Civil Engineering Career

My name is Antony Frias, I was born in The Dominican Republic but migrated to the New York where I have lived half of my life. The major that I am doing at The New York City College of Technology is Civil Engineering. While being raised in the Dominican Republic, I was around my family who worked doing construction. I saw a lot of things that were involved in the field of construction. Seeing how capable my family was in construction made me interested in getting a career in that was related to the field of construction. Graduating from an architectural high school helped me realize that one of my passions is drawing and my strongest areas in general education are science and math. After researching topics related to my major who included construction, drawing, math, and science I realized that civil engineering was the perfect major for me. The main reasons why civil engineering is the best major for me are because the job pays well, it has a lot of career opportunities, and high job demand. Throughout the next few paragraphs I will be explaining what civil engineering is and how this major is the best for me.

Civil engineering is one of the oldest and most important branches of engineering. Civil engineers are in charge of designing constructing construction projects. They supervise, and maintain large construction projects and systems. Civil engineers work in indoor offices but sometimes spend time in the construction sites to monitor projects and solve problems that they might encounter when building a project. At the New York City College of Technology the program provided is called Associate in applied science in civil engineering technology. The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) college catalog “the program prepares students for positions as civil engineering technicians in a broad range of public work projects including structure, transportation facilities, water supply, waste water treatment, geotechnical as well as construction inspection, material testing and surveying”.(college catalog, Pg.250).This means that I will gain experience in a wide range of careers in the field of civil engineering. This associate’s degree program will also allow me to be able to transfer for a bachelor’s degree program at another college.

House Section View

Construction Of new Building across from City Tech

 

The first main reasons why civil engineering is the best career for me is because the job pays well. Civil engineering is one of the best well-paid jobs around the world. According to the U.S. bureau of labor statistic ‘’the median annual wage for civil engineers was $79,340 in May 2012.’’(Dept. of Labor statistics, pg.2). This means that the average yearly earning for a civil engineer in 2012 was 79,340 dollars. A job that pays 79,000+ is well above the average annual wage and that’s the reason why civil engineering is a job that gets paid well. But that’s not all, according to the U.S. bureau of labor statistic “employment of civil engineers is projected to grow 20 percent from 2012-2022, that’s faster than average for all occupations” (Dept. of Labor statistics, pg.2). This means that the annual wage for civil engineers is increasing as the year’s progress. Having a job with a salary that’s increasing is very important because by the time you have many years of experience you can be sure that your earnings are not going to decrease below the expected.  The reason why I want a job that pays well is not really because I want to earn a lot of money, it is mostly so I can be able to support my family and fulfill some of my dreams.

The second major reason why civil engineering is the best career for me is because there are lots of career opportunities with a civil engineering major. Civil engineers are one of the most demanded jobs in the field of construction. According to the encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance “Through 2015 employment for civil engineers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations’’ (E. Hopke, pg.256). This shows that the need for civil engineers is increasing as the year’s progress.  The reason why the employment rate for civil engineers are increasing is because as the cities get bigger and structures needed to accommodate the needs for population get older the need for people who can build and maintain these structures  increases. As stated in the encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance “according to the U.S. department of labor. Employment will come from the need to maintain and repair public works, such as highways, bridges, and water systems”(pg 568).  What this statement means is the jobs in this field of civil engineering are demanded because there is a high demand to maintain and repair public cites and projects. Furthermore as stated in an article of careers in construction “some 43% of civil engineers have clocked up a decade with their current employer, compared to 31% of building contractors” (Willock, pg.3). This means that a lot of civil engineers have kept their current job for over 10 years. Overall civil engineering is not only a high demanded career in today’s world but it will always be necessary in the generation to come as long as projects are created ,or systems being build or in need to be maintained.

Construction projects in Downtown Brooklyn

The third reason why civil engineering is the best career for me is because there is a high job demand for civil engineers. Civil engineering is one of the most needed jobs around the world. According to a civil engineering news article “statistics predicting job growth of 24 percent over the next decade equivalent to roughly 68,000 new jobs” (Shuster, pg. 16). This means that there are high chances of getting a job as a civil engineer and the amount of jobs for civil engineers are increasing. Having a job that has a high rate of employment means that you would be able to get a job without having to face a lot of competition or high chances of being unemployed. According to a Civil Engineering news article “aging of America’s infrastructure, together with continuing population growth, will help boost opportunities within the profession” (Shuster, pg 16). This means that the demand for civil engineers is increasing do to the growth of cities and need to build bigger structures that can support bigger population.  Civil engineering is a career that will never have a decrease in job demand, and this is due to the fact that they are needed to develop new concepts and developments.

