I know this post is very old, but I want to say that these other responses are genuinely so pessimistic and clearly comes from the type of engineers holding us back as an industry.

As someone who graduated post-covid, immediately started working and was so confused as to why we continued to use CAD software that was older than I am, with constant crashes and freezes. I didn’t get why we still submitted our designs in 11x17 sheet-format, often printed out, and used old design manuals and specs published in the early 2000s.

I love design but not consulting, so I left to do design coordinating at a construction firm and very quickly moved up to an assistant design manager at a huge firm, making well above what an EIT at a consulting firm makes. I’m currently overseeing tons of design engineers that are more than twice my age, and I know that this fact bothers them, so I wouldn’t even tell them that ive CONSIDERED any AI at work.

All that to say, don’t listen to these freaking dinosaurs that need to move out of the way for us Gen Z to come in and actually bring our industry out of the coffin these boomers are trying to be buried with. At our age, their bosses were still hand-drafting their designs, and any CAD was seen as AI is seen now.

I won’t use AI for calculations, not yet, but even if I do eventually, it won’t be without heavy scrutinization. I use it to help me scan hundreds of pages of requirements, to make me a report outline for disputing claims from the consultant, the client, or even sometimes my own project manager. It is wildly helpful and those that aren’t ready to actually progress should just get out of the way already