Why did I choose Civil Engineering:
Planning and designing structures is what I am passionate about, since High school my dream was to become an engineer, I wanted to take risk of whatever difficulties that will come my way, even though I'm a bit scared because of the comments about the course, others say it's one of the most difficult programs to take in college, because of the extreme work loads and mind bugging subjects like 10+ math subjects, and design subjects. Some say a lot of students come but few will only survive in the end, which is true. But as what I've said, I wanted to take risk.
About my college education:
Studying Civil Engineering needs patience, and extreme effort, and also emotional control.
I learned the concepts and theories on the field of Civil Engineering, it is true that we have a lot of Math subjects, if I'm not mistaken, more than 10. From Algebra to Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Math is our foundation to all of Engineering Sciences, meaning we treat it like a grade 1 subject, it is important for us to master the basics of mathematics.
As we get to the next level - starting from 3rd year to 5th year, (HELL YEAR (S)), there comes the Engineering Sciences which are the specializations of our course, in these subjects including Engg Mechanics, Theory of structures, Concrete, Steel and timber design, if you don't know the concepts in math fully, like trigonometry, algebra and physics, you will struggle on understanding the concepts. So practice is the key, If you're not tired, you're not making it right.
Aside from the lessons, the projects are also one of the struggles of being a CE student but for me it's fun :D, most specially the design projects, for example, in theory of structures we have to make an analysis of a 4 storey building, meaning it's like we will plan for the building and make an analysis for the loads so that we can design a safe building. To design means to compute for the materials to be used for making the structure strong, e.g number of steel bars for beams, economical dimensions for steel columns, area of footings etc. So to make the storey short, we should make the project hand written, I consumed 2 reams of bond paper for real! and that is only for one subject, there's 2 more, RC and steel design. Thank God I finished it on time, marks of my calluses are still on my hands.
And of course Emotional control, we all know that in engineering it's normal for an average student like me to get a failing grade, a 3.0 and INC so be prepared, when I first failed a subject I almost cried :' (:D.. so it's best to double your effort to study.
My current job:
Engineer
How long did it take to find a job:
A month
Advice to people who are thinking of studying this course:
PRACTICE.. PRACTICE.. PRACTICE, solve many problems as you can, make it a hobby because in the end it will be worth it. But of course don't forget to enjoy your college life.
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