Pedestrian Bridge Between Buildings

 

As a preparation for my career, there are many things that I need to accomplish. The most important one is to get good grades. The reason why I want to gain good grades is because since I want to transfer to another school to obtain a bachelor’s degree, it is important that other colleges see that I get good grades at my current school. There are also many classes that I have to take in order to get a degree in civil engineering. According to the city tech college catalog I have to take approximately 7 math and science classes which is more than the average non engineering major at city tech. furthermore to prepare more and learn more about my career I went to talk to one of my advisor Professor O’Brien. I asked my professor what are some of the tips that he gives me that will make me success when obtain a job as a civil engineer and he told me that “ in order to be successful you need to build good communication skills and be able to cooperate when working with other people”( O’Brien, 1). He told me that the reason why it is good to have those skills is because when working in projects, it is important that you communicate well with construction managers, architects, and other staffs in the project. Furthermore, another thing that I will try to do to prepare myself for my career is try to get internships. Getting internships will allow me to build up a great resume and also gain a lot of experience in the construction field.

 

Pursuing a career in Civil engineering takes a lot of time, hard work, and dedication but at the end of the day it pays off well. I know this major involves a lot of math and science but once I become a civil engineer, I am going to be happy because I know that my work will be contributing for a better world and green environment. My advice to any prospect city tech students who are undecided is that if they love science, drawing, and math and are willing to take a challenging major that requires a lot thinking and creativity, the should pick Civil Engineering as their major.

 

 

Work Cited

4. Hopke, William. The Encyclopedia of careers and vocational guidance. Chicago, Ill. : J.G. Ferguson Pub. Co., 1984. Print.

New York City College of Technology. College catalog 2014-2015. 2014. PDF. 17 NOV. 2014

O’Brien, Sean. Personal Interview. 3 Dec. 2014

Shuster, Laurie A. Civil Engineering. “Civil Engineering Among Top Careers in 2010 and Beyond”.     Vol. 80 Issue 2. Feb2010.Web. 29 Nov 2014.

United States. Dept. of Labor. Bureau Of Labor Statistics. “Civil Engineers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dept. of Labor. 8 January 2014. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.

Willock, Rob. Careers Supplement. “A Career in Construction”. Vol. 425. 02 Sept. 2004.Web. 29 Nov 2014

Frias, Antony. “House Section View” Flickr. 7 Dec. 2014.Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Frias, Antony. “Construction Of new Building across from City Tech” Flickr. 7 Dec. 2014.Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Frias, Antony. “Construction projects in Downtown Brooklyn” Flickr. 7 Dec. 2014.Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Frias, Antony. “Pedestrian Bridge Between Buildings” Flickr. 7 Dec. 2014.Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Introduction

During the past few weeks i was given the opportunity to take a day and write down my thoughts every 30 minutes. i also had  the opportunity to go back and reflect on what i had written to see if my current level of thinking relates to my future career. As i did so i took some pictures during the day in order to show the relation to my thoughts visually. At the end i realized that my thoughts where more significant than what i thought they were going to be.

Thinking in Writing

11:40- just woke up lol

Thought- I wonder if it’s cold or warm outside

12:00-Ate breakfast (cereal)

Thought- I think they are putting less sugar in this cereals nowadays

12:30- playing video games

Thought-  When are they going to add the new update to this game

1:00- waiting for my sister to bring me Chinese food on her way home from school

Thought- my mom told me to fix my room, should I fix it now or 10 mins before she gets home

1:30- on amazon trying to find the cheapest way to buy my architectural college books

Thought- should I get the good condition one which is cheaper or should I get the very good condition one which cost more

2:00-4:00 went outside to play handball with my friends

Thought-On the way to the park, saw a crane on top of a building and thought about how the heck they get cranes off the buildings.

4:30- continued my lettering homework/ architectural draft

Thought- I’ve never imagined to find doing architectural letters hard to do

5:30- went to my grandmother’s house to visit her

Thought- here she goes again cooking food for me when I am already full

6:00- finishing movie I started watching on HBO(twelve years a slave) thinking about how this guy must’ve felt being in slavery for twelve years without knowing nothing about his family

Thought- thinking about how this guy must’ve felt being in slavery for twelve years without knowing anything about his family

6:30- checking for any hidden food or snack in my refrigerator

Thought-my mom is probably hiding something good from me somewhere

7:00-watching baseball game (Mets vs. Braves & Yankees vs. blue jays) HR DUDA Lets go Mets

Thought- I wonder who is going to win the World Series this year

9:00-researching building renovations in NYC for engineering technology project

Thought- I found out 432 Park Avenue is going to be the tallest building in Manhattan without measuring the antenna on the freedom Tower

9:30- Dinner (Mangu con salami)

Thought- I am thinking about repainting my shoes, what color should I repaint them

10:00- on Facebook

Thought- scrolling down my newsfeed thinking about what I am doing with my life

10:30- Netflix trying to catch on my missed episodes

Thought-  Netflix should add season 2 of this show

11:00- Again on Facebook watching funny vines and videos

Thought- how do this people get these crazy ideas to do pranks

11:30- More food

Thought- I think should slow down on food a little

12:00- Reading john Medinas book

Thought- just remembered about john medinas 7th rule-“sleep well, think well” and realizing the reason why I am being less productive

