Highway technicians, for example, perform survey and cost estimates as well as plan and supervise highway construction and maintenance. Rail and waterway technicians survey, conduct specifications, cost estimates, help plan, and construct railway and waterway facilities. Assistant city engineers coordinate the planning and construction of city streets, sewers, drainage systems, refuse facilities, and other major civil projects. Other technicians specialize in certain phases of the construction process. For example, materials technicians sample and run test on rock, soil, cement, asphalt, wood, steel, concrete, and other materials.
Photogrammetric technicians use aerial photographs to prepare maps, plans, and profiles.
Technicians may instruct or supervise other workers. Working conditions for civil engineering technicians vary. Working outdoors may expose technicians to extreme types of weather and to such hazards as snakes, poison ivy, heat exhaustion, sunburn, and frostbite. A student contemplating a career in civil engineering technology needs a desire to be a builder or planner, an understanding of mathematics and sciences, ability to get along with others, an aptitude for learning, and the ability to think and plan ahead. Prospective technicians should take all the mathematics, sciences, and communications subjects available to them in high school.