Freelance civil engineers can assist with a wide variety of projects and tasks, from designing new infrastructure to overseeing project delivery or consulting on the technical aspects of planning and budgeting. Along with the average cost to hire a civil engineer, businesses need to assess the skills and expertise their selected professional can offer to ensure they are the right fit for the task at hand.
We’ve worked through some of the most important skills to include in your Guru job post, which you can include with your civil project engineer duties and responsibilities.
Choosing the Skills and Requirements to Include in a Freelance Civil Engineer Job Listing
With more than 13,000 civil engineers in our network, adding as many specifics as possible in your description will help you find the most suited freelancers.
Some of the essential abilities, such as a professional qualification and civil engineering expertise, are more obvious than the personal skills and capabilities that can make a huge difference to the success of your project.
1. Precision Planning
Civil engineers should be able to demonstrate exceptional attention to detail–mistakes in a quote or application may be a bad sign. Engineers need to apply precision to every aspect of their work, from calculating structural supports to determining the functionality of a design.
Good project management skills are also relevant since a civil engineer may juggle varied requirements, expectations, and clients and must oversee budgets, productivity, regulatory compliance, and other factors.
2. Technical and Software Skills
In the modern world, most technical designs and drawings are created digitally. A great civil engineer will be well-versed in the programs, software, and tools that can expedite project delivery and minimize the potential for error. If you have a specific software suite you wish to use, please include this in your job post.
Mathematics and physics are baseline skills necessary for all complex civil engineering tasks. They are a prerequisite for a civil engineering job, where your chosen professional needs to have an inherent understanding of the physics and engineering principles that apply to your project.
3. Creativity and Visual Skills
Civil engineers need to create varied visualizations of projects or phrases, such as:
- Blueprints
- Modeling
- Drawings
- Maps
Most of these designs are created with CAD software. Still, the engineer needs a creative vision to capture the objectives or theme of the project and convey these into a graphic illustration for analysis and review.
Highly creative civil engineers can bring a fresh perspective to project planning by putting forward ideas and suggestions, incorporating innovation and dynamic design to solve problems and fit your brief.
4. Time Management and Delegation Skills
Time is a cost driver in infrastructure development and construction. A civil engineer with proven time management skills will be better placed to adhere to strict deadlines and critical paths, ensuring your project does not run over budget or impact your reputation due to lags and missed cut-off dates.
Complex engineering tasks may involve multiple moving parts, professionals, and stakeholders. An engineer who can coordinate and manage every element while understanding when and how to delegate can keep things on track.
5. Leadership and Teamwork Skills
A big part of being able to delegate is taking the time to liaise with colleagues and others involved in the project–a skillful civil engineer brings excellent teamwork to their profession.
Strong leadership is equally important since a civil engineer may be responsible for communicating with countless other colleagues and teams, such as:
- Contractors and subcontractors
- Construction or development managers
- Architects and designers
- Vendors and suppliers
- Other engineers and consultants
Being able to manage, coordinate and liaise with a diverse team is a considerable skill and one that civil engineers deploy to ensure everybody involved is up to date, on schedule, and confident in achieving the deliverables they have been assigned.
Any civil engineer you select should be highly organized and maintain a systematic approach to each stage of a project, including during implementation. They should have an established process to prepare, store and communicate plans and designs, update budgets as the work progresses, and provide ongoing reports to notify you of any projected shortfalls, delays, or changes that could affect your costs and timelines.
