Career Plan for Civil Engineers: Licensing, Experience, and Business

This report outlines a civil engineer's career plan, starting with gaining experience in a state Department of Transportation (DOT) to achieve professional licensure. The author plans to work in various divisions within the DOT to gain the necessary four years of experience under the supervision of a professional engineer. This experience is crucial for passing the licensing exam administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The ultimate goal is to establish a design firm, requiring a professional engineer license and financial planning. The business will initially focus on local projects, with plans for global expansion. The report emphasizes the importance of innovative designs, customer satisfaction, and building a strong brand image to achieve sustainable profitability. The author plans to secure funding through savings and loans, while leveraging social networking and business proposals to gain clients. The report highlights the career path, requirements for licensing, and the steps involved in establishing a successful civil engineering design firm, referencing the importance of continuous professional development and staying updated with industry trends.

Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Design

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Chapter-1.........................................................................................................................................2
Developing your qualification.........................................................................................................2
Chapter-2.........................................................................................................................................3
Fulfill your career aspiration...........................................................................................................3
Chapter-3.........................................................................................................................................3
Developing your own career............................................................................................................3
Chapter-4.........................................................................................................................................4
Establishing business.......................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
In this present paper, we will discuss the potential for developing the qualification, requirements
for professional accreditation, career pathways, and establishing a business. The continuing
professional development tools are used which helps to summarise the journey. The elements of
continuing professional development include career history and present job description, personal
development plan, reflection logs and tools, achievements of learning samples, and others. There
are various options after completing graduation in civil engineerings such as jobs as building
control surveyor, the nuclear engineer, contracting civil engineer, structural engineer and others.
The higher studies options include M.Tech in structural engineering, water resource engineering,
transportation engineering and geotechnical engineering. The various courses can also be done
such as construction technology and management courses, city planning course and others (Tran
et al., 2013).
Chapter-1
Developing your qualification
After graduation I will start my job as a civil engineer in a state DOT (department of
transportation) in order to gain four year of experience with rich knowledge related to the
construction process, material, pavement analysis, right of way, design, maintenance of road and
host of various other things in order to do licensing as a professional engineer which is an
educational program approved by the Accreditation board for engineering and technology and it
is mostly preferred by employers. The professional engineer license is required to work on
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infrastructure projects in various countries which are my career aspiration. I will do licensing
from NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) which is a
national non-profit organisation which provides professional licensure for surveyors and
engineers. The licensing helps to fulfil my career aspiration which is to establish designing firm.
The licensing as a professional civil engineer helps me to work on various infrastructure projects
in different countries that require licensing for working in infrastructure projects. It shows that an
individual has the capability to follow the civil engineer as a profession. The examination has
two levels which need to be clear for getting the license which is my career aspiration. The
license as a professional engineer is my career pathway which helps to achieve professional
aspiration in the next ten years. The vision of National Council of Examiners for Engineering
and Surveying is to provide leadership and certify the candidates in pursuing civil engineering as
a profession (Hackmann et al., 2016). The licensing enables to recognise the individual as a
professional civil engineer.
Chapter-2
Fulfill your career aspiration
The requirements for licensing as a professional engineer from NCEES includes recent
graduation in civil engineering and students who are about to finish an undergraduate degree
from ABET/ EAC accredited program which is the minimum eligibility to attend the FE exam
which is the first step to become a professional licensed engineer (Watermeyer et al., 2016) .
The program is mainly designed to check the ability of civil engineers to practice the engineering
profession and for those who have gained four years of professional experience. I will do this
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licensing in order to become the professional civil engineer which is my career aspirant. The
requirements can be fulfilled by gaining four years of experience as a civil engineer under the
supervision of professional civil engineer who helps to gain a complete understanding and
practical knowledge regarding the work related to construction, designing and others. The aim of
examination is to check the eligibility of an individual to pursue their career as a civil engineer
and by clearing the exam of licensing as a professional civil engineer I will be able to fulfil my
career aspirations by establishing the designing firm. The licensing as a professional civil
engineer helps to fulfil my career aspiration by enabling to establish a business of design firm.
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying examination confer the
license when the licensure is able to meet the combination of experience, exams and education.
The registration process and unique approval are required from National Council of Examiners
for Engineering and Surveying by choosing your state and territory (Banik et al., 2014). To work
in more than one state, the candidate requires applying for comity licensed in additional states. I
will also apply for comity license because my business will provide designs globally, so I order
to fulfil my career aspiration I will apply for the same. The FE exam can be given after
completing the graduation, but PE exam requires four years of experience under the supervision
of a professional civil engineer.
Chapter-3
Developing your own career
I wanted to work in Department of transportation in the New York City with the business title
civil engineer in various divisions such as bridges division, roadway repair and maintenance
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division, transportation planning and management division and others. In this particular
department, I am looking my career pathways in order to develop my own career by working
