The civil engineering profession consists of a community of professional designers of different types of structures and infrastructure that are physically developed for human use. The nature of the structures and infrastructure designed by the civil engineering fraternity includes roads, buildings, bridges, dams and ware ways, city infrastructure such as sewerage systems, railroads, and railways, canals as well as irrigation systems for agriculture. Simply put, therefore, civil engineering is a profession that helps man to shape the environment, in order to suit his needs (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.p.).

Thus, the purpose of the interview with a senior professional in the field of civil engineering was to gain deeper insights into the requirements of entry into the field, the nature of work and tasks performed by civil engineers under different areas of specialization of the profession, and how to cope in their work environment. Following the interview, I was able to get valuable information regarding the career qualification for civil engineers, the applicable career paths, and the communication skill necessary for successful civil engineers. Thus, this report gives a summary of the civil engineering discipline as generated from the interview. The report will present the background of the interviewee, the current job position, the roles and responsibilities involved in the job position, and the communication skills necessary for the civil engineering work environment. The summary of the learning points obtained from the interview will be presented in the conclusions.

Interview summary

Background and career path

My expectation from the research was that I would be able to find a professional civil engineer who has had more than 10 years of experience in the field, and who has served in different areas of specialization of the profession, thus be able to gather varied nature of experiences regarding this field. It was also my expectation that I would be able to find an easy-going interview subject, who will not limit the nature of the information given as related to this discipline but is comfortable divulging a wide range of information related to both education and professional background.