Civil Engineering is one of the four major branches of engineering.

Civil engineering is a
field of work related to construction of roads, drainage systems, dams, and other structures. Its
focus is on Science and Mathematics. Civil engineers make sure that the buildings and other
structures around us are safe, not only for the people who will stay in the structure, but also for the
people around the structure. Civil engineers are also concerned with the effect of constructions to
the environment. Civil engineers also estimate the budget given or the budget needed for a project.
Civil engineers work mostly in the public and for the public, since civil engineers construct roads,
dams, drainage systems and other structures for the use of people. Civil engineers make things
possible for the people. For example, civil engineers help in constructing roads in far-flung areas
for it to become accessible and to give convenience to the people living there. Civil engineers help
in giving us a safe and durable environment that we live in. Although it is already a branch of
engineering, it is also divided into different areas of specialties, which can be chosen by an aspiring
engineer. These are my knowledge about civil engineering, but during our discussion in Civil
Engineering Orientation, I realized that there is so much more than what I know about civil
engineers and civil engineering. Our class was tasked to interview civil engineers whose
specializations are as follows: geotechnical engineering, water and resource engineering, structural
engineering, construction engineering, transportation engineering and environmental engineering,
to have a deeper knowledge on what is the specialization, what are the scope of work in the given
specialization and what lessons did they have and brought from college until they entered the
industry.
For geotechnical engineering, Engr. Timothy Daniel Felicia has given us information about
his field of work. According to Engr. Felicia, Geotechnical Engineering is technically the
application of engineering method to the solution of problems which use soils as a foundation, and
rocks as aggregates and a solid foundation. Soil is one of the most important foundation of a
structure. This material affects the solidity of a foundation of a structure. Geotechnical engineers
investigate the reaction of soil to the different external forces from the environment such as heat,
air and water. Geotechnical engineering is essential to the plan of geotechnical structures such as
dams, roads, tunnels, etc. They investigate the hazards of soil erosion, earthquakes and landslides.
A geotechnical engineer is required to study other engineering fields such as structural
engineering, material science and petroleum engineering. Geotechnical engineers provide roads
for transportation, a deep and solid foundation for structures, design excavations to prevent
landslides, designs, landfills and studies soil and external factors to prevent soil erosion. Engr.
Felicia considers the basic knowledge and technical information about geotechnical engineering
as a big help in application of his work as a geotechnical engineer. The mentioned information
about soil properties are vital for geotechnical reports.
Humans interact with people by means of transportation. Every day, people go to one place
to another to satisfy their needs. We use transportation when we go to school, work, shopping and
when we go back home. There are several modes of transportation such as air, water and land.
Who is the person who makes our transportation convenient? Engr. Jomar Ramos, a Transportation
Engineer, defined his field as the application of scientific principles together with the emerging
technology to the planning, operation and maintenance of transportation. Transportation engineers
provide service to the people by giving them a safe, fast, cheap and convenient way of
transportation. The scope of work of a transportation engineer includes the planning for design,
construction operations and management of various transportation facilities in water, air, rail and
road. Transportation engineering helps the community by managing transportation problems such
as traffic and the safety of the community when they are transporting. Transportation engineers
studies the possible effect of a certain construction to the traffic in a specific area. They are also
responsible for the safety of the people during transportation. They provide pedestrian lanes,
overpass or underpass for the safety of the people who are crossing the road, considering the effect
of these to the traffic. They also design and construct rotundas and skyways to help in lessening
the traffic in intersections by applying geometric designs. Transportation engineers also investigate
railroads for the subway trains. As of now, transportation engineers are looking for alternatives to
provide the people a more convenient way of transportation. They are also concerned about the
economic and environmental effects of transportation facilities. For Engr. Ramos, the most
important thing that he learned from college and he was able to apply in his work was being
disciplined and responsible. Discipline and responsibility help in maintaining productivity, not just
in school but also in real life.
Structural engineering is one of the fields of civil engineering that tackles the design
integrity of any structure and is responsible in producing safe and economical design, as defined
by Engineer Yoshiaki Mikami. The scope of his work as a Structural Engineer is to provide a
structural plan that is safe and has an economical design, despite the natural and other external
forces that are inevitable. Checking the design integrity of any structure is also a part of his work,
including the investigation of the stability of existing structures. After communicating with the
architect, structural engineers plan on what materials should be used, measurements, the angles
and how would the structure withstand external forces such as the temperature, the air and
earthquakes, while the design is followed accordingly. Structural engineers communicate with the
construction engineers who implement the design. Structural engineers assess the implementation
of the design, if it was implemented according to the plan. Based from his experience in the field,
all the design subjects specifically the subjects Reinforced Concrete Design, Steel Design, Strength
of Materials, etc. He also mentioned that their field is the application of theories into a structure.
