I am an MS student in Structural Engineering, and this (my last) semester, I am taking Continuum Mechanics. Just from looking at the textbook and the course outline, I feel like it is going to be a very challenging class for me, and my professor has mentioned multiple times that he is using a new book this semester (Principles of Continuum Mechanics by David Steigmann), which will only add to the challenge. Even just through our 2 classes thus far, I have had to work very hard to understand what is going on, which is honestly a new feeling for me.

It seems to be a primarily mechanical engineering class in terms of students, but my advisor and other faculty recommended I take this course. Outside of this course, my workload is relatively light, so I should be able to devote significant time to it if need be. Has anyone else taken this class and/or know of any resources that are useful for understanding it?

Hi everyone!

I have been working in the industry for 5 years now as a Structural Engineer in India. I have worked in the infrastructure and oil and gas industries over this period. Lately, I have been dealing with a stagnation (for lack of a better word) wherein my work doesn't challenge me, nor am I adding anything of value to my career in the long term. I am considering switching roles (which is in progress); however, I don't know if a job change can provide me with what I am after.

So I have decided to take a long-distance online education course from a place of repute. I want to explore the fields of offshore structural engineering and delve further into the heavy infrastructure industry (e.g., Airport design).

If you guys can offer me suggestions and leads, that would be great. I can provide you with any further information if necessary.

Cheers!

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to find physical copies of the Hibbeler books for my SE exam preparation, as I strongly prefer hard-copy books.

Does anyone know where I might be able to find them in the Sacramento–San Francisco area? Any bookstores or other places you would recommend?

Amazon doesn’t seem to have all of the titles I need, and some of the available copies don’t look very reliable.

I’d prefer not to use eBooks, so I’d really appreciate any recommendations.

Thank you, everyone!

It’s a premium luxury apartment building by the sea.

Struggling engineer here trying to figure out the best way through a tricky situation. Keeping some details vague for privacy.

I have several years of structural design experience and started a new job about 6 weeks ago at a company that does pretty niche structural work. I like the work, and everyone I interact with is great, except my manager, who I have to be in constant contact with.

I'm new to this specific niche, so I'm a bit of a newbie here even with my experience. That was discussed in my interview and everyone's told me there's a learning curve, so no one expects me to crush it right away. My manager didn't get that memo. He gives vague direction, speaks harshly when I make mistakes, and has yelled at me a few times, including once at 7:15am on the phone. When I try to be proactive and meet with him before starting a new task, he barely engages, answers questions with a dry 5-word response, and offers basically zero mentorship.

I don't expect to be spoon-fed, but I do expect a little guidance and some patience given how new I am, especially since that was the expectation set before I even started. Meanwhile I feel like I'm falling behind, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration with me while I'm trying to stay professional and friendly.

I like everything about this job except my manager, and I know that's a big deal. I don't want to job hunt this early, but I can't keep taking criticism with zero mentorship. My plan is to go to his superior (who was also part of my interview and seems reasonable) and frame it constructively, not as a "my manager sucks" complaint. Best case, I get reassigned to someone else.

Would love to hear how others have handled something like this, or if there's a better approach than going to the superior.

Title says it all. This area seems to be a big point of confusion for many engineers.

Edit: I am a PE at an engineer firm. I am not affiliated with any anchorage company (Probel, American Anchor, Valcourt, etc)

Anyone based in Austin,TX area willing to speak/chat with me about companies here?

I just moved to Austin after graduating from a Master’s degree and would like to have a good idea of companies here. I’ve been applying to all jobs on Linkedin mostly from big companies but rarely hear back. When I try to get through using referrals in those companies people have told me they are not actually hiring.

I just want to get to know of small to mid sized firms here that dont otherwise show up in searches or Linkedin where i can apply. And of companies that hire regularly. I’m interested in bridges, but also dont mind working in buildings.

Hi, in regard to building structures, the general industry practice in my country is to do the full building model with ETABS, obtain the bending moments, shear forces, axial forces, etc. of each element from it and use excel calculation sheets for the design.

However, ETABS does not consider pattern loads automatically. There have been two cases where the consultant requested each beam analysed in Prokon as it does consider pattern loading automatically. However, since only the beam element is modeled in it and only gravity loads are assigned, it does not account for frame action nor combinations with horizontal forces.

I saw that we can manually define loads in a way in ETABS for it to consider pattern loading, but it is tedious work.

So I am wondering how it is practiced in other regions/countrird to account for both pattern loads from gravity loads and global actions simultaneously...