12:30-sleep

Thought-I am really tired I think I should go to sleep now

Thinking visually

Eating Breakfast in the morning

Crane i saw on my way to the park

Park that i went to play

Thinking Rhetorically and Reflectively

My name is Antony Frias; I was born in The Dominican Republic and moved to the Brooklyn when I was 9. I am currently a freshman student at New York City College of Technology and I am doing a major in Civil Engineering. The reason why I’ve chosen to do a career in civil engineering is because ever since I was little I have been around a hard working family that works in the construction field and I dream about one day making my family proud by they noticing that I want to follow the same steps as them. This year is a very important year in my life because I have to adapt to life in college and I also have to make sure if the major that I am doing is really the major that suits what I like and that I want. As part of a project I was asked to write down my thoughts for a whole day every 30 minutes. Most of the thoughts I wrote down where about food, Technology, school, and sports. Then after writing my thought, a week later I decided to go back and reflect on what I wrote. As I reflected on what I wrote I discovered that although my current thinking is unrelated to my future career it somehow reflects on the way I would be thinking on my future career. And for that I argue that my current thinking is focused on the things that will enable my future success.

When I went back and read what I had written on my day of thoughts I thought that only a small portion of my thoughts where related to my future career and the rest was just nonsense and time consuming. But after thinking deeply I realized that most of my thoughts where really related to my future career thinking. My first example that shows how my thoughts reflect on my future career is” I think they are putting less sugar in this cereal nowadays”( Frias.par4). What I meant by this thought was that cereal that they make now taste less sugary than they did years ago. This thought seems really irrelevant for someone that wants to be a civil engineer in the future but after thinking deeply I noticed that it does relate. The reason why I think it does is because a lot of civil engineering has to deal with discoveries and In this case I am discovering a difference in the way things are made which leads me into trying to research more about the reason why they change certain things, in this case trying to find out more about the reason why the cereal companies are putting less sugar into their cereals. For this thought I also took a photograph of the cereal box when I was eating cereal (frias,” cereal box”). The reason I used this picture is because looking at the box also made me come up with the thought about cereals with less sugar. The reason that it helped me come up with the thought was because when I looked at the box I noticed a sign that said “only 110 calories per serving” this automatically made me notice that there was difference in flavor and allowed me to come up with the thought about change in flavor.

Your surrounding might affect the way you think about things and shape the way you might think in the future. One of my thoughts which I wrote when I was on the bus going to the handball park was “how the heck they get cranes off the buildings’’(Frias.par.13). This thought came to my mind after I saw a crane on top of a building and I started thinking about how they get cranes off the buildings after they finish a building it. This thought is related to my future career because it involves thinking considerately how things are done and in civil engineering, it is necessary that you think a lot when it comes to finding ways you can solve a problem involving in a project. For this I also used one of my pictures of a construction site with a crane on top of a building (Frias,” Crane on construction site”). I used this picture because it show how came up with this thought by looking at the crane. This picture also made me think a lot about how a lot of are done in constructions and how they manage to do it in a way that leaves people questioning about how they perform such great skills. This also inspires me more to continue the career path that I am taking in the field of construction.

A big part of civil engineer has to deal with decision making. Some of this decision might be, finding the best way for something to be more useful and efficient. Some of the thoughts I had involved decision making but there was one of them that linked more to what I will be doing in my future career.  This thought came up to me when I was on the internet store looking for books for drafting class and I thought about what book I should get “should I get the good condition one which is cheaper or should I get the very good condition one which cost more”(Frias.par.10). This thought was one of the thoughts that I wrote which involved decision making and in this case that would be both getting a cheaper and older book or a newer and more expensive book. When I was having this thought I did some deep thinking and I thought about the importance of the book and whether or not I really needed to get a good copy of the book. Thinking like this helps me keep my mind more in shape to when I have to think about big decision makings in the field when it comes to finding the best way to get a project done more efficiently. When I went back to reflect on this thought, I noticed that it related to some of the things I read in Gary Marcus book ‘’Kluge’’. I noticed that my mind is kind of like setup to question things I see and find solutions to problems that I face in my everyday life.

In the end there’s something that all my thoughts have in common, they are questions that build up in my mind and triggers me to try to find an answer or meaning to them. Even thought my thoughts are really time consumer and might end up distracting me from getting work done I think that all I have to improve is thinking just a little more relatable to my career. Other than that my thoughts are on the right path, I think that if I continue that way I will succeed in my future. I think that if I keep asking myself questions about how things work or notice changes in things around me I would succeed in sharpening my mind and be able to use it as I achieve my goal of becoming a civil engineer.  Because without you knowing your thoughts might be in the right path but by you thinking too hard and might not even know it.

 

 

Work Cited List

Frias0206[Antony.Frias].“Re: Project 1: Thinking in Writing.” OpenLab. ENG1101 D346 English Composition 1, FA2014, 05 Oct. 2014. Tue. 14 Oct. 2014.

 

Frias, Antony. “Crane” Flickr. 14 Oct. 2014. Tue. 14 Oct. 2014

 

Frias, Antony. “Cereal Box” Flickr. 14 Oct. 2014. Tue. 14 Oct. 2014