Civil engineering jobs have existed from the time humans moved out of caves and started building shelters and structures to make life more convenient. Civil engineers have contributed to building civilizations by overseeing the construction of roads, bridges, and dwellings. They have defended civilizations by building defensive structures like forts, moats, drawbridges, and walls. Throughout the ages, civil engineers have helped to maintain civilizations by designing, planning, and monitoring the construction of private and public roads, airports, houses, dams, sewage systems, and other structures essential to modern human life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, civil engineers held the highest percentage of engineering jobs in 2004.

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	Civil engineers have contributed to building civilizations by overseeing the construction of roads, bridges, and dwellings.

The Duties of Civil Engineering Jobs

Today’s civil engineering jobs involve the use of both traditional and high-tech equipment and systems. Civil engineers now have to meet new challenges like pollution and traffic congestion, which are hallmarks of modern urban development. The typical duties of a civil engineer may include:

• determining project requirements in terms of equipment, materials, and human resources
  
  
• estimating costs and monitoring expenditures
  
  
• applying knowledge of engineering methods and principles to planning, organizing, financing, managing, and carrying out construction projects
  
  
• supervising technical support personnel, contractors, and construction workers
  
  
• providing the information on soil conditions required to design and construct foundations, underground structures, tunnels, embankments, and dams
  
  
• analyzing the properties of soil and rock that support foundations and underground facilities
  
  
• evaluating the potential strengths of buildings, the influence of slopes and landfills, and the effects of groundwater seepage, sliding, frost action, earth shifts, and earthquakes
  
  
• designing offshore drilling platforms and high-rise buildings
  
  
• evaluating and designing systems to remove or lessen ground contamination
  
  
• designing open pit mines, dams, and embankments
  
  
• designing load-bearing structures while keeping in mind the stresses that these structures will have to withstand
  
  
• carrying out inspections at each stage of the building process to ensure design compliance and analyzing the structure’s ability to withstand the effects of weather
  
  
• planning and designing transportation conduits such as highways, streets, railroads, airfields, and mass transit systems
  
  
• managing the operation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure
  
  
• overseeing the construction and maintenance of structures like dams, reservoirs, hydroelectric power plants, canals, and locks used for water management
  
  
• analyzing and forecasting patterns of water flow and their potential effects
  
  
• designing municipal water systems for the delivery of drinking water and collection and treatment of municipal waste and storm water
  
  
• developing water systems designed to deliver water to irrigation projects, avert flooding, guard beaches, and control rivers
  

Civil engineers are expected to see employment growth through 2014. An increased emphasis on infrastructure security and general population growth with its associated demands will require the services of more civil engineers. They will be needed to design and construct higher-capacity transportation, water-supply, and pollution-control systems, as well as large buildings and complexes.  They also will be needed to repair or replace existing roads, bridges, and other civic structures.  Construction and its related industries employ civil engineers, and employment opportunities will differ by location and may lessen during economic slowdowns.

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