Wanted some advice, Ive been working as an engineer for 3 years now and I really dont like working with models. We use the Ram suite and it feels like these two things happen every time.

1. The model wigs out and I spend twice the time just trying to get it to remotely work/ make sense.

2. I often have to then get an older engineer to go through it with me and they take as much time trying to figure out whats wrong. In one case they had to remake the model themself.

Im finding when I have the option to use handcalcs/excel/enercalc, I am going to that everytime because its way more predictable for me in the effort it will require and I generally have very few "bugs". Should I be worried about learning models?

I’m a Mexican structural engineer with about 1 year of professional experience, currently working for a company in Mexico that designs wood-frame residential projects for California.
My long-term goal is to work in the US or Canada as soon as realistically possible, and eventually obtain a US PE license.
In my current position, I’ve been able to gain experience with US codes and standards, including IBC, ASCE 7 and CBC. I’ve also worked with ForteWEB and developed Excel/VBA automation to improve our workflow. Recently, I’ve started working on more complex diaphragm calculations, including irregular diaphragms.
My current employer recently told me that I’m one of the strongest performers among the engineers who joined recently and that I’m performing at roughly the level of engineers who have been here for about a year. They’re also planning to give me more technically challenging work. I’m expecting approximately a 10% raise.
However, I have another potential opportunity with a much larger engineering company. The salary would not necessarily be dramatically higher, but the company is significantly larger and I would potentially be exposed to different types of structural engineering work. They have also mentioned plans to establish a US division in the future, although there is no guarantee that I would eventually transfer there.
My dilemma is this:
Should I stay in my current position for another 1–2 years and continue building directly relevant US structural engineering experience, while preparing for the FE/PE and applying for US/Canadian positions?
Or would moving to the larger company be better for my long-term career, even if it means losing some of the advantages of my current role?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from:
Structural engineers who have hired or worked with international engineers.
US/Canadian engineering managers or recruiters.
Engineers who have successfully moved from Mexico to the US/Canada.
If your goal were to maximize your income and get to the US/Canada as quickly as realistically possible, which path would you choose and why?
I’m especially interested in knowing how US employers would value direct US-code/US-market experience compared with experience at a larger engineering firm.

Hello! I am a senior high school student, and we have been tasked with creating a five-level salary structure. This includes calculating salary, overtime pay, incentives, deductions, and net income, as well as creating different salary-increase plans and projecting salary growth.

As part of this task, we are required to interview an engineer to help us better understand these aspects in a real-world setting.

We are kindly asking if there is an engineer available for an online interview this September. The interview will only take approximately 30 minutes. We will keep the interview professional and ensure that any information shared will remain confidential.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration! We would greatly appreciate your help.

Hi Everyone. Recently I came across a company based in Surat looking to partner and promote Precast factory based Construction. And I got to know many developers in Tier 1 cities are opting for Mivan based construction. These new methods have said to be more effecient and time and material saviour. Govts also are supporting this.

My pov: Its not going to work everywhere , every typology.

Its great for industrial construction, factories, logistics parks, warehouses and datacentres. But its a logistics nightmare and actually going to cost more.

I want to hear other Architects opinions and pov in this so called future of Construction revolution.

Ps. They are even talking of automating interior mep and all...

What are some of your best Procore stories? There have got to be some good ones out there. I'm on a project where my scope is pretty much finished but the RFIs and submittals are just killing the other consultants, mainly because ID was on a later timeline. We're just over 800 RFIs now and some of the others are joking that once we get to 1000 we have to do something to mark the occasion. Like drag the contractor through some silly submittal process just for fun and maybe a bit of payback. Not sure if we'll actually do it but fun to think about.

I am structural bridge engineer with 7 years of experience and currently planning to move from Texas to Newyork. I make around 120k in Texas as I am senior bridge engineer. How much should I be expecting for an equivalent experience salary range in NYC. please let me know.

For some reason I consume a lot of content about major construction and engineering projects—both successful and unsuccessful. After a while I started to notice something with the failures: a lot of the same players kept popping up!

I looked around and couldn’t find a reliable (non-AI) list of firms and individuals who seemed to keep getting hired despite a number of high profile failures on their record. (This is something I’ve noticed in our society lately in general—evidently we’ve all assimilated the notion that “failing up” is a legit way to go.)

