Describe something that a civil engineer will do many, many, many times.

Hi William:
One thing that will stay constant is that you will be learning new things every day. This is a must in any engineering career to keep advancing and keep up with new technologies. As you know civil engineering covers many areas (structural, geotechnical, water resources, etc). Depending on your chosen specialty and industry, you may have a balance of field and office work, especially early in your career. You will likely work with a team of other engineers and scientists on projects. Later in your career, you may become a project manager and work more with clients, if you are in the consulting field. Early on, a typical day would involve project team meetings, desk/computer work doing calculation/modeling, field work to collect data or check on construction progress. Later in your career your day may be more telephone and office meetings and other management related work.
I suggest you ask your school adviser to help your set up a day with a practicing professional to get a better feel for the civil engineering field.
I hope this helps.
Feel free to ask more questions.

As a civil engineer you will be dealing with clients and subcontractors constantly. It seems nothing works as planned and it is always a balancing act to keep engineers, clients, and contractors happy.

Above all to be a good civil or other type of engineer you will need excellent verbal and written communication skills and technical computer skills.

To be a mechanical or chemical engineer is a bit more involved and requires more math and applied hard science which to me is more appealing and gratifying.

Hope this helps,

Z