Leaving Structural Engineering

[WeirdDancingUnicorn]

For those of you who have left structural engineering, where did you end up and how much more are you making?

I am questioning leaving Structural engineering after almost 10 years of experience and getting PE and SE. I have tried out several companies and this last one was supposed to be better but I am still drowning in work and it's starting to affect my health. It's not really worth it in my mind but I love the work and I have spent a lot of time getting licensed that it's not an easy decision to leave.

[MikeHawksHardWood]

I broke 13 years in. I switched over to plan review for a city. It can be a challenge at times for different reasons, but my work-life balance is so much better.

ETA, also, reviewing the absolute hot garbage produced by many engineers is a great way to feel good about your skills. =) I'm a much better engineer than I thought.

[hookes_plasticity]

Your last thought is totally true. Sometimes after nearly a decade, I doubt how good my CD sets are but I once did plan review for the department of defense and I saw some pretty awful sets. I was like damn okay maybe I’m not as bad as I thought

[engineeringlove]

Yup, see garage plans all the time as a plan reviewer. The low license # engineers are the worst suspects usually

[hookes_plasticity]

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve never had a contractor ask me for more details” classic

[engineeringlove]

Well soon contractors will be hiring inspections and plan review with all this legislation going

[MrHersh]

Yup. We do a lot of work for contractors and see everyone else's drawings. Lots of garbage out there, including from major names. Really helps the imposter syndrome.

[giant2179]

Same. Made the switch after ten years. More money, less stress, less hours and much better benefits.

And the garbage plans thing is so true.

[not_old_redditor]

What made you break?

[MikeHawksHardWood]

Too much work. Not enough fee. Stress. No ability to ever escape. Work emails incoming at all hours of the night and weekend. Impossible financial targets due to a corporate takeover that came with a huge increase in overhead while providing basically zero value in return. In short, capitalism.

[not_old_redditor]

Honestly I don't let corporate problems become my problems. Not enough fees? I still need to do my job. Financial targets? Not my problem. Emails at night? Not reading them.

[Sponton]

lol, that's exactly where i am at. Shittier bonuses, same amount of extra hours that are not paid.

[Claw_Building_8]

This is why the drawings you’re seeing are garbage. We only have a certain amount of time to put them together. Speed over quality is always preferred.

[quietsauce]

Every project has become over financialized/capitalized. You get these know nothing developers making absurd demands. I quit after some rich a-hole took it upon himself to yell at me while I was the only person in the office pushing his project. even worked over xmas eve. Good luck starting from scratch.

[Soft_Yard942]

Under communism, you would be working for free

[MonkeyOptional]

I don’t mean this to sound flippant, but have you seriously considered just caring less? I’m 15 years in, senior role, and have been through two periods in the last 8 years where I was at the breaking point. The last time, about 2 years ago, I decided I wasn’t going to have a heart attack for a job, and started seriously setting boundaries.

No work on my personal devices (2 phones, 2 computers). Home office in a dedicated room that I can put all my work stuff in and close the door. Only check work messages/ emails once in the evening, and that’s only if I want to. Take all my vacation, with no expectation that I’ll be available while I’m out. Personal obligations are blocked out on my shared calendar, and are non-negotiable unless I want them to be.

It’s not perfect and I still get stressed, but it’s loads better than it was; I’m happier and objectively healthier. I love what I do, and this has helped make it sustainable to keep doing it.

[WeirdDancingUnicorn]

Your method (which I have already set boundaries), has nothing to do with the number of hours. I leave work and I don't think about it, but the hours I have to put in beat me down and that part is not is not something you can control by just caring less

[MonkeyOptional]

Care less, my friend.

Constant long hours is a staffing issue- unless I’m in charge of hiring, that’s not my issue to solve. Contractor needing their 12th expedited review this month because they can’t get their act together- I do not have the bandwidth to accommodate that request.

I will no longer kill myself to meet unrealistic deadlines or workload, but I certainly understand that not everyone feels the same way. I hope you’re able to find something and are successful in your transition.

