Tips To Become a Freelance Civil Engineer

Civil Engineers are probably the best-known engineers around. They build structures that

have defined epochs, withstood eras and continue to inspire awe today. You should be proud

to be able to call yourself a civil engineer. Whether you are a fulltime employee, looking to

earn a few extra bucks by the side, or you are a self-employed engineer, simply trying to get

your business up and running, there is much scope in freelance civil engineer.

Whatever your preferences for choosing to freelance, you can be assured that freelance civil

engineering is a career that will give you a comfortable life, and a low pressure, low stress

working environment like your home.

Job Duties for Freelance Civil Engineer:

Your duties as a freelance civil engineer, will include being able to work with construction

crews and other junior engineers to build residential or commercial structures. You may even

discover or invent alternative processes for the fabrication of cement, or maybe even use a

newer mix of chemicals to achieve the desired effect. To elaborate, let us have an in-depth

look at some of the duties that will fall under your purview, as a freelance Civil Engineer:

Undertaking technical and feasibility studies including site investigations

Using a range of computer packages for developing detailed designs

Undertaking complex and repetitive calculations

Liaising with clients and a variety of professionals including architects,

subcontractors, etc

Compiling job specifics and supervising tendering procedures

Resolving design and development problems

Managing budgets and project resources

Scheduling material and equipment purchases and delivery

Ensuring projects run smoothly and structures are completed within budget and on

time

Even as a freelance civil engineer, you may well need to be away from home for long

stretches. Overnight and weekend stays may be required for site inspections. Site engineers

and managers can be on call 24 hours a day. Your sites may not be as easy to reach as you

would wish them to be, but do not let this dissuade you from it. Travel abroad may be

possible if you wish to temporarily work with a large consultancy company.

Skills:

To be a good freelance civil engineer, there are some skills that you should consider

mastering. You should be able to engineer, re-engineer and reverse-engineer aspects, but the

job role will often demand more from you. Some additional skills you should consider

include:

Mathematical skills

Complex Problem Solving

Critical Thinking

Scientific Skills

Decision Making

Operations Research

Operations Analysis

Co-ordination

Active Learning

Self-motivated

Able to work remotely

Systems Analysis

Quality control

Deductive Reasoning

Equipment selection

Social Perceptiveness

Working with all materials

Civil Engineering is a graduate level course, often requiring four years of intensive study.

You should work towards a degree or a certification to avoid heartbreaks and get that dream

job. Learn Civilengineering, MIT Opencourseware, AIU, About Civil Engineering and

WizIQ offer many options to learn online, either in course or self training video formats,

which can supplement your degree.

Being Successful as a Freelance Civil Engineer:

You need a healthy mix of guile and doggedness to get the job done. Talent alone counts for

nothing in this field. The freelance job market sets store by a mix of experience and talent,

and you may have to tread the same path to attract generous prospective employers.

To ensure early success, you could :

Offer to do projects for minimum fees, sometimes for free

Bid the lowest for a project on freelancer portals

Start a blog, back link it to more visible blogs

Create a website, or at the very least, a web page

Advertise your services on social media platforms

Understand the engineering requirement intimately

Sharpen your Communication skills, as it would help you get more jobs

Master Engineering Basics

Average Remunerations:

Most of the revenue generated by you will depend solely on your ability to market your

services and your credibility with previous employees.

Usually freelance portals offer various kinds of payment models. In the fixed-price model,

the price is usually pre-determined. The hourly model is the most popular and employers

usually pay a predetermined sum per hour. Finally, in the project-budget based model, you

often need to auction for such projects. Usually a fixed price model may range from $20-

$200 and upwards, while you have to pitch for hourly projects, and budget payments, which

usually range from $5- $35 an hour, with average payments at $22 per hour.

Finding Work:

Many websites, forums, and portals offer hundreds of jobs to freelance engineers like you.

Elance, Odesk, Peopleperhour and Guru offer many opportunities to freelance civil engineers

around the globe.

Resources:

Civil Engineering is a graduate level course, often requiring four years of intensive study.

You should work towards a degree or a certification to avoid heartbreaks and get that dream

job. Learn Civil engineering, MIT Opencourseware, AIU, About Civil Engineering and

WizIQ offer many options to learn online, either in course or self training video formats,

which can supplement your degree.

For more information please visit www.careerlancer.net