Careers in civil engineering: Real-world experience prepares grads to meet industry demands
Over the past two years, some industries have slowed down. Some have even come to a stop for certain lengths of time.
In civil engineering, though, there’s been no shortage of demand. No matter the discipline, the work of building and planning has continued and even increased as the world has dealt with COVID-19.
“COVID did not stop construction,” says Shari Bielert, program chair for Civil Engineering Technology (CET) at RRC Polytech.
“The supply-chain issues we hear about every day have to do with materials, but (they exist) on the employment side, as well. The construction industry, the environmental industry, all of it needs students in the program getting these skills and graduating.”
The demand in the industry is a phenomenon addressed by the program, where first-year students get a general introduction to different CET disciplines before branching off, doing co-op work, and choosing one of five program options: Architectural/Engineering Technology, Environmental Engineering Technology, Geomatics Technology, Municipal Engineering Technology or Structural Engineering Technology.
The co-op aspect is a fantastic opportunity for students to not only get into the workplace, get paid and see how their theoretical knowledge can be applied, but also get more established than their university peers in the workplace, often as early as their first year of studies.
“Our students have the advantage of working more months than students in university programs — basically until it freezes up in Winnipeg in October, which is good,” says Dylan Yanchynski, one of the co-op coordinators for CET.
“There are those who leave and go back to university and the construction firms are left with a lot of paperwork, there’s a lot of outstanding things from the end of summer. Our students can work until winter and we’ve noticed that over the last couple of years that employers are, for the first time ever, keeping their co-op students throughout the year as they get tied to a project, or take a lead on that project.”
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