Becoming a Good Site Engineer

Good morning every one as you know i am electrical engineer in technical office and working in scope of shop drawing section and i am interest in being in the site and i wounder bout the advices which i can depend on be a good site engineer

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Most important of all, you need to be familiar with safety procedures and construction techniques, and you need to be able to come up with a solution quickly when you are confronted by an unforeseen problem. And of course, you also need very good man-management skills to handle the workers and subcontractors. The best way would be to follow highly experienced site engineers around and learn from them, because these are skills you won't find in any textbook.

hi wafaa,

first off, try to find out if a Site Engineer is laid out by your company as a within your career path. otherwise, this would mean a change in career course, and thus, like starting from square one in your career.

second, a Site Engineer needs to have good communication skills (written and verbal). if you're working in a multi-lingual company, most likely, English will be the medium of communication. you'll have to work on improving that.

third, a Site Engineer does lots of coordination work, top-down and accross the organization. you'll need to have human relationship skills to be able to get the cooperation that you need in performing your job.

fourth, a Site Engineer needs to be very well acquainted with health, safety and environmental concerns. you'll need to read and study your company's HSE manual and policies.

fifth, you'll need to be cost-conscious, as well. that means having an eye out for spotting areas where the company can cut costs without sacrificing quality and delivery of projects. for this ability, you'll need to have some training in cost improvement disciplines, of which there are so many that can apply in a construction company.

sixth, you'll need to be able to understand contracts and tenders, draft them if necessary, monitor the implementation, and report on how contracts are being followed or not (compliance reporting). for this, you may need another set of skills to acquire from trainings.

seventh, have a good understanding and grasp of the supply chain. this is so you know whom and when to follow any item that is under procurement.

many other functions may be out there for a Site Engineer, but that would depend on the company you're working with, and what they are looking for in that position.

having said that, you'll get an idea of what it takes to be one of your company's Site Engineers by getting hold of its Job Description. start practicing your people skills with your HR personnel, then. good luck!