Discussion Thread

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most. 

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

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Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

I would agree that communication is my most frequently used tool in my role, followed by planning. With the right understanding about a project goal and the right schedule in terms of staff availability, I find that the "heavy lifting" of performing most calculations can actually occur fairly quickly.

In terms of communication, Slack and Teams have been critical in being able to communicate with coworkers that span multiple companies, especially during periods of remote work. 

In terms of planning, task tracking apps such as Asana are extremely helpful in making sure everyone knows what they need to do, and when they need to do it by. 

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Christopher Seigel P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

It depends on the project, but a BIM can help you immensely. We typically use 2D CAD to generate drawings, plans, sections, and elevations of buildings and sewer systems or HVAC systems in civil engineering. In this sense, CAD does provide a quick way of generating helpful documentation. But the method of computer simulation technique for solving engineering and other technical problems is more potent than just 2D CAD.

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Rostyslav Sipakov Ph.D., Aff.M.ASCE
CEO
Miami FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

Good communication is essential. On top of this, the number one tool I use is mindset that asks 1) where are we now, 2) where do we want to go and 3) how do we get there. This approach has never let me down for helping bring a group or discussion from chaos to clarity. From my personal experience, just asking "should we clarify what problem we're problem we're trying to solve" has huge impact. There are formal processes for implementing this approach, but the mindset and helping a group think about the problem at hand in these three components will alone deliver significant value.

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Mitch Winkler P.E., M.ASCE
Houston, TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

Hi all!

What a great question Salvador! I think one of the most important civil engineering tools I use every day is systems thinking. In the context of design, understanding how a change will impact future design elements has been crucial. Can we make this change in an earlier construction stage and how will it impact the design and construction in subsequent phases? This systems thinking approach has helped me greatly with tracking a change throughout an entire plan set, too. Sometime a tedious task, it's allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the interdependence of  different civil engineering disciplines (i.e. drainage, structural, and roadway design). Also, by thinking through a change in the context of the entire system/process/design, the schedule and budget implications will be understood earlier. 

Since I'm an EIT and still very early in my career, most of the time, I'm just listening to these budget and schedule conversations. I think gaining an understanding of budget and schedule implications early in my career will help me as grow into a more senior/PM role (or at least that's my hope!).

Thanks for posing this question Salvador! It's been great to see that soft skills, especially communication, play such a vital role in civil engineering!

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Madison Anderson A.M.ASCE
Kenosha WI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

As a student, it's good thing that I might practice adaptability in different level of complexity, and learning things on my own will have a great impact to be out there. However, I used to be very resourceful in any problems I encountered, and having a confidence to deal with anything is what I owned.

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Llala Chrishaye Ocampo S.M.ASCE
Student
City of General Trias Cavite
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

Very nice question. 

I am in my final undergraduate year and working in the engineering field at the same time. The uses of BIM is extremely helpful. An engineer must follow up with the trends of the BIM as it makes life very easy.

Be professional in what you are doing, everything you do and say is a responsibility that you must carry. Therefore, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and technical skills are the tools that I use everyday at work.

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Avo Solakian S.M.ASCE
Civil Engineer Assistant
Kuwait
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

Both my on-campus jobs had a tool for me to use every day.

During my time as a Student Utilities Assistant, I had Microsoft Access. I was responsible for updating our office's database regarding all of the monthly bills, so I was the one who had to work inside the office every week. For my time as a Student Research Assistant, into the pandemic, my work required MATLAB. We could not meet in person anymore, so to transition the work regarding our transportation microcosm, we used a program to analysis other aspects of the daily campus bus service.

Now, for the research project I am doing for one of my professors, I use RStudio to analyze data sets for climate modeling. Without being able to construct programs to fit all the data into simpler data sets and box-plots, analyzing them efficiently would not be possible.

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Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
granato.3@...
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

The other part of effective communication, the aspect of effectively and patiently listening.

------------------------------
James Williams P.E., M.ASCE
Principal/Owner
POA&M Structural Engineering, PLC
Yorktown, VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

Hi Salvador! The Brain is one the most intimidating thing and it is, of course, "a powerful tool" that an Engineer has to use (as you consider it a friendly one). We are problem solvers by default, but we can also put ourselves in Artists and Idealists roles when designing a more human society, "this is imagination". This is the ultimate goal that you cannot escape, if you want to maintain what is human, you might want to preserve it!  Otherwise, advancing to a high level future society requires to see each one of us, as master of systems integrators now and with that, there's a lot of room for creativity and responsibility to be talked before to lead with Machines. They are supposed coming in our way (direction), for the future years that are coming.  Technology is important, but at least must be shared at a global scale and sometimes it have been used with some restrictions to exclusivity of a few selected ones. We often see some tools & free software in the Structural Engineering profession, that you don't have to pay, or maybe that has been developed by some Research University. "Its not the conventional case for the accelerated profession to lead with quantity instead quality", "not have the cameras, mídia eyes and popularity attention", but they carry a lot of  potential. One example was the C.A.S.T - Computer Aided Strut & Tie from Illinois. You might do extraordinary STM designs & systems with Structural Concrete with that tool.  In another scale,  also exists those BIM technologies within big corporations domain. I think Engineering must to have to access in all cases, and should be affordable! This can accelerates our join in the better world! As the collaborative effort grows in our society and thanks to the good will of colleagues, We might have someday an opportunity to prevail with ASCE Future Direction!

