THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO BECOME A GREAT CIVIL ENGINEER

 METHODS TO SHAPE YOUR CAREER TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS!

Greatness - Always sounds good, isn't it? How to Achieve?

I just want to divide into two - 1. Technical Greatness 

                                                        2. Social Greatness

Methods to become Technically Great in Civil Engineering

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Collect Civil Engineering Books, Data, IS Codes and Specifications, Articles from Journals, Civil Engineering Blogs, Slideshare, etc. This will help you in your entire career to sharpen and update your technical skills. Majority Civil Engineers fail to do this and become outdated.. If you have great skill, anytime in life, you can rise in career. 

• Surveying : Every Civil Engineer should know the usage of Surveying Instruments like, Total Station, Theodolite, Dumpy levels, etc.which are used for marking and measurements.

• Soil Investigation : Various soil tests are conducted to determine the settlement and stability of soils before starting a construction. So as a Civil Engineer, you should have enough knowledge to these tests which are performed at the site.

• Design and Drawing : Analysing the design and drawing, understanding and correcting the errors, creating new are mandatory for the Civil Engineers to handle the projects.

• Planning : "If you fail to Plan, it is a Plan to fail" Nothing will succeed without Planning. Understanding the activities and planning for that is very much essential.

• Quality tests of materials : Knowledge of testing of building materials, soil tests, Concrete tests.

• Quantity Surveying : Estimation, Cost analysis, Schedule of Rates, measurements and billing are basic requirements for any Civil Engineer.

• Bar bending Schedule : Knowledge of creating and understanding Barbending Schedule, Reinforcement details.

• Quality Control : Understanding and implementing of methodology of works, quality checklists, correction measures.

• Concrete and Form-works : A thorough technical knowledge in Concrete and Form-works

• Safety systems

• Civil Engineering Softwares : Autocad, Revit, MS Projects, MS Office, ERP etc.

These are the technical skills to be acquired by the Civil Engineers within first 5 years of their career.

If you prefer specialised subjects like Structural Engineering, Environmental Engg., Oil and Gas, Infrastructures like Roads and Bridges, Railways, Irrigation, etc. you should focus on the relevant subjects and acquire broad knowledge in that field.

Project Management : To transform from Site Engineer to Project Manager, Knowledge of Project Management is necessary. It involves Planning, Cost management, Quality management, Safety management, Contract management, Risk management, MIS reports etc. To climb in the career ladder, PMC is mandatory.

TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL GREATNESS

1. Create your Vision: Greatness doesn't happen by chance. You have to set Goals - Short term and Long term, focus on those, work with commitment, review your progress and achieve.

2. Cultivate a Champion's Mindset: An unshakeable belief in yourself and your potential may sound like a Tall order, but it is possible to create. In fact, it's essential if you want to graduate from average to Great. Reconnect with your strengths, your passion and your ambition and cement those into your mindset.

Stop and take stock of everything you learned in life. Commit yourself to continuous professional Development.

 Have you ever felt greatness? 

3. Learn from Mistakes: Do you think, mistakes make you fail? Mistakes are part of the process, particularly if you work with cutting edge technologies, processes or systems. Do not play into a victim mindset and give your power away like average people. You should use these situations as an opportunity to learn, develop and improve. Turn adversity into advantage as great people.

4. Embrace Change: You should embrace the rapid developments and never get struck in an attitude of  "that's the way, we have always done it". Instead, always be flexible, so you are ready to change.

5. Get the Right work-life balance: Some people are having wrong perception that working maximum hours will yield success. Particularly, when a project deadline is fast approaching. You should plan before starting work, priorities and avoid tensions in the final hours. 

Understand life is big apart from work. Find the correct work-life balance. When we think of Greatness, we often think about outward behaviours - making to do lists, achieving Goals. But taking care of our body is also important. Do you eat great food? Have a great diet? Be conscious of your body and health everyday.

6. Practice Positive habits: We are all experts at forming and keeping habits - some of them are good and a lot of them are bad. A huge part of our Greatness is using our ability to form habits to our advantage. The more good habits you can create, the less energy you have to spend on deciding what to do for every part of your day. Be Optimistic.

7. Build a Winning Team: Playing solo (aka Perfectionism) might have gotten you this far, but it is not going to get you to your full potential. The best and biggest accomplishments are never achieved by a single person. Invest in the right kinds of relationships that compliment your weaknesses and allow you to focus on your strengths.

• People who achieve true Greatness never feel 'done'. Cultivating a life of Greatness means constantly pushing, learning and growing. 
• Awaken your Greatness ... Now you are on your way to Greatness.