In the growing economy of India, developmental projects are going in full swing. This has increased the demand of professional engineers. As a civil engineer this is the best time to learn skills that are required in construction fields. Whether it be learning design and drafting software or on field skills, which can contribute to your career growth.
After working as a civil engineer from last 6 years, I can assure you that if you have capability and required skillset you can easily grab job opportunity in leading construction firms. But construction firms prefers experienced candidates for their leading projects. So, if you are an fresher candidate without any prior experience then you need to work at low pay grade before you grab a big role in any company, on the other hand If you have knowledge of design/drafting software you can get office/desk job opportunity with decent or good payout which completely depends on you proficiency in software. Here I will tell you what skillset can boost your chances to be successful as civil engineer.
Learning design/drafting Software:
Design software like Autocad, Revit, Stadd pro are most used software in design firms. Learning these software and getting skilled with all functions of design/drafting technique can make you take an edge in civil engineer career. These skills are also beneficial if you want to start you own consulting firms. As every major city has ongoing township projects. So, if you start giving private consulting with designing of home architecture and design drawing you can easily earn a hefty amount in small time. But running a consulting firm also requires good management, communication and marketing skills which will help you grab projects for your firm.
Understanding on site activities:
For a civil engineer on site experience is very important. Learning site activities like binding steel reinforcement, Understanding drawing data and Knowledge of shuttering helps you grab major job opportunity. So, at first if you can find a small job related to site work that would be very helpful. But if you couldn’t find a job opportunity you can always join any site as trainee without any payout which will help you learn basics of site related work and if you are fortunate enough and firm sees potential within you, you can get absorbed by company itself.
Learn Estimation, Costing & Bar Bending Schedule (BBS):
Being a civil engineer you must learn how to calculate steel and material requirement by design drawings. These skills are helpful for your client to understand their spending if you are able to provide exact information regarding material and steel required for a project they can plan their project phase accordingly. In government sector contractors who fill tender of any project need to know their real investment that helps them to bid at lower or higher rate given by government. So, if you can help them with this you can charge a good amount from them.
Learn surveying Instruments:
Knowledge of surveying instruments like Total station, dumpy level etc. can be helpful for surveyor job profile. If you very closely understand all these instrument you can easily earn by joining any firm as surveyor. Experienced surveyor are required to set vertical & horizontal curve, Bridges, Tunnels etc. at site location. Any misjudgment can leads to major error in layout an may effect any project progress at site.
Prepare for Gov Exams:
Although competition is rising day by day as due to very low vacancies from Government and high unemployment data within India. But, if you have a very good academic record and have potential to study day and night, you can always choose to prepare for gov. exams. This will lands you to get a job in either state or central government agencies as engineer with good pay level.
Hope this will help you!!