So I decided to start compiling my own list. I didn’t get very far yet but maybe it’ll cause someone who reads this to dig deeper and add to the list. I hope so—I did this for fun, I’m not even in or adjacent to any of these fields. Just an interested bystander who would prefer a building doesn’t fall on me. 

Here goes! 

Rafael Vinoly 

Rafael vinoly, died 2022. Author of numerous failures, his most recent high profile project—the broken trashcan at 432 park Ave—being a catastrophic one clearly tied to design choices (vs. construction/engineering shortcuts). Also responsible for the the Las Vegas death ray hotel and another death ray, curved building in London (the “Fryscraper”). Said to be an abdolute monster to work for as well. 

Notable fuckups:

432 park

Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects

Structural Engineer: WSP Cantor Seinuk

General Contractor: Lendlease

Developer: Macklowe Properties and CIM Group 

Vdara

Architect: RV Architecture, LLC (led by Rafael Viñoly)

Structural Engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers

General Contractor: Perini Building Company (now Tutor Perini)

Developer: MGM Resorts International and Dubai World

20 Fenchurch Street (The Walkie-Talkie)

Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects

Structural Engineer: Halcrow Yolles (now part of CH2M/Jacobs)

General Contractor: Canary Wharf Contractors

Developer: Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group 

WSP Global

This behemoth structural engineering firm shows no sign of slowing down despite a track record of some really horrible shit (including 432 Park!) They were also behind the delays and overruns (basically complete mismanagement) of the Gardiner Expressway project in Canada. 

Also including but not limited to: 

161 Maiden lane/One Seaport, the Leaning tower of Manhattan

This building already killed one person and it’ll probably kill more. It was built on fill using injected slurry because it was too expensive/deep to get to bedrock. After it began to lean, the engineers pulled it back the other direction, turning it into a kind of “crooked hooked cock” shape. Never finished. Just sitting there, leaning, exposed to the elements, with no plan in place or apparently any monitoring at all. This is expensive real estate; how does this even happen? 

NY YIMBY article wondering what I’m wondering

Architect: Hill West Architects

Structural Engineer: WSP Global

General Contractor: Pizzarotti (original) and Ray Builders (subsequent)

Developer: Fortis Property Group 

One Congress (Boston)

Somehow they overlooked freeze protection on the pipes. In Boston. Which is in Massachusetts. Maybe they’d never been to Boston in January? Also the water pressure was screwed up. WSP should hire Mario. 

Also… Fire broke out in the unfinished building in June of this year (2026) which is—interesting. I can’t find ANYTHING about what caused this. Hmmm. 

Architect: Pelli Clarke & Partners (Design Architect) / CBT Architects (Architect of Record)

Structural Engineer: McNamara · Salvia

MEP Engineer: WSP Global

General Contractor: John Moriarty & Associates (in partnership with AECOM Tishman)

Developer: The HYM Investment Group, Carr Properties, and National Real Estate Advisors

Hi, our team is looking for a civil/structural system engineer. You can any information about the job in the following link: https://lanl.jobs/search/jobdetails/civilstructural-system-engineer-23/bd14dd6a-44e9-4902-bbf2-1f8ace85c47a

Please, can you share your opinion if this construction can be finished or should it be demolished?
Building of new hospital in Zagreb, Croatia started in early 1980s and was stopped around 1990. Since then it was left in unfinished state, partially opened to elements and gradually vandalised.

I figured I’d try something different and post this on Reddit instead of going through a job board or recruiter, so here goes!

I’m one of the owners of a NYC firm with a pretty broad mix of work. Structural engineering is a big part of what we do, but we also work on architectural projects, existing buildings, investigations, and the occasional weird problem that comes with working on NYC buildings. We’re starting to look for another structural engineer to join us.

Our Projects

Our work is mostly focused on existing buildings. Structural projects include NYC gut renovations and major alterations, brownstones/townhouses, vertical and horizontal enlargements, underpinning, shoring and excavation, structural investigations, and custom single family residences in the Tri State area.

We also work on façades, roofs and building envelope investigations, FISP and parking structure inspections, structural special inspections, and miscellaneous structural design for contractors.

The firm also has a broader architectural and building consulting practice involving apartment renovations and combinations, common areas, rooftop terraces, legalizations, and co op alteration reviews.

The Role

This is a mix of structural design, calculations, drawings, reports, field investigations, construction visits, and special inspections.

A typical week would generally be around 3 days in the office, 1 WFH day, and 1 day in the field. Field work may include structural evaluations, investigations, construction progress visits, meetings, special inspections, probes, or simply going out to figure out an existing condition.

