Introduction to Civil Engineering - Laymen version

All laymen understand civil engineers build something. Yes. Civil engineering is a field where you can discover engineers are busy doing the building jobs apparently. Actually, it can be categorized into three main branches.
Compare to what I knew few years ago(all I knew was build and build and build) and now, civil engineering can be divided into structural consultants, contractors and developers.

DEVELOPERS:

Both of the companies above are the leading developers in Singapore. Their main job scope is drafting out master planning for the area bought, recruiting consultants and architects to design the building they want to develop and also involve in tendering projects. How do civil engineers get involved in this developer's job? Their involvement make great decision in developing an area such as planning skills and the structural knowledge prior to the submission of the plan layout to the architects and consultants(who will make a deeper analysis in design).

STRUCTURAL CONSULTANTS:

Structural consultants do the structural design job. Putting the imposed loads and dead loads into their calculations and then solve the problems. Other than putting imposed loads or dead loads, they also work out to design the beams, inserting the column into the buildings, design the reinforcement to the whole concrete structures and etc. Most of the structural consultants are preferable to have a great analytical skills, which means their brain are more powerful than a computer software( could it be?). 

CONTRACTORS:

Before the building jobs begin, the contractors work out the master planning or the milestones of the building projects and also the schedule of the building jobs. This is to make sure every single detail of the plan can be followed accordingly. After getting the design works from architects and consultants( there are many consultants out there in different field involving in one project, like M&E, landscape, kitchen etc.), the contractors can start their building works, starting from piling to superstructures. They also need to coordinate with sub-contractors to make sure every building job is properly done. Site engineers always prepare to solve the on-site problems immediately or issue the problems to consultants.

In conclusion, few years ago, when I was firstly introduced to civil engineering, I thought it is only main contractors job. However, with the exposure of the internship recently, it is not only that. The three categories sum up the job scope of a civil engineer!