Civil engineering, in my opinion, is where all the cool nerds go. We, contrary to the other disciplines, are nerds who like to socialise. And socialising has never been better when companies pay for us to have a good time, buy all our booze and ask if we could please apply for a job.

If you’re not naturally brainy then there is still hope for you. Don’t worry every good civil engineer is naturally lazy, doesn’t like anything other than integers and statics and has put down the Bible in order to be more fully guided by The Australian Standards.

If this sounds familiar you can show your aptitude with extra curricular activities; turning sausages* on BBQ’s every couple of weeks just screams ‘dedicated team-working individual’ to future employers.

So what should you expect from your degree…mostly, a bland  first year. Matlab, vectors and matrices will make many people run from engineering. In second year expect your friends to dissipate only to leave you huddling in a corner, desperately trying to make eye contact to form a group of 5. Then finally when you’re nearing the end of your degree your pulse will quicken every time you see a beautiful reinforced concrete slab or a smooth bitumen road, and that is when you know that all the pain was worth it. If for some reason you don’t feel it… well you can still get a good job in commerce.

* We have enough girls to make us unashamed of indulging in sausages every other week.

Bonnie