(I think communication performs an essential role, always! Its important to gain & share experiences in the end, and this is important to know the existence of Visionary Mavericks in the World of Engineering and those Masterpieces created by Structural Artists too!)  thank you!

------------------------------
Andre Newinski S.E., A.M.ASCE
Engenheiro Estrutural
AN
Santo Angelo
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------

It's a nice discussion to Salvador and James :) It goes beyond the implements, and I can hopefully adjust my
thinking in this discussion to accept some of the points that you offer in communications. What I would like to
say, is that the planets are actually very good tools; and can be integrated in communications.  How is this?  It
is similar to cellular technology.  It is saying to yourself that: "I can meet you on Jupiter"; or "Let's meet at 12
PM at Saturn's rings"; or "Let's start again on Mercury and traverse to the hall".  In effect, I think it is like a
telephone number. But at least there would be a technicality in statements about the planets.  [It will also invoke
Physics theories.]  Intricately, it is a "tool" to build interconnectivity in awareness in the heart.  Without this 'tool'
that I do improve with in my guild in building interconnectedness.  For instance, I have traversed to Mercury
with my conscience enlightened with another, and I return to an acorn in an outdoor Oak tree.  Upon going to 
visit the acorn, the other appears as a Squirrel, and is looking askance while I visit the acorn.  

Without this tool, we might become hopeless robots.
------------------------------------------------------
Refugio [Imanel] Manuel R.B. PE
In Jacksonville, FL
He reaches a good tone in the sun of the spring.
------------------------------------------------------

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Refugio Rochin P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer V
NAXUTL, Inc.
Jacksonville FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2022 07:25 AM
From: Andre Newinski
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Hi Salvador! The Brain is one the most intimidating thing and it is, of course, "a powerful tool" that an Engineer has to use (as you consider it a friendly one). We are problem solvers by default, but we can also put ourselves in Artists and Idealists roles when designing a more human society, "this is imagination". This is the ultimate goal that you cannot escape, if you want to maintain what is human, you might want to preserve it!  Otherwise, advancing to a high level future society requires to see each one of us, as master of systems integrators now and with that, there's a lot of room for creativity and responsibility to be talked before to lead with Machines. They are supposed coming in our way (direction), for the future years that are coming.  Technology is important, but at least must be shared at a global scale and sometimes it have been used with some restrictions to exclusivity of a few selected ones. We often see some tools & free software in the Structural Engineering profession, that you don't have to pay, or maybe that has been developed by some Research University. "Its not the conventional case for the accelerated profession to lead with quantity instead quality", "not have the cameras, mídia eyes and popularity attention", but they carry a lot of  potential. One example was the C.A.S.T - Computer Aided Strut & Tie from Illinois. You might do extraordinary STM designs & systems with Structural Concrete with that tool.  In another scale,  also exists those BIM technologies within big corporations domain. I think Engineering must to have to access in all cases, and should be affordable! This can accelerates our join in the better world! As the collaborative effort grows in our society and thanks to the good will of colleagues, We might have someday an opportunity to prevail with ASCE Future Direction!

(I think communication performs an essential role, always! Its important to gain & share experiences in the end, and this is important to know the existence of Visionary Mavericks in the World of Engineering and those Masterpieces created by Structural Artists too!)  thank you!

------------------------------
Andre Newinski S.E., A.M.ASCE
Engenheiro Estrutural
AN
Santo Angelo

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2021 04:48 PM
From: Salvador Bentolila
Subject: As a civil engineer, what's the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Civil Engineers have to wear so many different hats in a project: planners, designers, managers, field engineers, and many more. So many tools are used throughout the lifecycle of project by a Civil Engineer that I often wonder which one, if any, is the best to have or the one that is used the most.

In my case, I feel that effective communication is the tool that I use every single day. By effective communication I mean having the ability to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to others, as well as adapting your communication style depending on the project stakeholder you are interacting with.

So tell me, for you, which is the one civil engineering tool that you use every day?

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Salvador

------------------------------
Salvador Bentolila P.E., ENV SP, M.ASCE
AECOM
New York NY
------------------------------