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Recent content by MrHershey

  1. MrHershey

    Structural engineer career line

    I recommend MS degrees if you want to focus on structures, or at least if you want to do larger scale structures. Think about 90% of the engineers at my firm have a master's degree. Clearly not required, but it's typical and I'd take the MS candidate over the BS candidate a majority of the time...
  2. MrHershey

    How do you model PT slab in your full structure model?

    We typically will include an extra 25% stiffness or so for post-tensioned slabs in our service analysis. That's on top of what ACI recommends and based on some language in ACI's SP-240, specifically the portion by Horvilleur et al. So if ACI stiffness is 0.35 for a slab at service level, we'd...
  3. MrHershey

    Learning Programming for Structural Engineering

    If you're not invested or interested in writing your own standalone programs, it may also be of interest to work with the APIs of existing programs to automate the more mind-numbing (and thus mistake-prone) tasks or checks. We've been using the little downtime we have now while things are a...
  4. MrHershey

    What's in your site tool bag?

    I need to pick up a laser measure. Always think it'd be awfully nice when I'm in the field and then forget and find myself stuck with the tape measure again. Beyond standard PPE I'd add: - flashlight or headlamp - crack meter - something (often a coin) to use as a size reference in photos -...
  5. MrHershey

    Follow up on Leaving Structural Engineering (Bridge) for Other Employment

    Good to hear from you. Will offer both congratulations and condolences. Really hard decision to make. Follow your passion and struggle to get by or sell out but put your family in a really good spot. Everyone's different. I'd probably make the same decision you did. 30% pay raise plus all...
  6. MrHershey

    Code Committees

    I'll also add that it can add some weight behind your credentials, both in getting your foot in the door and for getting higher fees. Similar to giving talks, writing articles, etc., a lot of clients are looking for people who provide 'thought leadership'. Maybe your run of the mill owners...
  7. MrHershey

    Code Committees

    This is mostly correct. 318 tend to be heavy hitters, though not always. ACI (both 318 and overall) is beginning to recognize the need to include people who are not academics or very high end designers in their discussions. So they've started adding contractors and product manufacturers and...
  8. MrHershey

    More firings?

    Think the discussions in this thread have reinforced for me the notion that people really need to think defensively and try to find a company that really treats their employees well and sees them as assets to grow rather than cogs in a machine that can be easily discarded or swapped out when...
  9. MrHershey

    Illinois won't accept my education toward my SE application

    I don't believe this is correct. I got my SE in another state and got it transferred to IL 3-4 years ago. Did not have to take any examinations. With the SE exam nationwide now, just the NCEES SE exam is all you need from a testing standpoint. Had education from UIllinois so that was easy. Main...
  10. MrHershey

    Condo liability in the 2020's

    Per our insurer, condos still about 25x riskier than office or warehouse work. Don't know if that's down from early 00s, but the difference is still significant. A lot of that is just based on # of potential litigants. Office buildings and warehouses have 1 owner. Condo buildings have many...
  11. MrHershey

    Liability and Performance Based Design

    Also wonder if this is part of the confusion: That is not the 'standard of care'. Designing for higher than the code requires does not elevate the standard of care. If it were then every engineer out there not designing everything to a DCR of 1.0 or assuming loads higher than they actually...
  12. MrHershey

    Liability and Performance Based Design

    In part because performance is dictated by a lot more than design. I didn't build the building. I didn't procure the materials. I didn't independently verify the material strength. I didn't maintain the building. Even with design, I didn't design the architecture, the foundations, the mechanical...
  13. MrHershey

    Liability and Performance Based Design

    I think it's important to recognize that though PBD is a higher degree of design, it doesn't necessarily change the standard of care. Designing for hire loads than required or doing fancier analysis than most would do is not enough to impact the standard of care. You would have to be...
  14. MrHershey

    Structural Engineer and Architect Relationship

    Like dik, my experience varies greatly. Some are great and I hardly have to do anything. Some suck so bad and are so helpless it's a wonder that they manage to get dressed all by themselves every morning. Most are somewhere between those two extremes. And this isn't to pick on the architects, I...
  15. MrHershey

    STEEL REINFORCED COUPLING BEAM SRC - SHEAR STUDS

    Those recommendations are for wide flange links. OP is correct that shear studs are used (and required) for plate reinforced coupling beams. Article on those types of links is here: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9445%282005%29131%3A8%281294%29.
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