Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural

Running Head: Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering
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Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering
My Industry Sector & facts about its recent past
The area of study that I am currently undertaking at the University of Technology is Bachelor
of Engineering (Civil and Structural), Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice. I am
currently going through an internship program in the Civil Electrical field, working with
underground and overhead cabling.
Engineering has grown over the past few decades. It is a fast-developing area of work that is
always in demand due to changing time and surroundings. Factors that affect this profession
are economics, environment, technology and equality.
In the recent past, engineering was one of the most demanding fields in the industry.
Graduates have more opportunities and early start in their career than they are today. A
number of different projects were always on the lookout for young new engineers and that
also contributes to a faster development in career. Both senior government engineering and
private sector were also in high demand. Over the past decade, the nature of engineering has
changed as there are more investment and infrastructure. This contributes to the growth
development of the engineering industry shown in figure 1 as new infrastructures are being
built all around the world (Employment outlook: Engineering). It was relatively common and
easy to obtain vacation work before the 1990s. University students were encouraged to gain
practical experiences in civil engineering. After that time period, students were ‘lacking these
practical skills’ (Martin P., 2019) due to workplaces would rather hire graduated students
rather than those who are still studying.
Engineers used to heavily rely on trial and error in developing prototypes and models in the
past, however, technology has a large impact on changing these aspects. Civil engineers have
practiced craftsmanship over the past by manual drawing designs with drawing instruments
and precision. With the ease of technology today, engineers are using platforms such as
AutoCAD to draw plans and designs.
Another significant change of engineering in the past decade is the recruitment of more
women in engineering.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 2
With only 15% of women participating in engineering courses and less than 6% in
engineering workforce in the year 2000, it was time for a change (Pam R. and Mary A.,
2002). Engineers Australia has designated the year 2007 to the ‘Year of Women in
Engineering’
Change of quality
With the recent number of graduate engineers rising rapidly and not enough capacity to be
absorbed by the industry, a number of institutions offer courses that are not accredited
resulting into low quality in terms of skills acquired. In one of the studies conducted to
determine the effectiveness of Industrial Based learning, Cleophas et at. (2018) postulates
that undergraduate attachment program is part of industrial learning that is essential for
meeting the shortcomings of engineering education system, since the students get exposed to
practical situations and acts as a proactive measure of the insufficient skills possessed by the
graduates.
More women in engineering
There has been a trend where the number of women not only in civil engineering profession,
but the sciences is always significantly lower than that of their male counterparts. However
recently, the number has been rising and one of the studies carried out by Jean Bossart and
Neelam B. (2018) found that women are likely to take up a career that they perceive to be of
societal benefit. They further explain that the role of civil and structural engineering provides
numerous ways in which the society directly benefits from it, through construction of
sustainable projects and as a result more women have a stable career with the profession.
Facts about the current state of my Industry Sector
The engineering labour force has grown by 64.5% between 2006 and 2016 (Engineers
Australia 2019) which shows a large progress in skilled workers growth. Civil engineering
has always been in high demand because of its nature in development of infrastructure,
transportation and utilities. The fluidity of civil engineering allowing it to cover wider scope
of work in the industry guarantees the growth of this sector. Civil Engineering has now been
divided into subcategories such as construction, structural, water and sanitary, transport,
geotechnical and ocean engineering.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 3
These varieties allow young engineers to pick and choose their field more specifically. It is
estimated by The Australian Workplace Productivity Agency (AWPA) that there will be ‘up
to thousands’ of jobs in Australia for ‘civil engineering such as road and rail, electricity,
water and telecommunications infrastructure’ (Professional Engineers YEAR).
In terms of gender role in civil engineering, female workers only make up 12% in this
industry which is well below the average of 48% in other industries (Australian Government
2016). Hence, it shows that engineering still has a long way to go in order to recruit more
female workers. Universities are now supporting female engineering students more by
creating programs such as Lucy Mentoring Program or lower entry ATAR at University of
Technology Sydney. These programs could potentially attract more young women to study
engineering and increase the number of women in the industry.
The supply and demand of civil engineering has always been almost in balance; however, the
demand has consistently slowed down by 2.6% per year. The supply of engineers from
domestic sources has been falling since 2013 due to decrease in domestic commencements at
universities. On the other hand, oversea students’ rate has had a strong steady growth every
year.
Forces driving changes in my Industry Sector
In my point of view, technology plays the biggest part in the engineering industry. This is
because most design drawings are now being done on computers using software such
as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Solid Works and other robust software. This provides more accurate
data and more up to date. Technology will continue to grow and continue to replace the
labour force. Data collection will allow the production of models and ‘helping uncover new
patterns and relationships’ for social systems (Anna Davies et al 2020). This force also leads
to a change in the quality of the product to be higher and well developed.
Many industries are now pushing towards becoming international. Globalization means that
there are more products, activities and knowledge being exchanged, hence, further
development in infrastructure all around the globe. Many multinational companies utilize
their subsidiaries for sales and technical support. This means that the chance of a company
being more successful can also rely on the connectivity internationally.