Switch from management to structural engineering

[iwantcat]

Hey, I am junior civil engineer working for the government. It's my first job in the profession and I am currently six months in. My daily tasks revolve around site inspections, tracking contracts and payments, help prepare invitation to bid documents, estimate quantities and costs. I've been slowly realizing that I do not enjoy the field of management. I had chosen management, because of the salaries and I thought I hated those structural analysis and design courses. But it turns out I'm starting to miss them. Miss the physics, the creativity, etc. So that's the problem I'm currently dealing with. Can I make the switch?

The courses I completed while in school are "design of concrete structures", "design of steel structures", "structural analysis 1-2" and "matrix analysis of structures". Regarding software I know how to use AutoCAD, Revit, MathCAD and MatLAB. I know I'm missing a structural analysis and design software.

Would I be able to apply to junior structural engineer position? If I search for "junior structural engineer", the offers usually state a bachelor's in civil engineering with a structural emphasis is required. I guess I don't fulfill that criteria, can I make it up by learning some of the courses by myself? If not is there another position I can apply for that would get me started?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Cheers

 

[MrHershey]

Make sure you put at least a minor bit of research into each company before you go. Know what they tend to specialize in, maybe who the management is. Go through their website and gather whatever info you can. A lot of information can be gathered from a simple google search.

Please pay attention to this and do your homework. It makes a huge difference. I shouldn't have to explain to an interviewee what type of work we do when it's splayed all over our website. Or where our offices are located when it's clearly listed on our contact page (and the bottom of the business card I likely gave them). People who come in and clearly haven't done their homework are an automatic no from me, regardless of grades or credentials. While people who dig deeper and actually bother to google us so they can reference articles we've written or awards we've won get a leg up.

 

[iwantcat]

It makes me feel a little more confident to know some don't do research before their interviews.

Some of the firms don't have a website. What's all that about? I've also noticed some of the websites poorly made and just have a homepage with general information and their address/phone number.

This makes me think of another question. Where would you choose to start your career as a structural engineer if you had the opportunity to do it again? In a corporation or a small enterprise composed of a handful of people?

 

[MrHershey]

Where would you choose to start your career as a structural engineer if you had the opportunity to do it again? In a corporation or a small enterprise composed of a handful of people?

Actually neither. For me I'd shoot for a firm in the 20-50 person range. Small enough that it's unlikely I get pigeon-holed into doing just one type of design like you can at the larger enterprises (say in the healthcare group, or designing one aspect of buildings (e.g. foundations) instead of everything) and small enough that I won't just get lost in the shuffle. Large enough that it's more likely you'll get some decent-sized projects out of it, it's more likely you'll have a good mentor or two who aren't too busy running the business, and large enough that there's not a huge risk of them going under due to a couple slow months or one of the senior people jumping ship.

This isn't to say there aren't merits to large companies or real small shops. Just for me personally I don't think they would have been good spots to start my career.

 

[glass99]

Agree w MrHershey insofar as mentorship goes. Ideally you would work at a firm where you like the people and culture, which will in turn be a foundation for everything else, especially finding a good mentor. Good mentors a busy, so they have to believe in you. Point being, perhaps through your PM work you have come across a firm you like the work of...

 

[jayrod12]

Personally I started at a firm with 5 people, by the time I left we had grown to 8. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. The firm I'm at now is 80-90 employees but with a 40 employee feel. Much like MrHershey describes the mid sized firm (or mid sized firm feel in my case) allows no one person to do only a single type of design, and gives you access to larger projects than you would get with a small firm. Some of the projects I do at the bigger firm, my old firm would never had a chance of doing. But in that same breath, many of the projects are identical, i.e. bearing wall removals, insurance claims, Mechanical unit replacements, etc.

I wouldn't be overly surprised if the ones without a website, or a poor website, are quite small firms. That tends to be how it is in the prairies.

 

[iwantcat]

Hey guys, while reviewing my steel text (Limit States Design in Structural Steel published by the CISC) there's only 1 problem per concept. One of the books listed in the FAQs for steel "Steel Structures: Design and Behavior" by Charles G. Salmon looks much better, but it uses the American code. Is it a good idea for me to learn from this? Or would it confuse me? For the future as well, how did you guys learn codes for other countries?

 

[Ron247]

I never had to learn a code from another country. I was lucky.

 

[iwantcat]

So it's not as common as I think to design structures in other countries? I guess only big companies do that sort of thing?

 

[Ron247]

Only companies that work internationally do. I know several firms in my area that do not work outside the US. I know small US companies do not work outside their country unless they do some kind of specialty service.

 

[skeletron]

Learn from the CISC code and then build your skill set from there. It will help work towards a local job and working with LSD. The CISC code is built on similar research from AISC.


...but I can't recall if I have ever solved that problem yet.