Career Advice 1

[SDNewbie]

I am currently a young engineer from southern california and have been lurking on these forums for a little while. Every time I read a technical discussion regarding bridge engineering I begin to question my current career path. My passion is to get into bridge design and would like advice from professionals in the field on how I can accomplish this.

A little background, I attended SDSU for my BS 2005-2009 and for my MS 2009-2011. During 2009-2011, I have worked fulltime in a govt job, where I get no exposure to design or any technical aspects of engineering. I received my EIT in 2009 and will be taking the PE in spring 2012.

In the current economy, it is nearly impossible to find an entry level job in this field. I fear that if I stay in this position much longer, I will not be marketable to make a transition into bridge design later on if opportunities become available.

Please help me with any advice you may have, encouraging words, etc.

Thanks!

 

[BridgeEI]

Have you tried looking at caltrans? Should be good experience, design wise, since they tend to set the standard almost everywhere.

 

[Umassengr]

The slow economy is making it hard for DOT's to fund bridge design projects. I am not sure you will find much demand for entry level bridge engineers in the DOT's especially in CA where the state is in constant danger of going broke. (Or so i've heard in the news)and many other states are cutting back their programs due to lack of revenue. Its worth looking into but I would not get your hopes up.

Many states are meeting their needs by constructing projects through alternative delivery programs such as design build and Public Private Partnerships (P3)rather than traditional design-bid-build. Research to see which local consulting firms have won big projects of these types in your area.
These projects have demanding schedules that require a lot of design and production to occur in a short amount of time. Often the company has staff up quickly to meet project production demands. The downside is that they may have to reduce staff as the project winds down.

With your level of experience you might be doing a lot more CAD than design but you will learn much about the design and detailing process that will be always be valuable to you and anyone you are woking for.

Finally you need to be flexible and be willing to travel to where the work is. The big projects are not happeing everywhere and for big projects there is typically a project design office where the designers are all in one place, usually close to the contractor and the job location.

Hope this is helpful.
Good Luck.

 

[tumbleleaves]

To my knowledge Caltrans is not hiring, California is broke (but I could be misinformed).

Good jobs are extremely hard to find--but there is hope if you are not tied down by owning a home or by family commitments, if you are mobile and can relocate quickly it greatly improves your chances.

Check all the Government websites (fed, state, and local). Find private firms and apply there. It's hard work finding and applying for jobs, but you'll improve with practice, be prepared to submit a lot of writing and attend a lot of job interviews.

Finally: I would like to point out that only a small part of bridge engineering is structural design. Project management, permitting, hydraulics, soils, route layout, utilities, right of way, etc.... are all a part. A bridge engineer should understand them all.

Lately the work has become so fragmented and unnecessarily specialized we are turning out poor over-priced designs, no one is in charge, and there doesn't appear to be any accountability, but always more paperwork and "training". People are more concerned about sensitivity issues, than the final tangible, in-place project. The designer is low on the pole and it may not be as rewarding as hoped. You will see...

 

[SDNewbie]

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate them. At the moment I work as an assistant to a PM on bridge projects at a City. Its all paperwork, getting funding, etc. as tumbleleaves has mentioned. Nothing technical, a lot of red tape.

As for as design goes, what are the best resources for design? I have been reading the Bridge Design Manual by Prestressed Concrete Institute. Is this a good place to start? In college I had a class in prestressed concrete design as well as prestressed concrete bridge design and this is mostly review.

Thanks

 

[BridgeEI]

FHWA has a design example for both steel and prestressed concrete beams. Browse over to the bridge department on their site, it's pretty useful. MnDOT has some really good examples too. AISC has a couple of examples for several configurations of steel girders. If you just use google you can find some good examples. In addition to the structural design you want to know hydraulics and roadway as well. Not necessarily everything about them but well rounded enough to understand problems and solutions. We are getting specialized and no one communicates between different disciplines so you are much better off if you can put the whole picture together.

 

[bridgebuster]

No communication between disciplines? - Gee, are we all working for the same company?


My first job was in government. It was more paper pushing than engineering. I left after two years (of course, given the state of affairs with the economy I'd be retiring soon with a $75-85K pension, oh well.) I have no regrets going into private industry - it's certainly been more interesting.

When I started working in the late 70's, things were less specialized. An EIS was only a few sheets of paper. We bridge guys did the alignment, the profile, the drainage design, MPT, striping,and there some who even did the lighting as well.

Now you got the civil/highway guys have to do the alignment in InRoads;
and the hydraulic guys with their HEC-this and HEC-that and what the HEC (or more like what the F---; I'm working on a rehab project and the bridge has scuppers roughly every 60'. The drainage guys keep coming up with scuppers every 2'!);
and then there's the traffic guys with the striping and signage design;
and finally the PM who knows nothing about the technical side of what's going on because he's too busy writing reports for the bean counters. They want to know why the DLM went from 2.87777 to 2.87776.

 

[tumbleleaves]

I literally laughed, well written, very funny. I wish we did work together, we'd have a lot of laughs.

My guess is that BridgeEI should thoroughly study civil engineering, except for a few of the fields (for instance water treatment). Civil engineering is the foundation.

 

[tumbleleaves]

Correction, change "BridgeEI" in post above to "SDNewbie". Simple Typo.

 

[SDNewbie]

@bridgebuster, great post - very entertaining

 

[bridgebuster]

Thanks guys; glad you enjoyed it.

Who knows, we might work for the same company considering acquisitions and mergers.

 

[crossframe]

Look into field work on bridge construction sites. I started doing that with Caltrans, and it was some of the most valuable experience I've gained. You'll need to be careful that it will be qualifying experience for the P.E. exam.

Look for private firms that do bridge design work for Caltrans and for municiplities. They often provide construction support as well.

Finally, keep checking with Caltrans job openings. Despite the economic times, Caltrans really is the ideal place to start if you want to do bridge work in California.