What is working as a structural engineer like?
- What is the average day or week like for a SE? What are your normal tasks/duties? What goes into completing them?
- Is most of your time spent on a computer? If not, where else is it spent?
- Is it normal to work a lot of overtime?
- What is the average starting salary for a SE with a BS in civil engineering?
- Does it matter if I don't go to the top school? I live in IL, and U of I in Champaign-Urbana has one of the top CE programs. But I would rather go to U of I Chicago because it would be easier for my husband to work while I'm in school and I'd rather live in/near Chicago than Chambana.
When responding, can you also include:
- Years of experience in engineering
- What degrees you have-BS, MS, etc
- What kind of SE you do-bldgs, bridges, trans
Answer:
I can give a bit different perspective from the other answerer.
Background: I have a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University and have seven years of experience as a structural engineer 99% of it as a stress and fracture mechanics analyst. All of my work has been on aerospace structures, one year on a space vehicle and six years on airplane structures.
Currently I work for a NASA contractor (for 1 year now) and we are doing clean sheet design which means I'm either in front of my computer or in a meeting. Most of the analysis done now days is done on a computer, but you need a really good understanding of the underlying physics and equations behind the computer to know if the computer is giving you a bogus answer.
ON this job there hasn't been a lot of OT, but at my last job at Lockheed Martin I was averaging 60 hours a week for a while. That was also doing clean sheet design analysis which meant computer time and meetings. I did another job pertaining to structures for Lockheed for around 5 years when I worked in Materials Review Board. What this job entails is fixing errors on the assembly line that affect the structure. A lot more face to face interaction and hands on the structure with less computer time and less meetings. A lot of fun although there was a lot of pressure in that job. Not as much OT either.
Right now there seems to be a shortage of good SE's in the Aerospace industry (by the way, Civil's don't just build bridges, we have lot's of CE's here as well as Mechanical doing the same jobs) which means there is some OT being worked pretty much at every busy company.
As far as the school goes, the name of the school at the top of the diploma just gets your foot in the door, after that it is up to your work ethic and own knowledge base. The only thing that matters is how much value you put on the prestige of a brand name school. SE can be a small community so if you are doing a good job word gets around.
Ok - M.S., 5 years experience as a consultant for small and large structural engineering or A/E/P companies in Ohio and Minnesota. I designed buildings, buildings, and buildings.
Typical day - normal tasks fall under "design / analysis"
Yes, you sit in front of the computer, either drafting (some companies are deleting drafters so you might need familiarity with drafting software like AutoCAD - most popular in Buildings, or MicroStation (more popular for federal and bridges), or Eagle Point), or using an analysis program (to either lay out the building in the model, analyze the building, design/size items, or adapt previous work to accomodate (latest) changes from the architect. Most of your work is calculation, but there is also a lot of "trivial" from on the job that you also will need to learn, for example, you can size a open web steel joist out of the table, but how wide is it, how deep does the seat need to be, does it have to be bolted so you show in on a detail, there is a lot to learn post-graduation. There is a lot of math inside this process, but not as much as you might think done by the engineer, until you start checking computer output for reasonable results, and then you're at the calculator. You will also spend time checking the building code, a few phone calls requesting information from mechanical engineers (duct sizes), architects (floor to floor heights, wall details, miscellaneous requirements).
Unless the practice is abnormally into forensics, construction supervision, or casualty work (insurance), getting out of the office more than once a week is not too common, although deck season changes that a little, if your company touches things like that. Smaller companies tend to be more accepting of odd work, and that usually involves going to a site. If you work primarily on new construction, you'll be in the office designing until it starts to be built, at which point you might be out there twice to give it the eyeball. Without a lot of casualty, there aren't many reports to write, although building code reviews sometimes involve written responses. Getting along in Excel or another spreadsheet program is vital, as no engineer I've met is either completely on paper or completely on engineering software for calculations. Typing and spelling (and writing, less so) are not considered vital skills.
Overtime should be expected. We are starting in on the next phase - 50% of the buidings needed by 2050 do not exist and the NCEES has made it less and less attractive to become a young structural engineer recently - these increased educational requirements for licensure increase the educational cost without increasing compensation. Long term, I think there will be a lot of overtime. In general, overtime is not constant, but depends on the project schedule, but you should expect overtime, perhaps 10% on average.
Starting salary? Try gostructural.com, they publish one anually. Salaries are good, compared to burger flipping, compared to being a celebrity hairdresser, our pay stinks. I know garbagemen who out earn me.
Top school? No. If you are serious about U of Chicago, see if they still have the architect/engineer integrate program, I know a few architects who went through this program and they are very good 'production' architects, what they draw is practical, reasonable, and can be constructed, as opposed to the messes made by design architects like Frank Gehry and Micheal the target teapot guy - where nothing matters but how cute it looks. Both of those schools are fine, and I don't see a whole lot of "oooo, you went where?" in structural engineering.
By the way, pretty much all of this is not valid to bridge engineering, of which I know nothing.
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