Delusions of becoming a SE?

[shredator]

I am currently a Civil PE working for a municipal water department. My primary responsibilities are all pretty much project-management related. I am quite content with my job, as i am allowed a large amount of freedom in determining how much design, contract prep and even inspection I perform myself. If I desire, I am allowed to tackle all of these tasks on my own, which is great because I love design work, and I am sure that being intimately involved in projects start to finish has made me a better engineer.

There is one desire that has been nagging at me for quite a while though, and that is the desire to become competent in structural design. If I were confident and competent enough, there would be plenty of projects for me to tackle here, but I lack experience designing structures under the supervision and guidance of someone that knows what they are doing, and there is no one within my organization that can provide that.

When I took the PE exam, I decided to do the structural depth section, and I also rocked the CA Seismic section, so I know that I 'can' do this stuff.

So my question is, Is there a path that I can take to become a SE? or am I delusional in thinking that I can become competent while keeping this job? I have considered pursuing a graduate degree in structural at a local university while working, and I suppose that I could hire consultants to peer review my designs, but would that be enough? What do folks think?

 

[JedClampett]

It's going to be hard to keep your job and learn structural engineering. There's a lot of details and tricks of the trade you need to become familiar with. It's unlikely that your supervisors will let you take on any design projects, especially in this business climate. It's not magic, but you can't jump out of college and design a high rise.
What you can do is study some of the buildings or structures that have been designed for your city. There must be some kind of drawing library that is kept. Look at the structures and ask yourself why someone might do things that way. Review in your head or on paper the lateral and vertical load carrying mechanisms. Is there bracing? Shear walls? Columns? Moment frames? Do some backwards engineering. Don't go looking for mistakes, although every design does have some.
A graduate degree will give your more confidence, but that alone doesn't make you a SE. Doing designs, having them reviewed, honing them in, is what does it.

 

[JackTrades]

I managed to learn quite a bit of structural engineering while working in a in a public works department. Usually the smaller, less complex projects don’t require a lot of review. If you've passed the PE with the structural depth section and the CA seismic, you're in better shape than a lot of those who have a greater degree of peer review. Take on all the structural design projects that you can. If it’s something complex, hire a consulting firm to do the QA.

I spent eleven years in the public works arena, without much in the way of peer review, and have spent the subsequent sixteen in a purely structural engineering environment and haven’t noticed a lot of difference in procedure except for the size of the projects. I don’t sleep at night any better because my calcs have been reviewed. This may be different from what has been experienced by others. There was a thread sometime in the past concerning the degree and extent of review that production structural engineers underwent. As I remember, there was quite a difference among those in the profession.