Name
Syed Abdul Khaliq Shah

My job is
Working in Estate Development as an Implementation Engineer acting as a client officer on behalf of Ealing Council for the technical approval of developers designs as well as suggesting other improvements & alternatives where required..

Home is
Greenford, Middlesex.

School days
O' Levels from Grammer High School Bin Qasim, Karachi, Pakistan; A' Levels from Shah Latif Intermediate College, Karachi, Pakistan; B.Eng Hons (Civil Engineering) from Sir Syed University of Technology and Engineering, Karachi, Pakistan from where I transferred my credits to City University London and finished my degree with the title of B.ENG (Hons) Civil Engineering with Surveying.

The journey so far
I have worked with the Capital Projects team for traffic schemes, then I moved to work with the Traffic Orders team as well as Controlled Parking Zone schemes. I am currently working with the Estate Development team for technical approval of highway works. I was also involved in monitoring the Cladding Removal Works carried out in Southbound Blackwall Tunnel during December 2004.

A day in the life
I used to be on my feet from 9:00pm till 5:00am inside the tunnel with various contractors and utilities. TfL(Transport for London) wanted to remove area of cladding panels from the newly refurbished Southbound Blackwall Tunnel. I must say that apart from learning / experiencing various things from the tunnel night works, I also learned many things about night buses.

I work with
A team of nine. The working environment is friendly as well as social. Everybody is helpful and shares the technical information required for projects. We go out on Friday evenings for drinks.

The best thing
The best thing about being a Civil Engineer is that you are involved in the projects from Start till end i.e from since the idea comes in till the practical completion of that idea. You can see the whole project going through stages from feasibility to design and design to implementation, and at the end that becomes a permanent physical mark on the ground and you can stand back and say with great pride that you were involved in this.

My social time
I mostly spend my weekends in my social circle and with friends. Always have lots of dinner / lunch invitation to go to, apart from that I play acoustic guitar.

My travels
I haven't travelled much around the world yet but certainly do hope to travel in near future, I would love see the world as long as I can get the visas easily. However I have been on Pakistan's tour and the best / hard thing about that was that I did it all on the wheels.

My future
I am working on getting charted through ICE. I want to gain more management as well as technical experience and also to be involved in other streams of Civil Engineering e.g Hydraulics, Structures etc. I might also perform as a DJ one day.

My view on the future of civil engineering The demand Civil Engineers will keep on increasing. There are enormous opportunities in various fields that need young people to be on the board for new ideas, innovations and techniques.

I recommend Civil Engineering to
those young people who are looking for a challenging and innovative profession.