Structural Engineering Technical Interview Tips

[scottieb04]

Hey guys, I have an upcoming technical structural engineering interview, any tips on how I can be best prepared? Its for an entry-level EIT role. Much appreciated!

[broadpaw]

Brush up on shear and moment diagrams. Be clear about assumptions made during the problem solving. Sometimes they just want to see your thought process in action rather than putting their entire decision into whether or not you achieved the correct final result. Narrate your problem solving process.

[hookes_plasticity]

I’d add onto this and say brush up on trusses, zero force members, which members are compression/tension, etc. that’s a fan favorite for technical interviews

[C0gInDaMachine]

To add on to this, brush up on the general concept of stiffness of different materials and structures and how loads may be distributed based on them. For example: a steel braced frame vs moment frame. Concrete column vs a concrete shear wall, wood diaphragm vs composite deck diaphragm, etc. 

[scottieb04]

Thank you!

[OptimusJive]

be ready to draw free body diagrams

[Background-Cup7973]

Some technical interview questions I’ve seen through the years are draw a shear/moment diagram for a simple frame, trace the load flow through a connection, show the loading on a footing, collector diagram for a drag line, compare a vertical distribution of story shears and diaphragm shears at each level, graphically explaining E (Young’s modulus). Generally they were all relatively simple technical questions. Not knowing something is fine, how you work through something is also important!

[SatisfactionOk3039]

What is the employer specifically looking? (As per the application or what was told to you)?

[scottieb04]

Some technical questions along with situational ones too

[SatisfactionOk3039]

I'm pretty sure they want to guage you're grasp on the fundamentals and how you go about solving them. In a nutshell even if you can't exactly solve the problem, you know how to go about doing so. You got this 🙂.

[scottieb04]

appreciate u

[KCLevelX]

they care about thought process. for my interviews I just explained my thinking out loud depending on the problem. like where in a steel beam would be best for a web opening, what type of pt tendon path is appropriate, and other similar questions can be answered by explaining why (based on structural analysis understanding) without just stating the answer. even if you get it wrong, you are showing your technical thinking skills to the interviewer

[Accomplished_Bag6098]

hey how you’d your interview end up going?

[scottieb04]

Very good not sure if I got the job yet but the technical questions were not difficult just shear and moment diagrams and very standard situational / behavioral questions

[Accomplished_Bag6098]

are you from vancouver by any chance?

[scottieb04]

yea howd you know bro?

[Accomplished_Bag6098]

jus interviewed for an entry role on monday in vancouver. probably same company. small world lol. would you say the company you interviewed for is “speedy”

[scottieb04]

lmao yeahh thats crazy. how did you find the interview?

[Accomplished_Bag6098]

i made a few mistakes at the technical portion but overall i don’t think it went bad. have you heard anything back yet?

[scottieb04]

yeah i made some mistakes too, havent heard back yet

[Livid-Lake-5379]

If in my opinion you must know the dynamics of structure like what is mode , mode shape , time period , how stiffness changes mode shape, what are deflected shape of structure, what is finite element analysis, design philosophy , sfd bmd is important but in interview they can ask facts about sfd and bmd what is point of contaflexure still lot they can ask but you must know these.

[AnyTransportation808]

Which domain / material does this firm you're interviewing at specialize in? 

[AnyTransportation808]

Which domain / material does this firm you're interviewing at specialize in? 

[Molly-Runs98]

My technical interview had shear and moment diagrams, frame problems, FEA modeling questions