What is Consulting Engineering?

Consulting engineering is a professional service that provides independent expertise in engineering, science and related areas to governments, industries, developers and construction firms.

Consulting engineering is a professional service that provides independent expertise in engineering, science and related areas to governments, industries, developers and construction firms. Most consulting engineering services are offered through consulting engineering companies, but are also frequently offered by sole practitioners. Consulting engineering companies can range in size from a partnership of two people to multinational corporations with tens of thousands of employees in offices world-wide.

Consulting engineering firms are responsible for designing and building Canada’s infrastructure which is vital to our social, economic and environmental quality of life. Within a consulting engineering firm, projects are usually carried out by teams that are comprised of a variety of professions and disciplines in addition to engineers and technologists, but the team leader is usually a professional engineer. Large firms may be able to assemble the entire team from within their ranks, whereas smaller firms may need to partner with other firms to assemble the team.

In consulting engineering there are opportunities for engineers and other professionals with a wide variety of technical and personal skills. In a consulting engineering company you will find people with:

• every kind of technical specialization
• a wide range of ages and experience levels
• business, financial and administrative expertise
• construction knowledge and experience
• managerial expertise
• business development skills
• project managers

What is a Consulting Engineer?

Engineers in consulting engineering companies come from virtually every discipline and specialty. These engineers are often referred to as consulting engineers and they participate in project teams to help the consulting engineering firm deliver services to its clients. Opportunities within projects can range from purely scientific or technical roles to coordinating or managerial roles, and combinations thereof depending on the type and size of the project.  In many cases, consulting engineers will find themselves coordinating the efforts and activities of other project team members including other disciplines and specialties to ensure effective project delivery. Other consulting engineers will find themselves entirely specialized within their sphere of expertise. This provides a great variety of opportunities for engineers working within the firms.

What is a Technologist?

Technologists are specialists responsible for implementing certain technologies within the field of engineering. Technologists working within the consulting engineering firm often use their training to apply basic engineering principles and technical skills while working closely with engineers in the firm to deliver a variety of projects. Usually technologists work under the direction of engineers, but exceptional individual technologists can aspire to any level of responsibility in most consulting engineering firms.

What are some other professions and disciplines working in Consulting Engineering?

Other professions and disciplines working in Consulting Engineering include specialist engineers, generalist engineers, technologists, planners, CAD operators, surveyors, architects, environmental biologists, geoscientists, archaeologists, economists, construction specialists, property negotiators and a range of other specialists as needed by the project.