CAREERS

1.0 Background

Chatwin Engineering’s Civil Engineering Department has been operating in the Province of British Columbia for the past 30 years. Over that period of time, they have involved young graduate engineers in their engineer-in-training (EIT) program. Their process and program involve a calculated process for the development of a young engineer over the 4 years of their EIT career. Chatwin Engineering values the work that an EIT does and attempts to ensure that each EIT candidate undertakes a diverse and comprehensive program, in order that they can qualify for certification after 4 years. Each EIT candidate will be working during their 4-year program under the sponsorship of a professional engineer sponsor.

It is envisioned that the EIT will move from sponsor to sponsor in order to obtain different skills and approaches to engineering problem solving from the various sponsors. This document is to provide the EITs with an understanding of the blueprint for how we envision them achieving the necessary skills to become qualified as a Professional Engineer in our Province.
The Chatwin Engineering Ltd. EIT Training Program is consistent with the “Engineers and Geoscientists in Training Program Guide”, published by the Engineers and Geoscientists of BC and attached as Appendix No. 1.

The following information outlines the program in a more specific way, as it deals with the work of Chatwin Engineering’s Civil Engineering Department.

2.0 Experience After Four Years

It is envisioned that each EIT candidate in Chatwin Engineering’s Civil Engineering Department shall obtain experience in the following major categories over their 4-year program.

1. Construction Engineering
   This will be undertaken through part-time or full-time resident engineering inspection programs on construction programs that have been designed by professional engineers. This experience allows the young engineer with real on-the-ground training of how projects are constructed and facilitated prior to proceeding to the design phase of the training program.
2. Contract Administration
   As a young engineer moves forward in their construction inspection program, they will be trained by a supervisor on how to interpret contracts and provide contract administration for the performance of contracts. It is recommended that EITs should enroll in Contract Administration courses recommended by their sponsor.
3.  Surveying
   During the EIT program, the young engineer will be required to obtain experience in construction inspection and preliminary surveys. This experience is not to teach the EIT to be an experienced surveyor when they become a professional engineer but to be able to supervise surveyors on project teams as they move through their career.
4. Autocad Experience
   The EIT will learn various skills of Autocad for utilizing this technology in the development of civil engineering designs. This is not necessarily to create a professional engineer that has full Autocad capabilities, but a professional engineer that can understand the capabilities of Autocad and capacity of the technicians and be able to better utilize the technology in the process of developing designs.
5. Design Experience
   The EIT will move from their construction experience into a junior design function and move forward through more complicated design. Experience gained through construction inspection, survey and Autocad drafting/design on previous engineering design projects, prior to the EIT undertaking designs, is of great benefit in understanding the design process.
6.  Junior Project Management
   In the final phases of an EIT training program, the EIT will obtain experience in junior roles of project management in projects, under the direct supervision of a Professional Engineer.

3.0 Skills Acquired After Four Years

As EIT candidates are moved through the experience that is afforded them by Chatwin Engineering’s Civil Department, it is expected that the following skills will be learned:

• Planning
• Scheduling
• Budgeting
• Supervision
• Communications
  • oral
  • written
• Approval processes
• Social implication of engineering
• Engineering ethics

4.0 A sample program

Work afforded to an EIT candidate under this Training Program will be subject to the availability of existing and ongoing projects in the Company. A sample program, under ideal conditions, would take the following forms.

Year 1

• Construction Inspection (full time or part-time resident inspector)
• Basic preliminary Survey (topographic collection)
• Construction Survey
• Contract Administration

Year 2

• Junior Design Position
• Basic engineering design
• Autocad Civil 3D

Year 3

• Intermediate Design Position

Year 4

• Senior Design Position
• Junior Project Management Roles

Click to open the PDF and read more from the Engineers and Geoscientists In Training Program Guide