工程

工程

Plan where to put things like roads, 人行道上, and stormwater infrastructure. 监督施工, 维护, and reconstruction projects in your city to make sure the finished work is safe, 功能, 看起来很棒.

Debra Heiser, engineering director, St. 路易公园

为什么她每天都出现: With civil engineering you get to go out and change the world. You get to see what you’re doing, 你可以出去走走, 你可以和别人一起工作, 我对此很感兴趣. I’ve always loved being outside, I’ve always loved the outdoors. I love problem solving, I love fixing things. The wonderful thing about my job is my lab is the city.

For me it’s also about ownership. In my profession as a city engineer I have the unique opportunity to be there from start to finish. You’re there when a concept is first brought up and you’re thinking, “What is the future going to hold?” You’re there when you start designing it, 当你建立它的时候, and when it’s open and the public is using it. Sometimes those projects take five to 10 years to happen. We build it so that it can last because as the city we’re the owner. 我们的利益攸关.

How she got the job (and how you could too): 我的数学一直很好. I always knew I was going to be an engineer, but didn’t know what kind, necessarily. I went to the University of Minnesota, and I graduated with a bachelor’s of science in civil engineering. After graduating I started out as an intern with the city of Burnsville, and they hired me full time as a technician. A technician works in 汽车CAD; they design, and do construction observation and surveying for different projects. I became the development review engineer, so I was really involved with land use approvals and with the planning department. From there I went to the city of Roseville for 15 years. I was city engineer and assistant public works director. 然后我来到圣. 路易公园. It was an amazing opportunity, and I’ve been here for four years.

那份工作怎么样? 解决问题很重要. 我们如何让它变得更好? 我们如何解决这个问题? 我们如何重建它? 我们如何做出改变? Our department is in charge of managing the majority of the construction projects in town. We have about $20 million worth of work that we do a year. Our projects maintain and improve mobility in the city—streets, 人行道上, 信号, 所以人们可以四处走动. We also address utilities—sanitary sewers, stormwater infrastructure, and water mains.

And for every single one of those projects, before we actually start building it, 我们让公众参与进来. We have internal customers and external customers that we need to work with, 跟, 并从. 我有48个,000个外部客户, not including the business owners—48,000 is just the population—and we need to make sure we’re being responsive to their requests. We need to be responsible with how we spend tax dollars. What we build needs to last; what we build needs to look good, and serve the public.

The most rewarding part of my job is when a project is complete, and we have this beautiful new facility, and I can say I was a part of making it happen. It makes the city a better place. 这样更安全. We’re physically changing things, making them new, and they will last for another 50 years.

Are you interested in learning more about a city career? One great way to get advice is to contact someone in your own city or a city nearby. You can ask questions about the job and learn more about training programs that may be available. 连接到 city websites and city contact information through the 明尼苏达城市联盟.