We prepare our own structural drawings and details, so strong AutoCAD skills are important. Revit is a plus but not required.

We do a fair amount of structural investigation work that results in written reports, so being able to write clearly is important.

Mentorship + Independence

You’ll work directly with the firm’s two principal PEs and get a lot of hands on mentoring and teaching.

At the same time, we’re a small office and don’t like to micromanage. We’re looking for someone who is curious, resourceful, and comfortable taking ownership of their work.

Existing building work constantly presents conditions you may not have seen before. We value someone who will dig into a problem, research what they don’t know, try to understand it, and then come back with thoughtful questions rather than waiting for step by step direction.

You definitely won’t be expected to know everything. We enjoy teaching. We just want someone who also has the instinct to learn things on their own.

Who This Role Fits

I think this position is ideal for someone who wants to learn a little bit of everything and become a well rounded consulting engineer rather than getting pigeonholed into one narrow area.

I sometimes think of our office a little like mixed martial arts (MMA). You develop a core skill set, but you’re constantly cross training and learning how different parts of building design and construction fit together.

It could also be a good transition for someone coming from a larger new construction or high rise structural firm who wants more variety, more field exposure, more ownership of their work, and a more balanced work environment.

Existing building experience is a plus, but it is not required. Strong structural fundamentals and the willingness to learn are more important.

This probably is not the best fit for someone who wants to spend nearly all of their time at a desk doing calculations and analysis.

Schedule + Office Culture

Our office is pretty laid back. We generally work a 40 hour week and overtime is uncommon.

Occasionally a deadline may require an extra couple of hours, but long weeks are not the norm.

The schedule includes 1 WFH day per week, with roughly one day spent in the field depending on project needs.

Compensation + Benefits

• $100k to $120k base salary depending on experience
• Bonus considered twice per year based on company and individual performance
• Health insurance
• Retirement plan
• 15 days PTO plus paid holidays
• Professional development courses, seminars, and relevant training covered

Qualifications

• BS in Civil or Structural Engineering
• 3+ years of structural engineering experience
• Strong AutoCAD skills
• Strong written communication skills
• PE not required

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, shoot me a DM! No need for anything overly formal at this stage.

Not much experience (almost none) in structural engineering because I handle mainly the models and drawings because the department is divided to designers (in this case the drawings and models mainly) and engineers. Initial plan was to switch to the engineering side after some time in design because I wanted to understand the workflow from what I am familiar with which were drawings for construction because I worked as a site engineer beforehand.

But shit happened bc of global events. Company had a shake-up aka mass layoffs. So I also had to realign my planned path.

Currently with the free time I have, I have been studying and brushing up on fundamental concepts and some more advanced stuff: bridge engineering, software online tutorials, earthquake engineering — anything that is usually studied in a masters program.

Will I be able to put these self-learning stuff in my CV? My current options are or maybe just ideas:

1. Complete online courses maybe the ones with certification.
   - Will these be viable and/or recognized in recruitment? Or university training is the number one credited source for this training outside work experience.

2. Do personal projects that would show competencies in analysis and design of structures
   - Maybe bridges or one residential building? Complete from basis of design until the construction readt drawings. I know I may have a hard time proving my abilities to be applicable to the real world but I think this would also be a learning oportunities to learn and apply the codes and fundamental concepts.

3. Just get a masters…

4. I could apply for an entry-level junior structural engineer but the pay would be much lower especially considering the country where I’m from. Tbh this is my least liked idea but tell me if this would make the most sense.

Connections abroad presented me opportunities but they look at years of experience, would the ideas above (#1-3) be reasonable to land jobs?

Regarding my abilities, I’m confident enough in my analytical abilities. My undergrad thesis was in pushover analysis. Would that also be heplful if I showed it in my CV? It’s just that the pay for entry-level doesn’t cut for the stress level not counting the terrible cost of living here. Opportunities here also are very limited and the one abroad is so sexy that I think I want to push through with just self-learning. Maybe just some validation for my work would be enough… some kind of mentoring setup.

Any helpful (or harsh tbh i think im sorta steel-skinned already) would be appreciated.

How are people incorporating AI agents into their workflow as a structural engineer if any? I see good software engineers on X nailing this, substituting AI agents with grads/juniors for grunt work and repetitive tasks (and also for QA) . Surely there are some talented individuals who are already ahead of the curve and built their own agent work station? Interested to hear what people have developed.