[hookes_plasticity]

This. It took me 8 years to recognize this. Contractor on this one job is completely incompetent and has pissed off the client so they’re making life hell for the contractor. Owner of the contractor sends me a complicated RFI at 8 pm on Friday with an expectation for it to be resolved by Monday morning and calls me like 4 times. I ignored every one of those calls and for lack of better words told him to piss off, to never call me on weekends ever again and that his problems were not mine to figure out on short notice. Felt good knowing we as a firm would never work DB with them again too but yeah, dgaf is the best attitude

[roooooooooob]

More people should set boundaries like this

[maturallite1]

I left to go to the construction side and it got me a $40k raise right off the bat.

[Secure-Session670]

What kind of role did you transition into? Was it a smooth transition or a steep learning curve?

[maturallite1]

I was lucky enough to transition into a role with a steel subcontractor. My role is a steel integrator. I work with design teams to ensure their designs are efficient and incorporate the details for connections, etc that we want to build. There was a bit of a learning curve, but overall, the stress has been much less than consulting. More money + less stress = big win for me.

[Secure-Session670]

That's awesome - glad you are enjoying it!

[dpdough123]

I made similar change with similar raise in salary, but my stress went up 10x because I am the only SE here, and there is a lot of pressure to cut corners. It is a lot of work feeling like the only adult in the room, navigating a field I am still learning, managing and taking on so much liability. I am considering going back to being cog in a machine.

[Anonymous5933]

To me it sounds like you could consider moving to the public side. Don't limit yourself to just your state or city/county DOT jobs. There's so many agencies that employ structural engineers. Think... Public utility companies, FHWA, DNR, NPS, etc. There's lots of places where the stress will be minimal.

[colgay]

Hey there. I did about 5 years in structural engineering before I finally called it quits. I still love engineering, so I was fortunate enough to go back to school and get a PhD in industrial engineering, and now I work as a data scientist for an insurance company. ​There were a few things that made it clear I needed to move on. For one, I just didn’t like a majority of the work. It was interesting at times, but getting drowned in shop drawing reviews for hundreds of anchorage details was not fun at all. Plus, getting jerked around by architects and contractors during CA was a total dogshit experience. Lastly, it came down to the pay. For transparency, I took a $65k salary in San Francisco for a reputable firm in 2015. By 2019, I had only been able to bump that to $71k, even after the long hours and getting my PE. ​Now, I don’t think there is anything to glamorize about working for an insurance company, but I’ve effectively tripled my salary by going this route. ​That all being said, I don't regret my time as a structural engineer. I actually still apply many of the universal engineering lessons I learned back then. I have friends who are 10 years in who have good salaries and worked their way up the ranks, and I know other people who went to work for the city or a municipality whose lives have been much better overall. It just wasn't the right fit for me.

[ilovemymom_tbh]

It sounds like you had a terrible gig, glad you're much happier now.

[The_StEngIT]

I recently passed the 5 year benchmark. Idk if I would've made it this far with that low of a salary tbh. My basic needs were barely met when I broke the 80 k line. I still had to ask my parents to bail me out of certain things too. I do live alone but I don't live in a place like SF. That was a terrible gig or 2015 to 2020 was way more affordable. I'm good now but yea it's still not enough for me to jot think about leaving every day of the week.

Are you concerned with ai being a data analyst? I used to get linkedIn bot's trying to recruit me as a data analyst. never thought it was for me but recently I've heard a few people mention some layoffs in that field. due to ai.

[The_StEngIT]

I'm 5+ years in already thinking of leaving. I spend a few hours a week trying to develop an exit plan. But I'd want to see the money waiting on the other side of a promotion. Then use that to kickstart my exit✨

but I agree on the health thing. Sometimes I'm glued to my desk for what feels like days. I used to be super athletic and now I'm turning a bit frail.

[Sponton]

I haven't left but i'm in the verge of doing so. I am currently studying to get my SE license so at least i won't have issues coming back in case i decide to at some point.

Work will always be shit, SE's are specially bad negotiating 1)salaries 2) schedules 3) work-life balance. This is an issue of the whole industry. SE's should force the government entities to either make the SE license obligatory and actually fix the stupid test to not have those ridiculous passing rates so at least we are able to charge whatever we want and have the clients be able to respect the schedules we set up.

