My first day at work | Graduate civil engineer

[@stanlymafi588]

Love your videos. I also doing civil engineering, this year is my second year.

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

Thank you 🙂

[@rockers515]

Hy Rebecca, I love your videos, I follow you from your study video, I am also civil engg.

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

Thank you, what type of civil engineering do you do?

[@j1ngner908]

I just saw your channel. Your name is the same as my mom’s. I miss her everyday

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

Sorry for your loss

[@Doodo981]

Starting my first day on the 2nd of September, I’m a mechanical engineer but the job is tailored to civil engineering, any advice as a grad. Do they teach you everything bc I’m already dooing re search to make sure I am confident in the field? And industry I’m working in? any tips or advice?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

Hi. I work in a highways team and although my degree was in civil engineering, I didn’t study any highways modules. Most of my work during the first year was AutoCAD work (2D design and producing drawings of surface types, kerbing etc). Everything was either taught by the engineers working on the projects or I was tasked with doing some research (particularly reading design standards/guidance and local authority standards relevant to the projects I was working on). There are a lot of different aspects and challenges of civil engineering so it is ok to say that you don’t know something. I find online ICE events helpful for background knowledge on various topics and also learn a lot from discussions with other engineers in the office. I really enjoy my work. Good luck

[@Doodo981]

@@rebeccalaurel1471 thank you for the response, as you were part of the highway team, did that mean you ran projects early on or was it more gaining the experience, and how was your interaction like with other stakeholders and colleagues. How much did u have to grasp from different part of engineering for certain projects or deadlines . Also with the iCE events, is there any lectures or videos on there that really helped when starting out, thanks 🙏

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

@@Doodo981 My work was working with more experienced engineers and gaining experience (and even now, I’m not running/managing projects, only working on the design). I attended meetings with engineers from other disciplines, architects and landscape architects working on the same projects but generally didn’t attend meetings with clients. For any different parts of engineering, it was more about increasing my knowledge and understanding than working to deadlines on projects (for example, I learnt about the drainage relating to a new residential development and road, but this work was completed by drainage engineers and I only worked on the road design). I found the ICE events about the different attributes for chartership very helpful (it also provided more knowledge about the development of a project (conceptual design to completion) and what I could potentially be involved in) and also attended events of sustainability, inclusive design and health and safety. Then, last year, I tried to attend more events about contracts and commercial awareness.

[@Sh4h01]

What was the feedback you received for? Was it for your university or work I’m confused. Also how are you finding work now that it has been 6 months?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

It was for university work, because I started my job quite soon after finishing university. My work is going really well at the moment - I am working on a variety of tasks and have been enjoying it. Thanks

[@williamhein741]

Hi, Rebecca. Good stuff! I am in my graduating next year and struggling so much and so stressed to find my first internship. Any tips for finding the first job? Thank you!

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

I was quite lucky that the company that I did my summer placements at (which I applied to through a university scheme) offered me a job. I did apply to other companies as well - I mostly looked through different company's websites for graduate jobs and there seemed to be quite a lot. I found that most want a CV or answers to a couple of questions, before doing some type of online test/assessment and then an interview. Hope this helps, but let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck

[@MaeNeb]

How difficult is engineering?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

@@MaeNeb I work in a highways team, designing roads, junctions and car parks. There are design standards/ guidance to apply, but also a lot of problem solving to find the best solution to meet the clients expectations whilst also considering the constraints of the site. I’ve worked on some challenging projects but mostly it is really enjoyable.

[@Sh4h01]

Please can you give me some tips on a civil engineering assessment day. What type of assessment is carried out?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

I only did one assessment day, but it was online. We basically had a group exercise about an example project and the assessors wanted to listen to our discussions and thought process as well as our final answers to some questions. We also had an individual interview.

[@jobjewels6832]

Hey Rebecca are you located in the US?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

No, I’m in the UK 🇬🇧

[@Firangitadka]

Which major u did in civil engineering?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

Generally, you don’t do majors in the UK. I did my final year project on hydraulics and now, I am working in highways 👷🏻‍♀️

[@Firangitadka]

@@rebeccalaurel1471 how abt masters construction in project mgmt is there a scope ?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

@@Firangitadka I’ve just had a quick look and there are some, just not at all of the universities. I’m not sure how many of final year projects in my course (which was an integrated masters) had an aspect of project management in 👷🏻‍♀️

[@Firangitadka]

@@rebeccalaurel1471 thank you for the information ✌️

[@saranbhoopathy1631]

In which country have u done ur civil engineering

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

UK 🇬🇧

[@mahmoudajrami8257]

where are you from?

[@rebeccalaurel1471]

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