What I love about being a civil engineer
The variety of people you can work with.
Engineers are surprisingly diverse, from the creative who use their engineering knowledge to drive projects forward to the deeply technical who focus on the detail that makes a complex project really work. There are also the people who enjoy the design office to people who love being outdoors creating new buildings and facilities.
We work with other professions too - architects, surveyors, builders and many others. Our teams need a broad set of talents to deliver the future.
I genuinely believe that diverse teams perform better than teams that aren’t diverse; and that engineering and engineers must be inclusive to build high performing teams that will solve the engineering projects of the future.
If the industry overlooks potentially talent individuals who might not think engineering is for them, then we’ll struggle to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
The civil engineering myth I’d like to bust
That there’s any specific type of person who’ll be a good engineer.
The profession needs people with diverse skills; creative thinkers who can develop concepts to solve problems, highly analytical people who can dig into the detail, people in offices, on site, all over the world.
There’s a space in engineering for most inquisitive people.
I’d recommend a career in civil engineering because
You’ll make a difference. There are as many different types of engineer as you can imagine, but they’re all solving people’s problems. From ensuring the basics, like plenty of clean water in our taps, to designing and building the places we live, work and play in, all over the world.
The project, past or present, I wish I'd worked on
The Rideau Canal; over 200km long linking Ottawa to Kingston in Canada.
The route was surveyed by Royal Engineers in canoes exploring the wilderness, making their maps as they went,past waterfalls and rapids - quite the adventure!
The construction of its 45 locks was an amazing feat of engineering and is now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
What gets me out of bed every morning?
Solving people’s problems with creative thinking. Engineers blend creative ideas with logical systems to develop solutions to problems, from the basics of life to those things that make life better.