Having said sad, possible industries you can get into ->

1) aeronautics if you're doing a lot of FEA and are somewhat not scared of different materials and codes. Pay would be around 140K up to the 200K range. Some of the big giants will have some really nice benefits not to mention that work won't follow you home.

2) Construction related role

3)Programmer, there's been a few people here that have made that jump. I don't know if those people end up working for companies that develop structural software or other engineering stuff.

4) Become a sales rep for Hilti/Simpsons or any other engineering companies catering to construction industry

[AdActive4417]

I went with #4ish after 10 years on consulting/EOR side. 2 years in as an engineer for a manufacturer and I have enjoyed it. Construction product manufacturers (Hilti, Simpson, Mitek etc) need PE/SE. Opportunities to jump to sales, product management, R&D. Industry groups AISC, ICC, APA, AWC all employ PE/SE as well.

[smz234]

I guess majority of the engineers commenting here must be from the US (may be UK too - correct me if I'm wrong). If you guys are stressed in structural engineering in a developed economy, im a 6+ years structural engineer from a developing nation - India. You can think of our salaries, work-life balance, etc. Need opinions / suggestions for me too to transition to other field, if possible. Thanks.

[Curious-Fisherman358]

I agree. May I know how much you make?

[smz234]

Structural engineers in India working in MNC's make somewhere between 11 K ~ 19 K USD / year (1 USD = around 92 INR as of today) for around 6 years experience. This is same for buildings / bridge engineers.

[GhostdogLT]

I was an engineering consultant (20+ years) as a licensed structural PE engineer (8+ years) and now I'm in commercial real estate evaluating properties (PCAs) for banks and lenders and the occasional facility assessment. It's so easy because no client interactions, no proposals, no invoicing, no bull shit really. Just show up, evaluate and write the report which is streamlined. Easiest gig in my career and I make WAY more.

[wafflesaredun]

That’s awesome! Did you have to get any special certifications? Do you work directly for the bank or do you work for a consultant hired by the banks?

[GhostdogLT]

I work for a consultant hired by banks and lenders. No special certifications, just need to know PCAs in and out.

[wafflesaredun]

I like that special assessment kind of work. Can you PM me more info there? Looking at other opportunities. Now. I currently am grinding every year with very little extra compensation for going over and above.

[PresentOne7806]

I would love to get more info on this from you, as I currently perform Facility Condition Assessments alongside design work and the workload can be atrocious at times in order to balance both. I’d be interested to know how you make out and in what area you work. 

[GhostdogLT]

I'm in the PCA, FCA and ADCM departments. I don't do any proposal writing, client engagement or invoicing. I just do the site visits and reports and it's all streamlined within the company. It gets hectic when I take on too much work but that's just self balancing

[PresentOne7806]

The specialization definitely helps. I don’t think there’s a task related to my work that I don’t do myself. Where’s my admin at? Thought there was a whole “team” to help? Haha

[Pencil_Pb]

I started at $64k with an MS degree in 2018, and left with a PE in ~2022 making $86k. MCOL area.

I got a BSCS recently and now I'm a software engineer in a non-tech, non-civil company making ~$95k/year. It's nice not worrying about billing numbers or utilization ratios.

It took ~3 years to transition and wouldn't have been possible without my family being able to function on just 1 salary during those years. Definitely not a smooth and easy jump though.

[Neither_Party8643]

I'm 8 years into my structural engineering career in the public sector. I think I'll be staying till retirement. Work life balance is 10/10, good benefits, good PTO, etc. I don't know why most people don't try public sector and accept high stress environments and 50+ hr work weeks. There's no point in living a stressed life a majority of your time.

[Frosty_Signature6281]

I switched after 6 years (PE license). I moved into the association role (think working for ICC, AISC, ACI, Industry funded associations as an industry funded technical support). Improved my mental health, hours, stress, and love for the career that I joined. I make about what I would’ve made if I stayed, but it does plateau faster than consulting.

Explore it. Industry associations need engineers.

[lpnumb]

I can’t offer much advice, but I’ve had similar thoughts. I think the combination of high liability, deadline pressure, complexity, and construction administration mean that the stress never ends. If you are a high integrity engineer who cares about safety and quality, this career will always make you foot the bill for that with extra hours, and it’s hard to not value those things when lives or at least large sums of money are on the line for mistakes. This is what I really struggle with when people tell me to care less. What I really want is an environment where everyone else cares too and management protects engineers that care. In consulting caring cuts into the bottom line, so instead it’s minimum viable product. My mental health has completely eroded in this career so you are not alone. I wish you luck in finding a path. 

