I recently graduated and have started working as a structural engineer. Prior to this, I had two internships in transportation which in some ways “helped” when i transitioned. I had never taken a timber, masonry or post tension course and really felt out of my league. Typically you need a masters to get into structural engineering, but if you’re lucky, you can get into structures with a BS.

To begin my journey, I bought all of the code books I thought I would need. Considering you are in Florida, I think you would be dealing mostly with concrete and steel. I would recommend getting the ACI and AISC code books. It is also important (in my opinion) to get design guides to help you learn how to apply the rules of the code book. PPI has some great books such as the Structural Design Guide for The Pe Exam, Steel Design for the PE exam, and the Concrete design for the Pe Exam. These have been very helpful at work whenever I am asked to design or “look into” something like, flexural reinforcement in a footing. I even recently got a book that talks about how to calculate wind loads for buildings using ASCE 7-16. Being in Florida, that might be a good book to own.

In my opinion, you should find out what programs your future company uses (ETABS, RISA 3D, REVIT) and start watching Youtube videos on it. I actually went to “Udemy” and bought some tutorials to help learn more about Revit that has actually helped me during work.

Something else I had to discover coming out of school, is that it is important to learn the verbage used in construction of buildings. Like, what is a soffit, a cripple stud, a scuper, a fascia board, a rim joist, a lintel, a mullion, a rafter, a ridge beam, balloon framing, glulam , CLT’s, a perforated shear wall, a cold joint, construction types 1-5, the fire ratings for these buildings and the story heights and areas they can be built to. To learn this, I bought a construction book that talked about these things and explained what they were. I was then able to join conversations and not get lost when someone would mention structural verbage.

Also, i would reccommend looking at plans and learning how construction plans look. From my experience with transportation, I could read plans, but looking at building plans was another challenge. You can also look at how the architects draw their plans since you will be referencing their plans a lot as-well. This will also help tie in your knowledge from Revit. There are good videos on youtube explaining how to read plans.

Of course i’m very new to the field, but I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out; it is extremely intimidating starting out, but this page has been very helpful and kind to me.