Civil Engineering Orientation
Lesson 2
Civil Engineering and Society and other Professions
TOPICS
1. Roles of Civil Engineer in the Society
2. Attributes of a civil engineer
3. Civil engineering as a profession
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
Understand the important roles of civil engineer
Discuss the attributes to become a good civil engineer
Understand how ethical standards are important in the practice of the profession
Understand the important skills that a good civil engineer must possess
TOPIC 1: Roles of Civil Engineer in the Society
As defined in Chapter 1, Civil Engineering deals with the design construction and
maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including roads, bridges, canals,
dams, airport, sewerage systems, pipelines and railways.
It should be noted that the term “engineering” means implementation of solution to
practical problems. Engineers as compared to scientist may ask “why” and proceed to research the
problems; while the engineers know how to solve the problem and implement a solution. Thus, it
can be described that scientist focus on the investigation of the phenomena while engineers create
solutions.
Philips (1997) defined engineering as the “means on how to do new things in new ways”.
Also, engineering is defined as the application of math and science to create something of value
from our natural resources. While, Theodore Von Karman stated that as “Scientists discover the
world that exists; engineers create the world that never was."
The word engineer is similar from the Latin root ingeniosus, meaning “skilled”. Thus,
engineer refers to clever, practical, problem solver. As defined by Bugliarello (1994), Civil
Engineering is the:
modification of nature to create and improve human habitats.
standard of perfection, beauty, or moral and physical excellence, especially as an aim
of attainment or realization.
match deep functionality with aesthetics in every manifestation of the profession.
moral compact between the engineer and world society
work for the welfare of the public.
observation of societal needs to improve society.
Major Roles of Civil Engineers in the Society
1. Conceive, plan , estimate, approves and implement all civil engineering activities;
2. Play an important role in the development of infrastructures such as:
• Measure and map the earth’s surface
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Civil Engineering Orientation
• Plan new communities of built environment
• Build suitable structures for the rural and urban areas for various utilities
• Build tanks and dams to exploit water resources
• Build river navigation and flood control projects
• Build canals and distributaries to take water to agricultural fields
• Purify and supply water to the needy areas like houses, schools and offices
• Provide and maintain communication systems like roads, railways, harbours and
airports.
• Devise system for control and efficient flow of traffic
• Provide and maintain solid and waste disposal system
• Monitor land, water and air pollution and take measures to control them
3. Undertake preliminary studies of possible plans leading to a recommended scheme;.
4. Prepare contract documents for civil engineering projects;
5. Always find and apply solutions to complex problems of preserving and protecting the
environment
Indeed civil engineers play a vital role in reshaping the built environment with the ultimate
goal of uplifting the standard of living of people. The role of civil engineers in the nation’s
development is always recognized by many great leaders:
“Engineers have always played a vitally important role in developing
America’s way of life and standard of living; from constructing bridges
and highways to exploring the vast earth beneath us, America’s engineers
are helping to keep America moving and safe”.
George Bush, 1989
“Engineering profession needs to reassert its leadership; to raise its eyes
and voices, roll up its sleeves, and do again for the nation what it did a
century ago: make it a winner in the world marketplace. If competing and
winning -- rather than puttering and theorizing -- become the real stuff of
an engineering career, our best men and women, our winners, will once
again gravitate toward the profession, and the impending decline of
American engineering will become a thing of the past.”
John F. Welch, Jr., 1989
“History provides the big picture, why large-scale projects were built and
what their benefits are to society...You can wake people up to the importance
of infrastructure, the efforts of the civil engineers who have improved the
quality of life through its design and construction, why it needs to be repaired,
and where tax dollars will be going. You can use history to educate...
engineers ...about where our present problems came from.”
James M. Fels, 1990;
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Civil Engineering Orientation
TOPIC 2: Attributes of Civil Engineers
A civil engineer is expected to possess the following attributes;
• must be innovative and logical individuals;
• have higher ethical standards;
• expected to be creative and versatile;
• problem solvers and flexible;
• have the ability to understand design and manufacturing processes in the bigger
picture;
• possess a multi-disciplinary, system perspective
• able to collaborate with a number of other professionals
Today, Civil engineering is drifting away from the typical gold-standard of “design for function”, as
the profession embraces “design to cost and environmental compatibility”. With the invention and
technology-based application, many aspects of traditional works has been replaced by digital application.
Manual computation has been replaces software based application that in one click everything is acquired.
Engineering is becoming increasingly specialized, with the different major or areas of specialization
being offered in the current curriculum, engineer’s spectrum of knowledge is widened and areas of
concentration is prioritized. Magar (1997), suggested that pursuing a master’s degree in engineering
provided more responsibility, more important tasks, more technical tasks, greater self-confidence and better
technical skills and of course will pay off with higher salaries and more rapid advancement.
TOPIC 3: Civil Engineering as a profession
By the early 20th century, engineering became a licensed profession. License applications
are acted upon by the State Board of Professional Engineers after passing the licensure
examinations. In the Philippines, the Professional Regulations Commission is the governing body
that administer the engineering board examination. After finishing the bachelor’s degree, a person
becomes eligible to take the board exam.
Civil engineering is an exciting profession because at the end of the day results are seen
just like a completed bridge, a high-rise building, a subway station, or a hydroelectric dam. As
highly trained professionals, civil engineers provide technical services ranging from small towns to
big cities that can be both in the government and private sectors. As a profession, civil engineering
is can be defined as:
Knowledge – as its requires formal education, a bachelor’s degree and
continuing education to strengthen the knowledge, be flexible and
versatile at all times.
Organization - as it requires set of standards for admission to
profession, standards of conduct, obey and practice at all times the
code of conduct.
Public good – as the main purpose of service of uplifting the
standards of living and the preservation of environment and public
welfare
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