#My_Perspective: Structural Engineering beyond Buildings and Bridges

 

This article basically focuses on the scope of structural engineering.  There is a common misconception among youngsters that structural engineering is limited to high-rise-building and bridges. Definitely designing buildings or bridges is not an easy task. Lots of knowledge is required like deciding the framing, the type of foundation, loading application, seismic analysis, etc... So I’m not denying that building or bridge design is an important sector. But my focus is that other domains of structural engineering are equally important in nation-building

College syllabus: College syllabus is set in such a way that the main subjects are related to building design and bridge design. Hence students lack knowledge of the scope and they blindly follow building designs as dream departments. Definitely, basic design knowledge is required such as beam, girder, column, footing, and connection. but the syllabus should not focus only on building or bridge designs. It's the duty of college to include a few subjects or a subject focusing on a career path within structural engineering. Or at least workshops focusing on the same.

Training institute: Various online training institutes mainly focus on basic building designs and very less bridge designs and none on other domains. Training institutes lure fresh students to believe that they can open a structural designing company through their course. But young engineers don't know that along with technical knowledge, experience, and huge networks are also required to start the company. Training institute courses mostly will be oriented toward software skill development. Which is once again good. But they don’t focus on career opportunities in structural engineering or course on developing skill sets that will help early career professionals in choosing the stream.

    But the interesting training institute which I liked so much is SQVe consultants which focuses on developing skillsets that helped me in person. A lot of technical videos are free on YouTube. Courses usually will be interactive, which again helps in developing soft skills plus helps in developing networks. But one thing they should focus on educating the graduate on various subdivisions in the structural field. So that graduates are not hesitant in choosing those fields.

My Journey: To be honest, even I also wanted to be in building design engineer. I tried my best to stay in the building design field. But I guess the situation made me choose a different sector. I had the opportunity in choosing between the building or renewable energy sector. But due to personal reasons,  I had to choose the renewable energy sector. While I was working in that field I didn’t adore it. Always wanted to go back to building design. The renewable sector was paying me a decent amount. But my only concern was that I am not in the civil-engineering-dominated sector it was more of an electrical-dominated sector. I didn’t recognize the value of civil engineering or structural engineering in this sector. This sector gave me to travel to two different countries. Which I believe the building sector would have not given me. In the search for MNC once again I ended up in the power sector. But once I was here in a new company I understood the value of structural engineering, the various challenges structural engineers face in this sector that is not common, and the sound technical knowledge required to solve these problems. I started giving my best and ended up increasing my salary by 60% in a year. Which is highly impossible in this sector.  Plus I realized that the skillset I have developed is with very few people compared to other domains hence the competition is less. 

Career path: Now here I m going to explain to you the various sector in structural engineering, which you should not be hesitant to choose just because it is not buildings or bridges. 

 

a.   Rail structures: Structural engineers involve in designing structures related to railways. Such

as the footbridge, and various steel structures in the station and at the track.

b.    Water sector: Structures such as STP, WTP, and various other structures where support is required to develop water-related projects. The water domain is very huge. And having a skillset related to this domain is added advantage

 

c.   FEM: Candidates can involve in coding and technical support in developing various structural engineering software. Usually, companies pay a lot compared to other domains in structural engineering and also salary can be compared with the IT sector. Knowledge of coding will be an added advantage.

d.    Power sector: The power sector involves various subsectors, such as substation, overhead & transmission line structures, and renewable sectors like solar, hydropower, geothermal, wind, etc., which again need the support of the structural engineers

e.    Pre-stressing. Definitely, pre-stressing is used in buildings and bridges, expertise in this field is added advantage as very less people have this expertise and can crack interviews easily.

 

f.     Anchoring: There are various companies that provide anchoring solutions to the construction industry. One such company is Hilti. This sector requires structural engineer specialists to solve the problems faced during the anchoring

g.   Industrial sector: Having expertise in industrial building and structure design is a plus point. A lot of companies are looking for the right candidates to have this skill set.

h.    Offshore: Offshore structure is designing structures that are in the sea.  Usually used in the exploration of oil and gas. Since the renewable sector is on the boom, new concepts of harnessing renewable energy in the sea are also increasing, such as floating solar, wind plants, etc... Hence having expertise in offshore structures is not bad. One of my known contact with the same experience as mine has 50% more salary, just because he has offshore expertise.

 

i.    Oil and gas: Though this oil and gas sector may become less important in the near future, having expertise in it is not bad. A lot of projects are going on, and researchers are exploring lots of oil and gas fields. My suggestion would be to have another expertise in the backup.

j.    Tunnel: Structural engineer with expertise in the tunnel sector is a plus point. A lot of infrastructure projects are going on, which may require this expertise. 

k.   Precast: using a precast unit leads to faster construction. Designing precast units needs special expertise such as anchorages in it and many more. Hence having expertise in precast design is beneficial.

 

 

Conclusion: My intention in this article was to educate the various scope of structural engineering briefly. Candidates should not be hesitant to be part of this domain. Structural engineering is not just about buildings and bridges. There is a lot of competition in the bridges and buildings sector. In fact, if possible try to expertise in 2 or 3 fields so that your skillset is valued, And definitely you will have very less competition and you will end up with above

industry level salary.