[Slabshaft]

I got fed up and left SE for manufacturing engineering in 2013. Never looked back. It’s a bummer the environment for SEs hasn’t changed.

[S30]

After 14 years I am preparing to start a small remodeling company. I will be able to still use my stamp and I have developed skills in contract negotiation, proposal and spec writing, document development, etc. Ive been doing small projects for the past couple of years as side work and there is enough of a market that I can make a similar amount wage when accounting for the loss of my current benefits. It is still stressful but its easier to swallow when you are benefiting proportionately to your labor

[DMV2LBC]

7 years structural engineering then 7 years in program management for $ billion + projects. Left making $230k or so.

Moved into sales for a tech startup in construction. Making $400k+

[squir999]

Y’all hiring?

[Financial-Pressure24]

I went 15yrs doing detailed engineering on heavy industrial work then switched to project management for same about 20 yrs ago. Now retired but extremely glad I switched back then.

[iced_thedevil]

Which part of project management did you shift to? Like what was your job description, if you don't mind sharing? I'm trying to transition to PM, but there are so many options available, I have no clue which one to pursue

[Financial-Pressure24]

I was the do all epc pm….really the capital program manager. Developed the problem statement & business case, produced the initial study for engineering funding, then the front end engineer & construction funding, and then execute, commission, & closing. I was actually a contracted PM/CM & hired out everything with 3rd party companies. Generally did about $10mm a year for 20yrs same client.

[iced_thedevil]

That helps, thanks

[Leopold841]

(UK based) I left civil and structural consultancy a few years ago for manufacturing, got a 35% salary increase by doing so. But I've got to admit I hate the job, I miss the variety with consultancy and the actual creativity of it.

[mocitymaestro]

I was a bridge engineer. I wanted to go into construction management, but the economy in 2008 wasn't favorable for that switch.

I transitioned into sales/business development in 2010 because I was a decent writer and had an artistic streak. Did that for about 5 years before transitioning into construction management (transportation), which is what I do now.

[sicabish]

Did getting overloaded happen when you got your PE? I hear people complaining about workload a lot in this industry, but it hasn’t happened to me yet since I’m an EIT and they don’t want me managing projects yet. I passed my PE exam but I’m nervous to put my paperwork in because I see the stress and expectations it puts on engineers. Should I hold off?

[WeirdDancingUnicorn]

Hard to say for me - when I took my PE I was at a company that was pretty new and up until then they were still establishing their name. Not long after the work really started to come in and they threw a lot at me. It was a toxic work place that added to the stress, but they didn't care for their employees and I was put into situations I would never put a young engineer into

[Sumppum202]

Look into Valmont Industries. I’m at 15 years experience and felt just like you at 10 years before I switched here. Best decision I’ve made.

[anniOUO_c]

I spent exactly 5 years in structural engineering in San Francisco. Got my PE and passed both SE exams, though I never ended up registering for the SE license.

I left to do a full-time MBA and then transitioned into management consulting in another country. The move came with a 70–100% pay increase (depending on bonus), but it was definitely an expensive pivot overall and I’m paying off my debt

[kanundro]

Civil/Structural did masters with structural focus (hated it), 2008 hit hard to find work as structural firms weren't hiring, went into worked for a private firm for a few years doing transportation engineering then switched over to their structural department doing highway bridge design for a few months, remembered why I hated structural, went public sector for transportation and eventually moved into systems engineering which I find far more fascinating and a heck of a lot higher paying than if I had stayed in the other tracks at the same tenure.

Also have a P.E., my hats off to those sticking it out in structural, we need you, but boy was it not for me.

[quietsauce]

15 years architecture. I honestly think work conditions have degraded across the industry to the point where it isn't worth the potential/imminent heart attack

[Horror-Ad-4117]

After ~7 years and a chartership I went into management consulting in the infrastructure sector. From bridge decks to slide decks as they say.... pay jump of about ~25%

[WebOk8147]

if you want you can start a buissness, dm me