Career Details
Career Details
  • Your closest Community College is
    • Update The Zipcode (N/A)
Use this dropdown to update your zip code

Career Details

Return to the Search

17-3022.00 - Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians


Apply theory and principles of civil engineering in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of structures and facilities under the direction of engineering staff or physical scientists.


Key Facts
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Bright Outlook
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
74,000
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
77,600
Estimate
Change in Employment
+3,500
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+4.8%
Estimate
Tasks
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
  • Calculate dimensions, square footage, profile and component specifications, and material quantities using calculator or computer.
  • Draft detailed dimensional drawings and design layouts for projects and to ensure conformance to specifications.
  • Analyze proposed site factors and design maps, graphs, tracings, and diagrams to illustrate findings.
  • Read and review project blueprints and structural specifications to determine dimensions of structure or system and material requirements.
  • Prepare reports and document project activities and data.
  • Confer with supervisor to determine project details such as plan preparation, acceptance testing, and evaluation of field conditions.
  • Report maintenance problems occurring at project site to supervisor and negotiate changes to resolve system conflicts.
Supplemental
  • Inspect project site and evaluate contractor work to detect design malfunctions and ensure conformance to design specifications and applicable codes.
  • Plan and conduct field surveys to locate new sites and analyze details of project sites.
  • Develop plans and estimate costs for installation of systems, utilization of facilities, or construction of structures.
  • Conduct materials test and analysis using tools and equipment and applying engineering knowledge.
  • Respond to public suggestions and complaints.
  • Evaluate facility to determine suitability for occupancy and square footage availability.
  • Develop project budgets by estimating the cost of project activities.
  • Negotiate prices for new contracts or for modifications to existing contracts with contractors.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Knowledge

The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
 Engineering and Technology
  • 89%
    Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
 Mathematics
  • 85%
    Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
 Building and Construction
  • 84%
    Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
 Design
  • 83%
    Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
 Clerical
  • 73%
    Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
 Administration and Management
  • 71%
    Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
 Computers and Electronics
  • 71%
    Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
 Customer and Personal Service
  • 70%
    Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
 English Language
  • 70%
    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
 Mechanical
  • 69%
    Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
 Transportation
  • 65%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
 Public Safety and Security
  • 62%
    Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
 Physics
  • 60%
    Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
 Education and Training
  • 60%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
 Law and Government
  • 58%
    Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
 Personnel and Human Resources
  • 58%
    Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
 Geography
  • 58%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
 Chemistry
  • 53%
    Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
 Production and Processing
  • 52%
    Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Weight measuring instruments
  • Analytical balances
  • Laboratory balances
 Computer printers
  • Blueprint machines
  • Plotters
 Masonry and concrete tools
  • Brickmasons' trowels
 Cutting and crimping and punching tools
  • Bucket augers
  • Hand augers
 Metals and metallurgy and structural materials testing instruments
  • Compression testing machines
  • Metal cones
  • Paving sample splitters
  • Slump cones
  • Stabilometers
  • Torvanes
  • Vibration monitors
 Computer data input devices
  • Computer scanners
  • Field data collectors
 Laboratory heating and drying equipment
  • Dessicators
 Chemical evaluation instruments and supplies
  • Dilatometers
  • Hydrometers
 Pipettes and liquid handling equipment and supplies
  • Dropping pipettes
 Laboratory ovens and accessories
  • Drying ovens
  • Laboratory mechanical convection ovens
 Land surveying instruments
  • Engineers' transits
  • Surveying rods
  • Theodolites
  • Total stations
 General laboratory glassware and plasticware and supplies
  • Evaporating dishes
  • Glass beakers
  • Glass burets
  • Graduated glass cylinders
  • Laboratory vials
  • Wide-mouthed funnels
 Filter media
  • Filter papers
 Audio and visual equipment
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
 Drilling and operation machinery
  • Hand-operated boring machines
 Temperature and heat measuring instruments
  • Handheld digital thermometers
 Mechanical instruments
  • Inclinometers
 Paving equipment
  • Kneading compactors
 Laboratory or sampling syringes
  • Laboratory bulb syringes
 Laboratory sieves and sifting equipment and supplies
  • Laboratory test sieves
 Transducers
  • Load cells
 Agriculture, forestry and garden handtools
  • Machetes
 Laboratory mixing and stirring and shaking equipment and supplies
  • Magnetic stirrers
  • Mechanical sieve shakers
 Measuring and layout tools
  • Measuring tapes
  • Precision levels
  • Straightedges
 Fluid mechanics equipment
  • Nuclear densometers
  • Pycnometers
 Computers
  • Personal computers
 Electrochemical measuring instruments and accessories
  • pH testers
 Forming tools
  • Picks
  • Rubber mallets
  • Sledgehammers
 Soil measuring equipment
  • Pocket penetrometers
  • Soil augers
  • Soil density testers
  • Soil resistivity test kits
  • Soil sampling tubes
  • Soil testing kits
  • Split spoon samplers
  • Thin-walled Shelby tubes
 Meteorological instruments
  • Precipitation gauges
 Rock drills
  • Rotary rock drills
 Vision protection and accessories
  • Safety glasses
 Safety apparel
  • Safety gloves
 Seismological instruments
  • Seismographs
 Drilling and workover rigs and equipment
  • Small-gauge surface drilling rigs
 Humidity and moisture measuring instruments
  • Soil moisture meters
 Length and thickness and distance measuring instruments
  • Strain gauges
 Hydrological instruments
  • Stream flow gauges
 Earth moving machinery
  • Tamping rods
 Indicating and recording instruments
  • Transit levels
 Personal communication devices
  • Two way radios
 Sampling equipment
  • Water samplers
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Industry specific software
  • Autodesk AutoCADHOT
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3DHOT
  • Autodesk Land DesktopHOT
  • Autodesk RevitHOT
  • Bentley MicrostationHOT
  • Computer aided design and drafting software CADDHOT
  • Computer aided design CAD softwareHOT
  • Coordinate geometry COGO software
 Information exchange software
  • Bentley Systems InRoads Suite
  • Digital terrain modeling software
  • Email software
  • ESRI ArcGIS softwareHOT
  • Geographic information system GIS softwareHOT
  • IBM NotesHOT
  • Microsoft OutlookHOT
 Content authoring and editing software
  • Graphics software
  • Microsoft ExcelHOT
  • Microsoft PowerPointHOT
  • Microsoft WordHOT
  • Spreadsheet software
 Business function specific software
  • Microsoft OfficeHOT
 Development software
  • Microsoft Visual BasicHOT
  • National Instruments LabVIEWHOT
 Finance accounting and enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • SAPHOT
 Network applications software
  • Web browser software
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
 Specialty
 Advanced
 Unknown
 Core
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs
Expand or Shrink Accordion
Online Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
INSTITUTION
PROGRAMS
J Sargeant Reynolds Community College
 Programs
Laurel Ridge Community College
 Programs
New River Community College
 Programs
Tidewater Community College
 Programs