West Coast vs. Mid-west Structural Engineering

[sticksandtriangles]

So, my wonderful wife-to-be just got placed out in Salt Lake City for residency.

I work in the mid-west and will now be potentially looking to make the jump into a Salt Lake City structural engineering firm.

Any comments on differences/what I should expect to be different practicing out there?

Main item that comes to mind is seismic design becomes a very real thing in which I have limited experience. I also know that connection design seems to be handled explicitly be the EOR, rather than delegated.

In the end though, a force is a force and everything sums to 0 in the end; doesn't matter where you are, right ?

Thanks!

S&T

 

[HuckleberryFinn]

First, Congratulations to your fiancee on successfully matching - hopefully she got one of her top choices.

I'm personally located in the South-West but beyond seismic, snow drifts and the snow provisions in general come to mind - especially in the higher elevations in Utah.

-Huck

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Congratulations, by all means! Whether you are licensed, or not, look into Utah licensing requirements.

If not yet licensed, before leaving the mid-west state talk to potential references about verifying details of your current employment for future PE application use.

Technical differences... maybe increased corrosion concerns for projects at or near the Great Salt Lake.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[racookpe1978]

You will find the people mostly pleasant and easy to live with, we enjoyed our few months north of there in Pocatello and Idaho Falls. Fewer bars and much less "night life" than in other areas of the country, many times more root beer places than caffeinated/alcohol serving places.

Check altitude: the city is at the side of the old lake bed at 4,200 feet; the mountains around it are many thousand feet higher. Some are troubled by altitude sickness or lack of breath when exercising, others find no limits. Ive worked near Mexico City at nearly 9,000 feet altitude, and found the very dry air that high more unpleasant (dry, scratchy throat bothered me) than the low pressure.

Congratulations to you both on her job offer.

 

[sticksandtriangles]

Thanks for the reminder sliderule, I will reach out my current employer, sitting for the PE/SE later this year hopefully.



S&T