under the supervision of professional engineer in order to become eligible for attempting the
exam of licensing. Working in the position of civil engineer for four years make me eligible to
do licensing in order to become a professional civil engineer. There are various state departments
of transport which come under the United States department of transportation which is my career
pathways to become professional civil engineer over the ten subsequent years after the
completion of civil engineering. The supervision of professional civil engineer helps me to
become a professional engineer after clearing the exam of professional engineering. The working
experience in various department helps to develop in a personal and professional manner which
enables to establish successful designing firm. The working experience of four years helps to
understand the work related to the designing of various projects which is required to fulfil my
career aspirations. According to the Continuing Professional Development tools, the four years
of experience in various departments as a civil engineer helps to achieve the learning samples by
understating the working of different departments which helps to perform various jobs in a
professional and specialised manner. In the career history, the four-year experience in state DOC
helps to gain knowledge regarding the working of the department which helps to get the
licensing by appearing in the professional civil engineering exam.
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Chapter-4
Establishing business
After getting the experience of four years in the state department of transportation, I will
establish my own business of design firm. The requirement for establishing the design firm
includes a license of professional civil engineer which I will get the license after getting the
experience of four years under the supervision of a professional civil engineer. The experience of
four years helps me to manage various projects in a most efficient and effective manner. It also
helps me to provide excellent service to the consumers which enable to build a reputation of the
solid designer in the eyes of the consumers. The building of good brand image by standing out
among the competitors within the same industry helps to generate sustainable profit for the long
term which is my ultimate goal of career aspiration. I will start collecting funds when I will start
working so that in four years I will have enough funds to start my own design firm (Buede et al.,
2016). Secondly, I will take a loan which includes current borrowing and long-term loans in
order to start the business after clearing the exam of professional civil engineering. I will serve
designs of various projects such as the construction of building, hospital, apartments and others
to the customers in a customer manner. The idea of the company comes from the increasing
trend of designing firms and distinct our product by providing customised designs with
innovation in designing to the clients in order to get a competitive advantage which helps to
stand out the business among the competitors within the same industry (Christensen et al., 2013).
The innovation in designing helps to contribute towards the economy by providing excellent
infrastructure designs to the consumers (Sacks et al., 2013). My personal career aspiration to
establish designing firm will be fulfilled by following the career path which includes four years
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of work experience, getting the license as a professional civil engineer who helps to fulfil my
career aspirations. I will start developing financial plans after getting a license in order to
determine the projected financial requirements and sales forecast of the company. I will promote
my product by sending business proposals to the recognised construction companies in order to
receive the order for developing designs for various products. I will start doing social networking
in order to build the informal relationship with the clients. The delivering of innovative designs
in order to satisfy the customer needs and demands helps to fulfil the personal career plans. The
company will start at local level initially then after getting strong local customer base the
company will expand globally which helps double the size of the organisation and provides
foreign direct investment in the market.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that my ultimate career aspiration is to establish the business of design firm
which requires licensing as a professional civil engineer and the eligibility requires four years of
experience for appearing in the examination of licensing. My career plan is to start the job as a
civil engineer in a state department of transport in order to get four years of rich experience and
knowledge of various departments under the supervision of a professional civil engineer. After
getting four years of knowledge, I will be able to manage various resources and provide
innovative designs to the consumers. After clearing the exam of licensing, I will establish my
design firm and funding will start since job period in order to collect high amount for investment.
I will provide designs for various projects such as hospitals, colleges, homes, office and others.
The innovative designs help to stand out among the competitors who help to distinct the brand
image in the eyes of the consumers. It will enable to generate higher revenue within the specific
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period of time. The successful business helps to generate sustainable profits for the long run
which is my personal aspiration to become financially stable. The idea of business comes from
the positive trend of designing firms which attracts new investors to invest in the particular
industry. The licensing as a professional civil engineer will be done from National Council of
Examiners for Engineering and Surveying in which two exams will be conducted in order to get
the license. The first exam is FE which can be given after completing engineering, but PE level
requires four years of experience in order to get a license which is my career pathway to achieve
my career aspiration by establishing designing firm. My professional goal is to establish a
successful designing firm which is known for its quality of work and innovative designs that
ultimately helps to generate higher revenue which is my personal aspiration.
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References
Watermeyer, R. and Smith, T., 2016. Registration, licensing and specialist list in a civil
engineering context. Civil Engineering, p.21.
Banik, G., Daugherty, L., Kleweno, K., Bazan-Arias, N.C., Berry, D., Richards, D.L. and
Casazza, J.A., 2014. Mandatory Continuing Education Requirements for Licensed Civil
Engineers. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 141(1),
p.02514002.
Hackmann, D.G., 2016. Considerations of Administrative Licensure, Provider Type, and
Leadership Quality Recommendations for Research, Policy, and Practice. Journal of Research on
Leadership Education, 11(1), pp.43-67.
Buede, D.M. and Miller, W.D., 2016. The engineering design of systems: models and methods.
John Wiley & Sons.
Sacks, R. and Pikas, E., 2013. Building information modeling education for construction
engineering and management. I: Industry requirements, state of the art, and gap analysis. Journal
of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(11), p.04013016.
Tran, S.T., Le Ngoc Thanh, N.Q.B. and Phuong, D.B., 2013. Introduction to information
technology. In Proc. of the 9th inter. CDIO conf.(CDIO).
Christensen, C., 2013. The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail.
Harvard Business Review Press.
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