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Structural Engineering Job Quals US to UK?

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n.88

Structural
Jun 29, 2018
4
I wasn't sure if this question made sense to post here or the general SE forum, but since it's not a technical question I figured I would start here.

For various personal reasons I'm considering moving to the UK. Obviously given the current health crisis I don't see myself doing this for several months at least, but I'm starting to explore opportunities. I have been practicing structural engineering in the US for about 8 years. I've been a licensed SE for about 4 of those years. I work for a fairly reputable firm in the US and have been involved with some large and complex building projects. Can anyone speak to the differences between structural engineering practices in the UK compared to the US? Would UK firms be interested in hiring someone educated and practiced in the US? How does pay compare?

Obviously I know the building codes in the UK/Europe are completely different than the US and I would need to invest a lot of personal time to get up to speed on those codes. I should note that I already have UK citizenship, so I wouldn't need to deal with obtaining a work visa.

Curious on hearing some opinions...
 
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IMHO, you are suffering from the same delusion that a lot the general public across the world are showing.

Change your time frame to 3-4 years and you might be close. Study the 1918 spanish flu, and try to convince yourself why it will be different this time. It took 20 years and a world war to develop the economic recovery. Any immigration / emigration is going to be be very different for the next 5-8 years. Why would ANY employer in any country take on a new employee who is not intimately familiar with local codes etc??

UK is no longer part of the EU. Thats a rather dramatic reduction in the size of the local market.

There is likely to be a 15-20% drop in economic activity across the entire western world over the next 3 years. This is completely unprecedented in our lifetimes. Our politicians are afraid of giving us all the likely course of events about to ocurr.
 
I would wager OP is considering the move due to other factors in addition to the US's handling of the pandemic.

But I do agree that the Brexit situation probably limits the opportunities in the UK, unless you already know someone at a firm over there.
 
miningman: I would consider the "roaring twenties" to be a sign the economy had recovered from WWI and the flu less than 20 years. The economical crash at the end of the 20's wasn't because of the flu.

OP: one can't make general statements on salary... this depends on what specific industry, the company's need, your value to them etc. You probably know that, living expenses are high in the UK, and that also varies based on the area. you really need to research locally where you plan to locate. Yeah, you could make twice of what you make now in Kentucky, but have to live in London.
 
RVAmenche, your guess is correct - it's completely unrelated to COVID.

Miningman, while I would assume local code familiarity is an important trait, it's only a fraction of the work that goes into being a good structural engineer. I agree that lacking the familiarity hurts, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a deal-breaker.
 
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