He also gave a piece of advice for us, freshmen students. He told us that perseverance is the key
to succeed. The civil engineering course is a hard road and is full of bumps. If you fall a hundred
times, stand a hundred and one times.
Water resources engineering is all about water structure. It is about the sustainability in
water demand. It’s a system project that creates the design of dam, pipelaying, treatment plant, up
to pumping stations to the distribution of systems of water. Water resource engineering is about
the collection of demand within a specific period, for example, for a year. Water resources
engineers does not only construct dams and other water structures, but they also study about the
feasibility studies of water bodies such as rivers, including the quality and the quantity. They also
deal with the inevitable hazards to the water resources caused by human activities and natural
disasters. Water resource engineers check the sustainability of a source to provide water. They
produce water treatments to ensure the cleanliness and maintenance of water resource. Water
resource engineers provides programs and systems for the protection of the water resources, for
the distribution of clean water for the health of consumers and for the disposal of used and unsafe
water fluids. Water resource engineering is one of the most uncommonly known branches of civil
engineering since there are only few numbers of water resource engineers in the industry. We need
more water resource engineers in our country to protect our water resources which we are rich in,
and also, we need more programs and treatments for the water resources that are currently abused
and are now polluted because of man-made activities and improper disposal. Engineer Arsenio C.
Adriano, a water resource engineer described his work as a theory that becomes common sense.
Engineering, when applied is common sense. You must determine the procedure, the manner on
how to conduct your expertise to excel in your own career. Knowledge and time management
serves as a key to become an engineer. Practice makes perfect. Mathematics is the language of
engineering. You must excel in your capability of solving problems specially in real life situations
one you enter the industry.
Environmental and sanitary engineering deals with the concept of the protection of the
environment together with sanitation wherein you will protect the people when constructing a
structure. This consists of planning, design and management of solid waste, wastewater, sewage
and other environmental hazards for the safety of people and the environment. It also includes the
programs that help in improving recycling and lessening and controlling the water and air
pollution. They also studied Chemistry and Biology to prevent the disposal of chemical and
biological contaminants to the air and water, the effect of contamination and how to treat the air
and water when they are contaminated. They track the root of the pollution or contamination to
prevent the distribution of contaminated resources to the community. Environmental and sanitary
engineers also conduct environmental health programs for the knowledge and safety of the public
from health risks. Environmental and sanitary engineers have a big scope of responsibility,
according to Engineer Virgilio De Guzman Santos. If the doctor deals with curative medicine for
the people, environmental and sanitary engineers provide preventive medicine for the people by
managing and implementing projects about the effects of construction and the waste disposal
system in the country. We can observe in our country that we need more programs that should be
implemented for the proper waste disposal. Engineer Santos also mentioned that all the subjects
that students of civil engineering are studying right now are the pre-requisites for the preparation
once you enter the industry. In school, there will be a lot of things and ideas that will be taught and
once you enter the industry, all of those can be used and applied. It will create a big problem if you
need a solution to a problem in the industry, but it was not taught to you in your studies.
Construction engineering management for Engineer Roderic C. Molina is the application
of technical and scientific knowledge to execute the construction. This also includes building a
specific structure in a safe, sound, aesthetically viable and in the most economical way. The scope
of work of a construction engineer are the provision of manpower, suspension, tools, equipment,
services and consumable materials. They also design and provide engineering drawings. They also
prepare the project planning; the schedule and cost control. Construction engineers coordinate with
the structural engineers who provide the design. The construction engineers then estimate the need
budget for materials, schedule of the construction, provide the manpower and check the
implementation of the construction of a specific project. The construction engineers provide the
best materials that can be used with a fair price, so they check not only the quantity of the materials
delivered from the contractor, but also the quality of which in a given time. Construction engineers
have the choice to work inside the office or on the construction field. The manual drawing and
estimation became a big help during the times when there was no software for civil engineering
design and estimation yet. Right now, AutoCAD and Microsoft Excel are used in creating
engineering drawing or designs and computation for the estimate, respectively.
I took up civil engineering course only knowing a little about the work of a civil engineers.
Before, I only knew that civil engineers oversee the project planning and design and the estimation
of materials and budget. I thought that engineers work usually inside the construction area and
seldomly work inside the office. After the discussion and the interview, I have learned a lot about
the divisions of civil engineering. It has given me an idea to think of which specialization I would
like to take after graduating, passing the board examination and becoming a licensed Civil
engineer. It made me more excited to enter the industry to share my service for the people.