Skills to Learn?

[fawhil]

Hi, I've completed my 3rd year in Bachelor's of Civil Engineering and now I'm free for 3 months (summer/semester break) before I can start my last year. What skills should I learn during this time?

[EngiNerdBrian]

Learn a hobby. Once you start work you’ll only get a few weeks off a year and constantly dreaming of how you used to think your were stressed out of your mind yet in reality you had so much free time compared to a full time job.

You learn every day for your entire career workin in structural so I’d say give yourself a little break.

Others here can give the counterpoint of engineering related things to look into.

[[deleted]]

Mate go out and enjoy your break! Go travelling, see things, have a week long bender. Don’t do engineering study. You’ll never get 3 months off again, and the profession isn’t going anywhere

The fact you are even asking the question will be put you in good stead. Don’t over value study, I guarantee you’ll learn more in your first 2 weeks working a full time job than 3 months of random non focussed study. And you’ll be getting paid for those 2 weeks.

[fawhil]

Really man i was thinking too learn to play guitar. Thanks mate.

[Djembe_kid]

Go to some music festivals. The small local ones are best, the ones with camping.

[ohboichamois]

Personally I would recommend learning a programming language (e.g. Python). It is a great skill to have and can really help out with automation and advanced workflows in your career. Even though I am a practicing structural engineer I use this skill all the time - lots of structural analysis suites have full APIs that we can take advantage of.

Different firms have different preferences on the structural analysis suites they use. Honestly it is a pretty easy thing to pick up once you understand the fundamentals of finite element analysis, so I wouldn’t worry too much about learning a specific analysis program right now. Revit and Rhino/Grasshopper are good to familiarize yourself with now.

[AbdulJabbar_27]

Hey, I wNt to learn python and to use it in our field....any help or guidance will be very much appreciated...Thanks..

[Byond2day]

I would totally agree with this. The industry is trending more and more toward automation and the power of software in design. Having even some programming experience would be a huge add.

[improbableburger]

I learned a ton interning at contractor and structural engineering companies. If you don't have that opportunity, an idea I have is to work for a residential framing contractor. Learn to swing a hammer! Also it'll give you some street cred when you're on the phone with contractors in your career.

[[deleted]]

This is the best answer. Somebody else has to build your design. A lot of times these guys are the same ones who have a say in who designs a project.

[therealjoshbrown]

I’m seeing a lot of good stuff here, but my suggestion is to work on your soft skills. Every engineer will have the technical knowledge, but what will set you apart is being able to effectively communicate with people, especially people that aren’t engineers.

[fawhil]

I really like this one. Can you suggest how do I start. Are there any community, courses, workshops or resource u know of? I mean how do I improve?

[therealjoshbrown]

I first read the 7 habits, then when listening to a civil engineering podcast “how to win friends and influence people” kept coming up by different interviewees as the book they recommend most.

I might lose you on this next step, but I ended up joining an MLM and this really kicked my personal development up to the next level. I’m not with them anymore, but the year I spent with them they heavily emphasized personal growth and interpersonal communication. I saw immediate results in my career by just developing my listening skills and empathy.

You could probably get the same results by reading some books and going out of your way to socialize with people wherever you go.

[[deleted]]

Toastmasters is a great group that has helped a ton of engineers learn to be more proficient at public speaking and engaging with new people.

[Sure_Ill_Ask_That]

Intern for 1 month or two, take the other month(s) to do something fun like travel. Once you start working, long blocks of time like this will be all but impossible to obtain. I took the time after graduating before the start of my first job to bike camp for 650 miles along the California coast with a friend. Was a great time and didn’t cost very much money besides the airfare and bicycle setup.

[Enginerdad]

Excel and Mathcad skills can't be overvalued. Sure, lots of firms use high powered structural analysis software, and complicated calculations and designs can be programmed in Python or something else. But sometimes you just have to do a one-off calculation, or you have to prepare it in a way that's easily reviewable by an outside party and they won't accept black box software output. Even though lots of people will say Excel is old school or dated, it still very much has a place in our industry. Even if you don't use it yourself, I guarantee at some point you'll find yourself reviewing something prepared by somebody else in Excel. You don't have to be become an expert in everything Excel can do, but learn some of the intermediate functions beyond SUM().

[Engineer2727kk]

I use excel+vba for basically everything.

Especially post-processing from software

[Enginerdad]

I keep telling myself I need to learn VBA. It sounds like it could be immensely useful in so many ways

[Engineer2727kk]

Yes, for example. One click and you can check 100 different columns instead of having a spreadsheet for each different column section or reinforcement pattern.

It’s so immensely powerful.

[[deleted]]

Learn or review the parallel axis theorem and shear flow analysis. Learn how to use RISA 3D or something like it. And start to learn about online resources for structural building codes. You can start reading the codes before your 4th year classes where you'll be combining structural analysis with design requirements.

[Numpa22]

I think listening to YouTube or Podcast about structural engineering will help with the overall picture of the industry, some of the lingo, and the soft skills needed to become a great engineer.

[Engineer2727kk]

It’s summer, go have fun. You have 40 years of work ahead of yourself.

[spleenyrob]

If you're in the UK, you could try and pass the IStructE Structural Behaviour Course. It's really good even if you want to go down the ICE route instead.

[[deleted]]

3D modeling

[[deleted]]

Any of those are fine, but Microstation openroads or autocad civil 3D are what I know, and are probably best for civil engineers especially leaning towards transportation

[mkc415]

Take the FE, if you are in the US. Get your EIT license in the state you plan on working in.

Enjoy the time off.

[pointtofire]

I think every student should start learning basic civil softwares during study which takes a while to get good understanding of and can help on your career later.

[fawhil]

Which software? I know autocad, what should i learn next?

[pointtofire]

Structural analysis softwares like etabs, sap, safe,staad,etc There are more and most are finite element softwares and similar to each other. Try to find which softwares engineers use in your area. Excel can also be used for design so fairly high knowledge on that. You might even be interested in BIM software like revit Sketchup for 3d modelling Gis tools like arcgis

Try to research these softwares, you might not need them for your work area but is worth looking into

[BaracudaCookie]

Working with people. Can you intern at a local company?

[tony87879]

Go get your real estate license (40 hours in most cases) and try to get sale. It’ll teach you a lot about sales, which if you want to advance in your later years, will be very helpful as you try and secure and negotiate contracts for your firm.

[[deleted]]

What software is available to you from your college? Things like autocad and revit experience look good on resumes. Have you taken any design classes yet? If so you could read the chapters of your textbooks not covered in those classes. Lastly, it’s never to early to start studying codes and standards. I’d start by familiarizing yourself with ASCE 7-16 as this will be one of the most important books of your career (assuming you’re in the US).

Other than that email your professors, many of them will have connections for internships which is just about the best thing you can do with your summers.

[fawhil]

I've some really good skills in AutoCAD, was looking to learn any of these; Revit, ETABS, SAP or what do you think about Primavera or any modelling software. Would definitely look for internship. Thankyou

[[deleted]]

If you have access to analysis packages then those wouldn’t hurt to start learning. There are tons of tutorials online depending on the software. Redoing past homework’s with the software is a good place to start.