Letter

Civil/Structural Engineer

REF: CE3953

• World class construction projects
• Industry leading training and development
• Exceptional salary package

Are you a civil/structural engineer seeking a new challenge with a well-established and reputable global company? We welcome expressions of interest from exceptional engineers to work on our subdivision and ground engineering projects.

Ideally you will have demonstrated project experience in subdivisions, sewer and water reticulation, road works and earth works. You will need to have working knowledge in using AutoCAD and 12D. You can expect to work on a broad range of projects including high-end residential apartments, office blocks, shopping centres, hospitals and educational facilities.

The successful applicant will have:

• a Bachelor's degree
• at least three years relevant experience
• self motivation
• a high level of verbal and written communication skills
• a focus on time and resource management
• solid communication and computer skills
• outstanding people management and project execution capability.

To confidentially apply for this role, or for further information, please contact:

Catherine Merrick
HR Manager
Asterix Construction
PO Box 0000
Alfdale WA 6001

c.merrick@example.com
(08) 9212 2121

32th street

Abu Dhabi, P O Box 0000

30-September-2012                                                                                               

Catherine Merrick

HR Manager

Asterix Construction

Alfdale W A 6001

REF: CE3953

I am currently on my third year of study in Civil Engineering at higher Colleges of Technology Abu Dhabi. I found your advertisement in the internet and I think my skills and education will be beneficial to your organization.

As my resume state my studies at HCT include AutoCAD, structural analysis and soil mechanics.

I will be very interested to work for your Civil Department, to use my knowledge and skills to be one of your hard working employees and gain more experience to work on other projects you have

You can contact or call me for interview from 8am – 8pm at working days.

I will call your office next week to make sure that my information, paperwork is submitted and there is no missing information. I will be glad to discuss the job personally anytime suits you.

Thank you for your consideration and am looking forward to receiving your response at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely

Mohamed Faraj

Enclosure:

meeting reflection

Meeting Reflection

In general meetings are made to discuss a problem or an issue that concern certain people. However, basic steps should be followed by the parties to have a successful and useful meeting. Moreover, sending an agenda of the meeting to the participant in advance, choosing the suitable people with right qualification, sticking to topic and the time limit of the meeting.

In my opinion, during the meeting participant should be focused on the main topic without any interruption from outside or inside the meeting. Enough time should be given to discuss the topic without any elongation or repeating the ideas. Long meeting are boring if necessary a short break in between would be useful to refresh the participant. In our group meeting my role was a participant. The meeting went smoothly with good and clear ideas. I learned that we should prepare for meeting in advance; positive negotiation is very useful between the members to improve their thoughts and ideas.

In the graded meeting the group was under more pressure because of the new topic and limited time to prepare for the meeting. However, it was a very good challenge to discover the skills of the students. On the other hand, choosing a topic with having enough time should conclude to a good meeting with good results and feedback.

As a manager I would inform participant and send them the meeting agenda in advance. Meeting should be in proper timing neither too early nor late. Also, I want my meeting to be focused on the issue without exceeding the limited time. Finally, do not hold mean fewer meetings otherwise your employee won’t take them seriously.

Self-reflection about the course

Self-reflection

During this course LSEC N-307 I had a lot of useful techniques to improve my skills in different areas. First, we begun with improving the CV. What are the important information that has to be included and the best possible format for it. Moreover, the information in the CV should follow a sequence and the font should be clear without any long or boring introduction. It’s recommended that you include a letter written directly to the person you want the CV to reach to him. Also, in this course we sharpened our skills in presenting in front of an audience and we had a good practice with the guidance of our teacher. I had more self-confidence by practicing with my team and the teacher giving us advices about eye contact, how to get the audience attention, watching videos of experienced presenters. In addition for that, we practiced about managing meetings and the skills required. Meetings should be held in the best timing for everyone not too early or late, send the agenda before 2 days of the meeting day for the participants to make the prepared, managing the time would be a good idea and giving a break will help refresh the meeting. However, we learned about new projects in the United Arab Emirates by doing a research about Ettihad rail way which is also related to Civil Engineering. Most of our work was in groups which improve the team work between the group members. Finally, we had an excellent teacher always giving more advices throughout the course.

Ettihad raway project (foundation)

Foundation:

The rail way passes through different type of soil dunes, sabkha and moving dunes. Each type needs a different method of foundation. However, foundation is done by removing the top layer of the natural soil if it’s bad then replacing it with good material such as sand that obtained from previous excavation. The sand layer must be compacted properly to prevent any settlement. Moreover, if the elevation of the foundation is higher than the surrounding dunes the protection fence is constructed close to the foundation. On the other hand, if the elevation of the surrounding duns is higher than the foundation the fence must be constructed away from the foundation to prevent the moving sand from blocking the railway or causing any troubles for the equipment.

As you see in the drawing above the height of the foundation for Ettihad rail way is two meters and the width is twenty meters. Moreover, the foundation can be simply described by three basic layers the first one is the bad layer that has to be replaced. Second is the compacted sand layer that can be obtained by previous excavation to make the railway throughout the desert. Third, is the (gadsh) sand and rocks mixed together to hold the sand layer because it can be affected by the wind. Fourth, there is a thin layer of uniform uncompact gravel. This layer is doing the same job of the cars suspension by making and a hydraulically movement it prevent the rail equipment to wear quickly and gives it a longer life span. Finally, the load is distributed uniformly from the train to the steel, sleepers, and end up in the soil.

                                                                                                                                                                              

steel                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                     

ties

sleepers

                                                                                                                 

To make the rail way on the foundation we need steel, sleeper and ties. The sleepers are casted in a factory near ALmirfa’a. However, the steel used for the sleeper is being tensioned to get a higher compression by following the next procedure. First, they tension the steel bars in the sleeper formwork. Second, the concrete mix is poured into the frame and left until it dry. Finally they steel is intentioned again so its produce a higher compressibility force for the sleepers.in addition, the sleepers places on the foundation 0.6 – 1 meter apart depending on the place and the design for the curves. Moreover, there two types of steel used in building the railway. Normal steel from Italy and the head harden steel from Austria. The steel is welded to be 50 meter long for each piece. Sleepers and the steel is taken in the work train and fixed in their place to construct the rail way. The ties must be covered with a material that prevents corrosion. After finishing the construction the railway must be checked daily for blowing the sand because it can cause the train to go out from the road. In addition for that, it can make the gravel layer more rigid and stiff which causes the equipment to wear off faster. Major Maintenance should be done regularly every two to one year for the steel.