Civil Technician

Every road, culvert and subdivision starts as a survey and a set of drawings. Assiniboine’s Civil Technician certificate is a full-time, 12-month, 72-credit programme at the Victoria Avenue East campus in Brandon, combining classroom and field training with a 16-week co-op placement in the civil construction sector.

The Civil Technician course list covers the maths, science and drafting a site technician uses daily. Algebra (Civil), Geometry (Civil), Chemistry 1 (Civil) and Chemistry 2 (Civil) give you the technical base, while Mechanics (Civil) and Strength of Materials 1 explain how structures carry loads. Drafting Fundamentals (Civil), AutoCAD 1 (Civil) and AutoCAD 2 (Civil) develop your drawing skills, and Surveying 1 and Surveying 2 take you outdoors. Construction Materials/Safety, Environment, Ethics & Society, Communications (Civil), Report Writing (Civil), General Safety Training and WHMIS 1 complete the programme.

In the surveying courses you handle survey equipment for horizontal measurement, levelling, angle measurement and topographic surveys, and the drafting courses are taught on AutoCAD, so you need a Windows laptop because Mac devices are not compatible with the programme software. The Co-op Work Placement requires 480 hours of related experience, paid or unpaid, over 16 weeks. Graduates hold WHMIS training and have two clear routes onward: they may continue into Assiniboine’s Civil Technology - Municipal Engineering specialization diploma, or they may be eligible for advanced standing in Red River College’s Civil Engineering Technology diploma.

Civil Technician graduates typically start as computer-aided design operators, material testing technicians, surveying assistants, junior inspectors or estimators, and some become construction site assistants, with engineering firms, municipal governments, construction contractors and surveying companies. The certificate suits practical learners with solid maths (Pre-Calculus or Applied Mathematics 40S at 65% or better is required) who like working outdoors as much as at a screen.