Crossing industries to Oil and Gas etc.....

I'm assuming you want to get into round beams .. piping .. rather than I-beams and structures, in the sense of civil work.

With a stress background you should probably choose between piping stress (refinery / petrochem / power / offshore) and subsea or onshore pipelines. Piping and pipelines are related but require differing special knowledge. There is probably less scope in pipelines, but arguably better rates in some cases. If you are really new to the industry, you have little chance of a contract / agency job at the moment. Think about a staff position with the likes of KBR, Amec, Foster Wheeler or CB&I John Brown. You might also consider the oil producer companies. ExxonMobil (Fawley)and Conocophillips (Immingham) have been advertising recently. Get some real experience behind you then move on.

There are many relevant books, some quite old, some recently on the market. Google or Amazon to find them.

Best aspects of the job ... er, um ....
Worst aspects ... another bloody revision.

Thanks for your help - better get learning!

BTW they're "O" beams.

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"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)