Structural Career Advice 3

[semeee]

I have recently started looking for new positions as I have become bored with the repetitive nature with my current job. I work at a small firm and do mostly cold-formed steel design and am required to do all my own drafting. This is my first job out of college and I have been here nearly 2 years, but quickly realized that I don't want to work with cold-formed steel 98% of the time. While interviewing with other companies, it seems that I am a little disadvantaged because the majority of my working experience is with cold-formed steel (even more reason to get another job with more diverse projects). I was just offered another job with another small company that does more diverse projects, but they are pretty abstract and they don't really do many permanent structures (shoring, scaffolding, fall protection). I ultimately would like to design bridges but neither my current job nor the job that gave me an offer will not allow me to do that. My question(s): If I take this new job, will it make it harder for me to get into bridge design in the future? Would it be a good idea to take the new job or should I turn it down and wait for the right one to come along?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Ron]

Slow down! You have plenty of time to do anything you want.

If you want to get out of the CFS design, then do it.

Keep in mind that being "cubby-holed" in a specialty engineering subset can be extremely limiting.....in 20 years do you want someone to ask "do you have 20 years of experience or 1 year of experience 20 times?". That's the risk of specialization.

I have dealt with many engineers who were extremely proficient in their specialty area, but didn't have a clue how their specialty affected or was influenced by other aspects of the structure and the performance of the specialty design. Don't be one of those!

 

[GregLocock]

First of all I recommend you hang in there for the whole two years.

Counter to that, the abstract job sounds like it might be very varied, which is a good thing.

have you asked a bridge design engineer what their job is like?



Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[ztengguy]

I think the best thing for your career would be to do consulting for a bit. Someplace that does wood, steel, masonry, concrete, etc to get a good feel for what you like, also to get a good base of experience.

Bridge design is mundane, unless you think that every bridge is different. Maybe everyone things they will be designing the next Golden Gate bridge.

 

[glass99]

In respect to shoring and scaffolding engineering, it can actually be interesting because you have a large variety of odd challenges to resolve. With my glass engineering work we are always dealing with scaffolding people in figuring out how to move a 4000lb breakable object through 12th story window in occupied space and install it within 1/32" of theoretical. It frequently comes down to scaffolding and site access. They come up with neat little temporary gantry cranes with chain falls, and rolling cranes etc. It is a bit of a blue collar world (aka "hands on") so you have to be prepared for that, and you will not be doing any high falutin' analysis.

Bridge projects move slow and are much more about paperwork than anything. The coolest part about bridges in reality is analysis. If you like FEA, get an FEA job at a bridge firm. Architectural footbridges are a different world again.

And as Ron says, get out there and try some things.

 

[JedClampett]

I live in Phoenix. On occasion, we have someone go to the Civil Engineering Career Day at a large university about 100 miles away (see if you can guess it). We have a small structural department, but we are always interested in a good new graduate.
So I get the stack (40) of Structural Engineering resumes. I throw the ones away who say they want to work on bridges. I throw the ones away who say they want to work on high rises. If there's any left, I throw the ones away who say they want to live in Seattle or Portland. And then I have no resumes.
Why is it that everyone wants to work on bridges, high rises or sports stadia? And then live in Portland in Seattle? Do they not teach in college that there are power plants, factories, wastewater treatment plants, LNG vessels, warehouses, etc? And that designs happen in Gatlinburg or Chicago?
I think zteng is right. There's a lot of 40 ft. creek crossings to do between every Hoover Dam (Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial) Bridge.

 

[rowingengineer]

because you asked..... Generally bridges, high rises or sports stadiums are the dreams of young men. They look good on paper and sound like you will get some kudos from the end client, maybe even you name may appear in the local paper for such design.

Unfortunately the dreams turn to reality.

The generally paper worthy projects take a few years to get from concept to construction and if you lucky enough to be stuck on the project for the entire run, there is often no real kudos or pats on the back, most of it will be reworking an area a few different ways because the client or architect brushed there hair differently or a new government was elected during the project.

At the end of the day work is work otherwise they would have called it a hobby.

My advice would be to learn to love the little things.

http://www.nceng.com.au/

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

 

[glass99]

There is nothing wrong with the "dreams of young men". Its essential to believe that what you are doing is important and cool. A more dowdy way of saying the same thing is "you've got to have long term career goals".

 

[JedClampett]

I'm not saying it is wrong to dream. But there are exciting designs done in remodels or hospitals or any number of things. Can't the college placement offices recommend to the new graduates to put done for job goals, "To work on Challenging, Interesting Structural Designs" instead of bridges, high rises and sports stadia?

 

[SLTA]

Jed, Gatlinburg is developed enough, thankyouverymuch.

This is why I don't work for large firms anymore. I love small residential projects and the big firms just aren't interested. So now I have my own company, and that checks off another one of my dreams.

semeee, you're really young in this business. And that's good, because right now with 2 years work time, employers expect you to know how to learn, but not all that much else. Go after some other ideas. I do recommend working at a big firm at least for a while, because their mix of projects is likely more diverse than small firms, and that's a good way to get exposure to find your niche.

Ron's true about not getting too deep in only one thing, but don't forget that experience in one thing can make you very useful. I can pretty much tell you what's wrong with a building around here by knowing the age and where it is. That's fun!

 

[SteelPE]

Jed,

I've worked with the sports stadium architects...... not impressed. I've worked with the high rise engineers..... not impressed. Never working with anyone who has designed bridges but I have seen the AASHTO manual and I run the other way. I'm not saying that they are not good people, I'm just saying that they are really no different than anyone else who is in the business.... except it may be a little difficult for their heads to get through a standard size door.

 

[glass99]

I think its important for young engineers to work for a big firm/company on some large scale brand name project. In the end, most of us finish up realizing that there are this rich array of other possibilities, but just to tell others (and yourself) that you have the credentials, its cool to go to the classics. Most professionals I know have taken that path. If you start out in an unorthodox niche, no matter how nice, you are always going to have a itch you can't scratch. Lawyers go clerk for a judge before going into practice or a company. MBA's go work for a consultant before jumping into a real management position. Architects work for firm doing commercial buildings before jumping off to work for a developer or hang their own shingle doing residential work.