Typical Entry level assignments

[entrystructural87]

Im about to start an entry level structural engineer job in the renewables/transmission and distribution industry. I was curious to know what type of assignments are typically assigned to entry level engineers. Will I be expected to start dishing out calculations on day one? Or will they start me off with simple CAD stuff. I know every company is different, but I just want to get a general idea of the assignments I will be getting within the first couple of months.

Thanks

 

[JedClampett]

It's unlikely you're going to get to have a lot of design responsibilities handed over at day one. You might have to check shop drawings, review others' calculations, review drawings done by more experienced (well that's everyone) engineers, etc. If the company is well organized (and prepared for you), your early work will have a training component in it, so you can bounce designs off of company standards and see how your college education is implemented.
Or they might push you into the deep end of the pool and see if you can swim.

 

[cancmm]

I'd expect training by way of field work. There's a lot to learn on a construction site that isn't taught in the classroom. You'll likely learn quickly that you don't know anything about "real" engineering, which was lesson #1 for me coming out of college. Just ask a million questions - engineers have a tendency to enjoy explaining things in minute detail (hence eng-tips exists).

 

[kylesito]

In addition to field work, I would expect that you will have to do a fair bit of CAD or other similar type of drafting work.

I doubt you will be thrown a large amount of projects right away. Your responsibilities could be as simple as being the underling for a more experienced engineer...checking their calcs, proofing their drawings, checking shopdrawings, etc.

Don't get too worried though if it isn't glamorous. Structural engineering doesn't really get all that exciting until you are licensed and running your own projects which is a few years down the road. In the meantime, put your time in and show them you are willing to get the job done and you will start getting more and more responsibility thrown at you.

PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[entrystructural87]

Hmm… the reason I asked this question is because a friend of mine works for a very similar company to mine (in fact both of our companies compete for projects from the same clients). He told me that on the second day he was given a reinforced concrete drilled pier to design along with anchor bolts design (something along those lines). He said they did not have templates for these and had to do the whole thing by hand. He went to school with me and I have never heard of those things. Is this also a normal assignment?

 

[ToadJones]

Yes...his boss likely has no clue how to do that work he is asking the kid to do.

 

[structSU10]

Well as you know it's all based on what your company needs/expects from you. They could give you anything from CAD to design, or anything in between. There is likely to be a lot of lingo you won't know or understand; just ask questions so you know what people are refering to when they say different things.

One important skill to work on is being able to read and interpret drawings, and if something is unclear, to ask about it. No one should expect you to be very efficient yet, and should be willing to help.

 

[kylesito]

I have occasionally thrown a design to a new entry level or younger engineer just to see how much they would flounder. Mostly, it was projects I already had a pretty good idea of what needed to happen and I just wanted to see how they would approach it. I was almost sure they couldn't pound the numbers but I wanted to see if they could conceptually put it together and think through the problem. This would help me gage their potential and what sort of things I could possibly challenge them with later...of course, I would always keep a close eye on them and not let them get too lost.

Anchor bolts and a pier seems a little bit further than the type of projects I would test someone on but who knows...maybe they just wanted to see how they would do.

The most humbling day in my life came about 2 weeks after starting my first job when I was given my first 'real' task. I remember turning to the engineer next to me and saying "I don't even know where to start". And I will never forget him starting to laugh and telling me "Yep...first thing you have to do is figure out the question and then you can worry about the answer!" It was my first introduction to real engineering.

Just be ready for anything and work as hard as you can. If they are smart, they already know you don't know anything coming out of school...they want to know you are willing to work hard enough to figure it out though and you will learn the rest.



PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[MrHershey]

Depends largely on the company. I was pushed into deep end like Jed mentioned. Maybe with some water wings. But was essentially starting design on a small building (one room utility) the first week. Basement that had to be designed for hydrostatic force, lateral design for CMU shear walls (I had no CMU in school). Had a safety net of other engineers watching over what I did and handling the drawings at first, but the calculations were nearly 100% me. If that happens, expect to put in many more hours than other engineers do for the same tasks. They know it already, you don't. Good managers will recognize things take longer and you'll have to learn things, so they won't give you the most time-sensitive stuff. First several months you'll learn a ton. Raid the library. Look up articles on the Internet. Read EVERYTHING.

But I work in a small company. I imagine maybe larger companies would have a formal training program and more grunt work for you to do. The culture here also seems to be people handle their own tasks. Not a whole lot of 'hey can you look at this retaining wall for me?' or 'I need these diaphragm calculations formalized and back-checked, can you take a look?'. There's some, but not a whole lot. They prefer to hand off huge chunks rather than little bits.

 

[rb1957]

don't expect anyone to hold your hand (i know you probably aren't expecting that, nor asked for it).

don't bluff ... if you don't know, try to find out for yourself (texts, Eng-Tips, wiki)
and if that doesn't get you where you think you need to be ask ... "i've found out this much, but don't know how to apply it".
for example, it's easy to analyze a beam in bending; it's another matter to see how to apply this to a structure.
if someone came to me and said "i don't know" i'd get them to do this basic research first.

look at the company's reports to see how they've analyzed similar things in the past. a word of caution, it can sometimes be hard to understand the assumptions made.

expect to get more than your share of grunt/drudge work ... you're ant the bottom.

learn from everything you do.

enjoy most of it !