The World of Civil Engineering
By Haneem Hendricks

The United Kingdom's Institution of Civil Engineers defines Civil Engineering as "a vital art, working with the great sources of power in nature for the wealth and well-being of the whole of society. Its essential feature is the exercise of imagination to engineer the products and processes, and develop the people needed to create and maintain a sustainable natural and built environment. It requires a broad understanding of scientific principles, a knowledge of materials and the art of analysis and synthesis. It also requires research, team working, leadership and business skills. A Civil Engineer is one who practices all or part of this art."

I was awarded a bursary with Ninham Shand (now Aurecon) in my second year of my undergraduate degree and have been blessed to have had excellent mentors such as Professor Andre Gorgens, Colin Whittemore, Anton Sparks and Erik van der Berg, all highly respected leaders in their respective fields within the water resources engineering discipline. I have been fortunate in that these same people were very progressive project managers/engineers and coupled with their genuine interest in my career they provided a solid foundation throughout my studies and beyond. This same progressive thinking allowed me to move from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape and I am currently based in eThekwini to work on various interesting projects.

I've been involved with determining the feasibility of a dam within the Northern Province, the re-allocation of water resources to previously disadvantaged farmers in the Western Cape, hydrological analyses for a dam within the Eastern Cape, designing pipelines & dams for agricultural use in the Eastern Cape, providing inlet and outlet structures for wastewater treatment works, site monitoring as well as assisting in the replacement of asbestos water pipelines within the eThekwini municipality.

Throughout my career I have interacted with role-players such as surveyors and construction managers to Ward Councillors and Consumers. As I have worked in different offices albeit for the same company, I can tell you with all honesty that my experiences on the whole have oscillated between good and bad. I've been treated with respect by pioneers of industry and at the same time been called derogatory terms such as “Little Girl” by site managers and blatantly ignored when issuing instructions. Some managers have allowed me to design complex structures (under the watchful eyes of mentors of course) whilst other managers have treated me as part of the administration staff. All of these experiences were to be expected in my transition from graduation to registration as a Professional Engineer. The construction industry as a whole is predominantly a white, male dominated industry and to find a place for a 5ft Muslim Coloured woman is an ongoing adventure.

Thankfully, there are forums such as SAWomEng as well as the Young Professional Forum which provide a platform for young engineers to voice their concerns. In my opinion, a young engineer is not only concerned with adhering to set design standards but they are at the forefront of technical innovations. We have an understanding of the greater social and ethical issues concerning our profession and we embrace the challenge of sustainable engineering.

In general, civil engineering is concerned with the overall interface of human-created fixed projects with the greater world. South Africa is 16 years into a new democracy and the physical changes to our country are visible. The infrastructure (roads, railways, water supply and treatment, etc) development has vastly improved the lives of many South Africans. Civil engineering is at the heart of service delivery and sustainable growth and development and being able to be part of this change excites me!

In the current economic environment, however, our managers are increasingly under pressure to secure work whilst having to train candidate engineers to become competent professionals. Therein lies a challenge to achieve synergy between the needs of the company on the whole and the individual needs of a young engineer. Most companies find that the time and effort needed to train a young engineer are not feasible with the time and financial constraints that they have to deal with.

Combine this together with the challenge of the different approaches to problem solving (a 50 year old engineer and a twenty-something year old engineer have very different problem solving approaches!) we are sometimes at an impasse in our communication. As young engineers we need this wealth of technical expertise to be passed down to us but at the same time we would like an opportunity to provide alternative solutions.

Institutions such as the South African Institute for Civil Engineering (SAICE) are aware of the challenges facing our young engineers and decided to create The Candidate Academy. Their ambitious programme seeks to improve the quality of training newly qualified engineers, technicians and technologists. The academy provides courses for engineers which deals with the requirements for registering as a Professional Engineer. They also provide courses for the mentors, supervisors and HR personnel to create an environment conducive to training proficient engineers. This is a very recent development (the first course starts in April 2010) but indicative that the debates in our industry are evolving from mere talk to action.

The construction industry in South Africa is experiencing an unprecedented period of growth and change and our technocratic input to decision-making which influences political will is invaluable. I am continuously frustrated with the attitude of some of the professionals that I have to deal with but when I see the progress that my colleagues, most of whom I can call friends, and I have made in the years I am hopeful that the young engineer (and in particular the young female engineer) will not allow intolerance and ignorance to stop us from being the change that we would like to see in the industry. We are intelligent, talented, worldly and planning for prosperity!

Background on the author

Haneem Hendricks matriculated in 1999 and went on to study for a MBChB at the University of Pretoria and subsequently decided that she needed a more challenging career so after completing her first year of medicine moved to the University of Cape Town and started her Civil Engineering degree. During her high school career she attended an Open Day for girls in Maths & Physics at the Peninsula Technikon (now known as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and learnt of a career called Civil Engineering. Mind you, she had no clue of what exactly it entailed. She just knew that these mythical creatures known as Engineers were responsible for such awe-inspiring work such as the Blou Krans bridge en route to Port Elizabeth from Cape Town as well as features such as the Sir Lowry's Pass in Cape Town. She'd have a chance to provide a visible change to our land! She was sold! Sigmund Freud once said that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the first one I won't mention but the other dictates the desire to be great!

Now a Candidate Engineer (in training) who graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. She then went on to study for a Masters degree which she has yet to complete before embarking on the wonderful world of Consulting Engineering. She is currently employed by the largest consulting engineering company in South Africa. She is a full-time engineer, part-time blogger, habitual nomad and overall awesome friend.