Bridges to Buildings 1

[RME1]

Has anyone on here made the switch from being a Highway Structures (ie Bridges) Engineer to a Building Structures Engineer?
It's something I'm considering at the moment, and wanted to get an idea of the differences between the two and how easy it is to switch.
I have about 5 years post-graduation experiance in Bridges so would I be looking at a big pay cut if I switched?
From what I've heard think happen a lot quicker in building structuresand there is a bit less emphasis placed on thourough analysis and more on 'off the shelf' design. Is this the case?

Thanks

 

[JAE]

I started out in buildings, changed to a new firm that required me to design both buildings and bridges. I then got out of the bridges and went back to 100% buildings.

My take on it is that you can certainly do it - but it really would help if you had a good mentor to work under to help with the transition.

It will also take some effort on your part - self-study of bulding codes, etc.

Here's my summary of bridges vs. buildings:

Bridges:
Longer design periods
Clients are usually other engineers (DOT offices)
Precise design calculations
Get a cup of coffee and slowly plow through the design
for a month or two
Repetitious design methods (bridges are essentially
beams on columns
Use of lots of standard DOT details
AASHTO LRFD is considered by some to be a sort of plague
on engineers
Not as much opportunity to see the construction as the
DOT's many times take on that aspect.
Lots of geometry issues with curved bridges, etc.
Projects tend to follow direct design processes and a
logical flow of work
Work load dependent upon State and Federal funding - in
recent years DOT's have limited consultant projects

Buildings
Shorter design periods
Working with architects who can be non-logical,
flamboyant and unpredictable
Clients change their minds on design features - work
is many times done more than once due to changes
Lots of chaos and uncertainty
Projects tend to NOT follow direct design processes and
are many times not logical in the flow of work.
No standards - design is many times what your own
experience tells you.
Huge variety in building oriented projects.
Opportunities to see the construction close-up with
construction admin services
Work load dependent upon the economy and your own ability
to market

 

[atlas06]

Hey RME,
From an HVAC guy, when you come to buildings, please make sure your beams are not the same depth as the bridges.

 

[swivel63]

LOL!

so no like 4' deep girders framing in a unit?

 

[RME1]

Ha ha

swivel63, I'm in the UK so I won't design a 4' anything. We've got something called a 'metric system'

 

[Ussuri]

RME1, that reminds me of a film:

VINCENT: Well, in Amsterdam, you can buy beer in a movie theatre. And I don't mean in a paper cup either. They give you a glass of beer, like in a bar. In Paris, you can buy beer at MacDonald's. Also, you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

JULES: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

VINCENT: No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the f**k a Quarter Pounder is.

JULES: What'd they call it?

VINCENT: Royale with Cheese.

 

[RME1]

Do they actually call it a Royale in France? It's still a quarter pounder in England.

Apparently they're going to stop selling beer in pints over here as well, so that we're in line with the rest of Europe.

Anyway, I feel we've digressed...

I might just jack bridges in and be a team leader at MacDonalds

 

[csd72]

RME1,

Stop selling pints! It was laid down in the magna carta.

Anyway, my first boss in Australia started off designing roads for the state government, eventually convinced them to put him in their bridge design department, when I met him he was in charge of a 15 person company specialising in structural design.

Your skills are very transferrable, dont let them talk your salary down. Explain that you are keen and are happy to do the necessary study in your own time to bring you up to speed in masonry,composite,timber e.t.c. that you havent done before. Your university notes are a good start even if the code references are a bit outdated.

Before you go for an interview, try to do some research on the type of buildings that the company designs. This will help you portray an image that you are aware of the issues even if you dont have particular experience.


Good luck

csd

 

[valleyboy]

Hello RME1

I dont think you will have any problem making this transition.

Your existing code knowledge of BS5400 is similar to the primary building structure codes (BS 8110 & BS 5950) so you are already half way there. You may need to put in some time to learns other codes, the primary ones being BS 5628, BS 5268. If you waited a few years the Eurocodes will be upon us so no problem then !!

I wouldn't contemplate taking a pay cut to secure a job - there is a chronic skils shortage in the building structures field, and my guess is you would have a few offers within a short period of hawking your CV around a few places.

JAE offered some good advice on the practical day-to-day differences in his post above.

You didn't mention in your previous post whether you have yet achived Chartered status - this would definately be a string to your bow as Chartered Engineeres in the job market are rare.

I would have to disagree with your statement the the analysis of building structures is 'simple'-with the variation in building shapes and sizes, and unusual span arrangements required by Architects these days, I would have thought that the analysis of buildings has more scope for complexity.

Good luck.

 

[RME1]

Thanks for your response Valleyboy. First of all, let me clear up that I wasn't being derogatory about buildings by suggesting that designs were simpler. What I meant was that from speaking to engineers that have done both there is a lot more emphasis on programme in the buildings sector. With this in mind it is not always economical to spend a couple of weeks refining a design, when a quick rule of thumb calc would be adequate.
In bridges, programme is generally not such a big issue so we are free to optimise the design as far as we can.
2 weeks dely on a building generally costs more than 2 weeks dely on a bridge (unless men are stood waiting on site).
Not sure if I need the extra stress of much tighter deadlines, but as I work for a big company and might try to get a secondment to the buildings department to give it a go. I can always go back to drinking coffe all day if I don't like it then!
Thanks for all replies