Starting Civil Engineering course

rander00

Im thinking of ding Civil Engineering next September, maybe.
Has anyone here done a course like this and if so can ye share your thoughts of the course with me. Was it a tough course or ejoyable and challenging. What were the best/worst aspects.

What sort of jobs can you get, are they veryied. Alot of the stuff i was looking up about civil engineering jobs and stuff seem to be involved in some way or another with government dept. Are the re much demand for private civil engineers, and what line of work. Aprat from pipelines, and water works, ect...

rander00

Anyone at all.

Im preferrable interested in roads, and envirnomentand structural. Not really interestred in the electronics or mechanicalaspects.

Victor

I have a Diploma in Construction Economics.

Most civil engineers are employed in private practice / consultancy and by construction companies. The ad.s you see in the papers are usually for contract supervisory staff for single projects (6-36 months usually).

Most of the engineers permanently employed by the state and local authorities are involved in creating briefs for consultants to design in detail.

Civil engineers will be involved in water, sewage, pipeline, road, rail, bridge and similar work. Many will also do structural engineering work (e.g. designing the steel frame for a building).

You will probably need a C in higher level Maths and preferably one or more science / technology subjects.

Check out www.iei.ie - they are a friendly lot.

rander00

Hi Victor,

when you say "You will probably need a C in higher level Maths and preferably one or more science / technology subjects.",,,,,,, Do you mean i`d need the C in maths and the science subject for entry requirements or do you mean i`d need to be happy with Honours maths and science subjects to get through and like the course??

I was never really great at maths, I dropped to pass for the leaving and hated science subjects. But a bit of maths, and not too detailed science aspects wouldnt bother me too much, i reckon.

Victor

Engineering is very maths orientated and certaianly in UCC the requirement used to be a C in higher maths as a basic requirement (counted separately from points).

rander00

Hey Victor, are you studying a degree now or are you working now. Im considering doing building - construction studies aswell. It leads onto building surveying, land surveying, ect...

http://www.dkit.ie/index.asp?id=181
Thats the link to the course im considering. Starts in cert, and u can progress to degree. takes 5 yrs if go to degree. Do you know of any similar courses to this, that take only 4yrs or so. straight degree or that. What way did your course progress.

Is that simialr to the course you done. Can you tell me a bit about the course you done please and if its any way linked to that 1 im on about, maybe you could give me bit of advice or info on subjects, good/bad points, ect....

Thanks in advance.

PhoenixRising

Originally posted by Victor
Engineering is very maths orientated and certaianly in UCC the requirement used to be a C in higher maths as a basic requirement (counted separately from points).

I can vouch for that. Engineering is very heavy on maths. Not only will you do at least 2 maths modules in each year, but you'll be using maths in almost every subject as well. AFAIK most degree courses require Honours maths, and at least one science subject.

Atreides

Some colleges throw allot more maths at you then other for engineering. UCD would have a wider spread of maths over a longer period thne say trinity. In the first Term i was doing maths that friends in second year in UCD are only covering now. I'd say that you need to not only get a C but have a head for it as well. applied maths wouldn't go a miss, but they don't persume any previous knowledge in that field. I say that if your not sure what engineering you want, go for a common entry one.

rander00

I know the engineering is maths orientated allright from the replies and that.

But is construction studies that way inclined too as regards maths. Surveying, and stuff......? I was just sort of guessing it wouldnt be that big on maths. In that link i gave above, u can check the subjects from the cert through to degree and maths isnt a subject on its one in any of the yrs. Its gonna be built into some subjects, but it shouldnt be as high a standard as in engineering as such. ????

PhoenixRising

Victor is probably the man to answer that question, but I'd imagine that the maths content would be somewhat lower than for Engineering. Looking at your link - maths is one of the subjects in first year, or am I looking at the wrong course?

rander00

Yeah Phoenix, your right. There are maths in 1st yr. But i wouldnt say they`d be too bad. I dont hate maths, just not overy keen on higher level maths. I done pass in the leaving, dropped down from hons as wasnt able for it.

Victor, any opinion/advice on this?

Victor

I got a D in Honours Maths in the Leaving (and hence didn't get to do Eng.), six months later I got 91% in Applied Maths in first year Construction Studies. Nearly all the subjects use maths. Are you doing Applied Maths for the Leaving Cert? If you are and are good at it, it may indicate some aptitude for the area.

Construction Studies tends to split into Architecture and Surveying.

Maths for engineering would be more academic and harder than Applied Maths.

Construction Studies (certificate) is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none courses. I did the cert., did a year of work, did the Diploma in Construction Economics. I tried to do the Degree in Construction Economics part time in Bolton Street but failed twice due to work committments and lack of application.

rander00

How hard were the maths in the Diploma yr? Im not doing applied maths in the leaving. Doing pass maths.

Was the course pretty do-able in general? Did u just lose interest, or found all the maths too difficult.

Thanks for your reply!!

Villain

Hi, I know a few guys that have done that course, there in edinburgh doing 4th and 5th year now.

Maths is tuff but my mates done pass and scraped through, I think Structures is the subject that causes a lot of problems, theres a lot of practical stuff too do, surveying is very big in 1st and 2nd year.

If you need more info I'l be talking my mate over the weekend.

By the way, it all leans towards roads in that course

tricky D

way back in my day, TCD gave u a maths degree too (ok a pass one, another piece o paper nevertheless and much of it not actually used even in the theory end of Civ). Without Leaving Maths C honours or higher it'll be real tough. Physics and Appllied Maths are big bonuses. Even for Construction Studies I would _reckon_ that a good load of maths is still central for working out anything structural (trusses/concrete loading), mechanical (soil), networked stuff (sewerage) etc.

Ironically it was computing (programming specifically) which almost lost me, despite messing with them since the Vic20 era, doing Civil which had no computing aspect and now being a webworker.

In general, the course was tough, 32-35 hrs/wk, mainly 9 oclock starts for practicals (so disciplined hangover management reqd).

Lastly, iirc Applied Maths isn't a huge a course, so you could have a go at some of it and see how it works out for you and take it from there.
hth
\r

Victor

Originally posted by rander00
How hard were the maths in the Diploma yr?

Not particularly hard, but were based on the preceeding two years. I think first year was the only year with an actual maths subject. It's just things like building services, quantities, etc. use maths a lot.

Originally posted by rander00
Im not doing applied maths in the leaving.

Talk to your maths / physics teacher and see if they will help you. Most of it is remarkably simple - things like what is the volume of this sphere or what is the surface area of this cube - the thing is all the formulae are in the log book you get in the exam.

Also see if your career guidance councellor or similar can set up a meeting between pupils and your local college engineering department.

ballooba

Originally posted by Victor
Most civil engineers are employed in private practice / consultancy and by construction companies. The ad.s you see in the papers are usually for contract supervisory staff for single projects (6-36 months usually).

supervisory staff = Sitting in a 4X4 while some cúnts dig a hole beside you.

Don't for a second think that you'll actually get to build anything interesting in Ireland.

Out of my brothers whole UCD engineering year only one has got to build a bridge and the only other interesting job was working with explosives.

rander00

What kind of jobswould you get with a diplomain civil engineering or building surveying? Working in surveyors offices, higher technicians, ect.....? Or would you need the degree.

Victor

Originally posted by rander00
What kind of jobswould you get with a diplomain civil engineering or building surveying? Working in surveyors offices, higher technicians, ect.....? Or would you need the degree.

Most end up being drawing technicians, site surveyors or in less senior site supervisory positions.