According to multiple recent survey outcomes the rate of unemployment is swiftly declining and a similar trend is being observed in the second largest employing sector of the country, the construction industry.
“Since the opining of Foreign Direct Investment for construction industry, especially the infrastructure sector,multiple global infra leaders and multinational companies have taken up the roles of consultants and contractors in various corridors, metro projects and tunnel projects across the country”, said, Dr. Manoj Anaokar, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering (MPSTME), NMIMS Mumbai.
The industry which provides about 60 million job opportunities, has been predicted to hold 9% share in nation’s economy making it the largest sector providing 76 million direct or indirect employment opportunities.
About 2000 crore rupees have been allocated in the union budget this year for expanding national highway network over the country and 25000 km new road projects have been planned this year. Due to the focus of Government on these key growth engines, the career in the Civil Engineering will be more lucrative and successful.
According to Dr. Manoj, “biggest and most principal misconception about Civil Engineering in students and their parents is that, a Civil Engineer is a person who needs to stand on site enduring the bash of sun, wind and rain with very low and unworthy emoluments. Also, civil engineering being traditional branch of engineering is not tech-savy and the work therefore, is not challenging but a boredom.”
Now, with multinationals offering lucrative pay-packages, the local players in the industry stand at the verge of tough competition to extend similar packages to retain skilled and experienced engineers.
“One can be a structural or a geotechnical consultant seating in an airconditioned office offering creative and challenging designs for the structures to stand in the adverse climatic and loading conditions maintaining balance between safety and economy. Civil Engineers today have to work hand in hand with Mechanical, Electronics and IT Engineers with the primary knowledge and information about these sectors. Therefore, for tapping these bright career opportunities, it is most essential to take admission in an excellent educational institution providing world class education with industry ready curriculum”, added, Dr. Manoj Anaokar,
Apart from traditional job opportunities of site engineers there are several other respectable and monetarily rewarding employment opportunities across the sector.
There are growing opportunities in the field of Transportation Engineering to provide solutions over traffic jams and plan new routes and serve better logistic solutions stimulating economic growth.
With the increasing focus on sustainability, Environmental Engineering has seen a substantial demand to resolve the issues in pertaining to waste-water and solid waste management and providing ‘Environment Impact Assessment Report’ before starting any new project. There is also rising scope as a Project Manger controlling the project activities thereby completing the projects in stipulated time.
Commenting on the business opportunities in Civil Engineering, Dr Manoj noted that in other engineering sectors like heavy industry and IT sector either the individual requires investment ofa huge capital for starting a business or they need to sustain in a tough competition with multinationals. However, in Civil Engineering students have numerus business opportunities with affordable investment options. To name a few, for safe foundation designs of high rise and multi-storeyed buildings as well as infrastructure projects there is a huge demand of soil testing laboratories. One can start this business with an investment of 15-20 lac rupees for equipment. Similar is the case with water and waste-water testing laboratories. Engineers can also start a construction chemical agency or start manufacturing building components like concrete blocks used for wall construction or concrete jalis, readymade door and window frames, or paver blocks for footpaths. Furthermore, there is high scope in being a ‘valuer’ who decides the value of property while offering loans by financial institutions or in court matters.
Education is the foundation of any skilled career path.
To open the treasure of best career and employment opportunities, one needs to ensure that they are taking admission in reputed, skill-nurturing educational institutions with good track record with national or international accreditation. Also ensuring that the curriculum taught in the institute is equivalent to the leading national and international universities and the degree program offered is acceptable worldwide is of paramount importance, in order grab the best worldwide employment opportunities.
Concluding his thoughts, Dr. Manoj said, “Ultimately, today’s era is of tough competition and to survive in it we need to prove how we are different from others for receiving the fat pay-packages and perks and reaching new heights in our professional career. This cannot be achieved only through hard work but also requires a strong foundation of good and quality education.”
