a company’s requirements, it would be tough to be placed in a good position with more reasonable pay.

You need to be “A Complete Package” for the company to get all those things. Thus, every other individual assumes that the field is underpaid compared to others like IT and Computer Engineering.

So how can you get that extra knowledge to develop your skills?

  • Try to work on projects, intern in different organizations, and gain practical knowledge to understand the basics of the field. 
  • Pick a field in the industry and learn the skill set required by companies to improve your chances of landing a job. 
  • Be a complete package for your organization! For example, if you are focusing on becoming a structural engineer, you should have complete knowledge about substructure & superstructure. 
  • Identify your skill set level, know your passion, and choose a department in the industry. Never choose a random thread and chase it wildly.

Conclusion:

In the end, your career is your responsibility. Even though there are many flaws in the academic ecosystem, never let that affect your industrial ecosystem. Create a plan, identify your passion, understand your skill set, and develop yourself to be a complete package. 

There are endless opportunities in the field of Civil Engineering and with the right steps, you can swim in the pool of success.