Carina Wittberger
Can engineering and sustainability go hand in hand? Yes, they can! Carina Wittberger shows us how, as a structural engineer in civil engineering, she not only manages complex international infrastructure projects, but also trains students as the civil engineers of tomorrow, drives sustainability and climate action in construction, and, on top of it all, spreads plenty of fun and energy throughout the team.
Morning Focus
7:15 a.m. Today, as usual, I'm in the office early, enjoying the quiet before things really get going. In the mornings there are various meetings: internal coordination, conversations with clients or consortium partners. In between, I work on my projects – usually preparing tender specifications, doing quantity take-offs, cost estimates, or checking plans. Many threads often come together with me, since I gather input from various colleagues and piece it all together into an overall picture.
Time flies – at 11:30 a.m. it's time for lunch with my colleagues, as arranged. When I'm in the office, I go for lunch with colleagues from other departments almost every day. That's a fixed part of my routine – not just to switch off for a bit, but also because this exchange is incredibly valuable. Today, too, there's plenty of laughter about current BIM challenges and use cases, and I head into the second half of the day in a great mood.
Shaping Future-Proof Living Spaces & Stable Connections
12:30 p.m. The afternoon gets a bit more varied: continuing work on projects, quick check-ins, clarifying spontaneous questions – and, every now and then, topics that go beyond classic project work. For example, I teach on the side at TU Wien, where I'm involved in supporting the next generation of engineering talent. I still have a few assignments to mark for that. I'm also active in FCP mentoring and, for some time now, a team lead too, which brings additional coordination and responsibility. We have a regular exchange with our colleagues at FCP's locations in Germany, which I always value a lot.
After various conversations and tasks, I turn to my work for the KliNa® (climate action & sustainability) initiative, which I also drive forward significantly outside my project work. Out of personal conviction, the KliNa initiative's core team has been organising KliNa Day for five years now, addressing sustainability in construction and bringing together experts from the industry. Today I'm still in touch with this year's speakers about that, and I'm updating our information on the project page.
Zitat 1
Between Routine and New Experiences
My working day usually ends around 5:30 p.m., often a bit earlier on Fridays. What shapes my everyday work is exactly this mix. There are days when I'm fully immersed in project work, and others where I jump back and forth between different roles. On Thursdays, for example, I make a point of keeping time free to work through things with full concentration.
But what makes FCP special for me is clearly the team. So many different personalities work together in civil engineering, and yet everything runs incredibly smoothly. People support one another and exchange ideas as equals – and there's never a shortage of fun. This learning curve is the reason I've already been here for seven years and still enjoy coming to work every day.
