Career in Civil Engineering - Scope, Courses, Jobs, and Salary

Civil engineering is the best branch of engineering from the growth perspective. The demand for skilled civil engineers will never slow down worldwide as infrastructure projects, constructing the building, and much more structure will keep on increasing and will never be stagnant.

What Civil Engineers Do?

Let us first understand the role of Civil Engineers - they conceive, design, build, supervise, construct, operate, and maintain infrastructure projects and systems in the public and private sectors. The infrastructure projects include roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, systems for water supply, bridges, and many more.

There are many reputed technical colleges that impart state-of-the-art technical education to the students pursuing - undergraduate or/and post-graduate programs.

The career scope of civil engineers is huge worldwide - as according to a new research report by Global Marketing Insights, Inc, the market size of civil engineering is expected to grow up USD 11.72 trillion by 2025.

Here is the list of specialization to choose from:

How Do You Get Started?

If you are planning for your career in civil engineering then you should first go for an undergraduate program and you can also pursue a post-graduation program in civil engineering. Some colleges also offer a Diploma in civil engineering.

BTech Civil Engineering

It is a four-year full-time undergraduate program divided into 8 semesters.

Eligibility

• The aspirants must have passed 10+2 examination or equivalent examination with 45% to 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry, Maths from a  recognized university.
• The admission process of the BTech program is done through the entrance exams such as - JEE Main, JEE Advanced, MHCET, KCET.

The top engineering colleges for civil engineering are - IIT Bombay, MVIT - Sri M Visvesvaraya Institute Of Technology, Karunya Institute Of Technology and Sciences, AMC Engineering College, IIT Madras, and many more.

MTech

It is a two-year full-time post-graduation program.

Eligibility

• The students should have passed a BTech degree with a minimum passing percentage in the aggregation of all subjects studied in the undergraduate program.
• The admissions are done through the entrance exam such as - GATE score merit list.

There are many institutes that offer a two-year diploma course in civil engineering.

Eligibility

• The aspirants should have passed class X or its equivalent examination with a minimum of 45% marks each in Science and Mathematics as compulsory subjects. The students must have also studied English as one of the compulsory subjects.

Skills/Qualities Required For Civil Engineering

If you are pursuing civil engineering, there are few basic mandatory skills that are required, such as - Technical skills, critical thinking, communication skills, and project management skills. However, if you want to stand out in the crowd then, you should also possess the below-mentioned qualities.

Educational Cost And Where To Study

The average fee for pursuing BTech program in Civil Engineering is around INR 2-4 lakhs in Public institutes and around INR 4-9.3 Lakhs in private institutes.

The average fee for pursuing MTech program in Civil Engineering is around INR 2-4.5 Lakhs.

The Top 2019 Colleges For Civil Engineering

Look at the most popular civil engineering colleges in India with the latest rankings (if any), the average fee of the program and many more details.

Nature of Jobs/Roles, Growth Prospects and Salary

The employment areas of the civil engineers are construction firms, Defence Forces Development Boards Municipal Bodies, renewable energy projects, and many other firms.

Take a look at some of the job profiles for civil engineers to post completing their graduation program. 

Top Companies Hiring Civil Engineers And Future Growth

The top recruiters who hire civil engineers are as follow:

• WS Atkins Consultant Limited
• Fluor Corporation
• Aecom Corporation
• L&T Limited
• Lodha Group
• Nagarjuna Construction Company
• Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Ltd
• Infra Corporation
• Gammon Infrastructure Projects Limited
• Afcons Infrastructure Limited
• Government and Public Infrastructure Projects

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Civil Engineering

There are many pros and cons of being a civil engineer, let us discuss the same in-depth.

Pros:

• Good Pay - Skilled and qualified civil engineers are paid really well. The qualification degree and integral role of the individual are the deciding factors for a package of civil engineers.
• Job Availability  - It is the core branch of engineering stream that generates ample of job opportunities for the students.
• Chance To Work Abroad - The demand of civil engineers are in demand in the Gulf countries and the package is also better in comparison to the national package.
• Job Satisfaction And Respectable Profession - Civil Engineers build and design the projects, so they get the ultimate job satisfaction when they complete the projects. It is a very respectable profession as people’s feelings are attached to the properties they build like homes, schools, and many more.
• There are many more pros of being a civil engineer, let us discuss now the cons.

Cons:

• Long Working Hours - The responsibilities of the civil engineers are huge, challenging and they need to meet the deadlines. In such situations, they may have to work for longer hours.
• Hazards At Work Site - A project engineer takes care of the mishaps happening at the worksite, this can be very dangerous sometimes.
• Remote Locations -  Civil engineers sometimes end up working in some remote and hostile areas and it is not fun at all working in some hostile area.
• Increased Liability - Many huge structures have high strategic, commercial and political value and there will be no room for errors in such projects. Thus Civil engineers are always under pressure and stress.

In a nutshell, civil engineering is the best branch of engineering from the growth perspective. The demand for skilled civil engineers will never slow down worldwide as infrastructure projects, constructing the building, and much more structure will keep on increasing and will never be stagnant.

If you are not comfortable working for project sites, then you can also get into the educational sector - the primary responsibility will be to teach the students the subjects of civil engineering at public or private engineering institutes.