Engineers Week is dedicated to raising public awareness of the engineering profession and inspiring youth to pursue careers in various engineering disciplines. Which got us wondering — what motivated some of our team members to become Engineers?
Curt Wavering, PE, has been a Project Engineer with Klingner’s Civil / Site Department since 2006. Fourteen years and over 200 projects later, Curt has certainly left a positive impact on communities throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.
So we asked him…what sparked YOU to become an Engineer?
As a kid, I was always building miscellaneous things. I took apart any toy that had broke and tried to find a way it could be fixed. It also did not hurt that my dad is an engineer and one heck of a role model.
Overall, I enjoy developing solutions for difficult project circumstances that benefit the client and community. Being in the Civil / Site Department, I am not pigeonholed into a single type of work. Every project is different with its own set of challenges and with opportunities to tackle multiple engineering tasks.
Engineers can have significant impacts on their communities. Being on the site development side of the profession, we uplift communities by designing projects that “fit” their associated properties. We don’t “force” a development in locations that are not well-suited for them. Be the project large or small, every project is important, especially to the client. I provide engineering services and recommendations to the best of my ability, so I’m proud of all of the projects that I have and do work on.
To students considering a career in Engineering, I say stick with it. Understand that the first year and a half of college is general education courses and “weed out classes.” These can be difficult, but college is much more enjoyable and interesting when you get into the engineering discipline courses.
Curt Wavering, PE holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University and is a registered PE in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.