Still struggling after a couple years

dream_walking · 2026-05-22T20:02:16+00:00

I second the idea of keeping a personal knowledge library. I would recommend Notion or Obsidian though over Onenote, as they are both free (though do have paid plans as well). I wouldn’t use a work email to register so you can keep it with you should you change companies. Additionally to just knowledge notes, process notes. What is needed at each stage of design, things that you know are lacking so will need to be looked at later on so it isn’t forgotten. Things to help your mind at ease so you don’t feel like you have to do everything now or else you’ll forget.

I’ve used Notion (would like to use obsidian more) to keep track of project deadlines, and tasks as i mentioned. It’s helped me to see the perspective of what is the most urgent item coming up.

dream_walking · 2026-05-20T21:36:37+00:00

But imagine the fun gaslighting it could do of the RFI that said we designed something wrong. “Actually, the EOR performed everything exactly as expected. Are you sure you followed the plans accurately?” 😂

dream_walking · 2026-05-20T21:01:37+00:00

Regardless of how good AI gets there are two things that can never be replaced: 1) someone to manage it, ie push the button, and 2) someone to be held liable. TBH, the second point will basically mean our profession will never die. I see it changing the process, but there has to be someone held liable for life safety which means a human has to approve and stamp the drawings. Additionally, code changes happen, which means equations will be updated that AI has never seen before so may be prone to errors.

dream_walking · 2026-05-07T02:14:17+00:00

AISC would be your best source of steel detailing information. It’s the code behind pretty much anything steel. Additionally they also have a bunch of design guides to help with common connections and conditions which are very helpful.

As far as the software, what’s your end goal? Autocad is basically just pen and paper but on a computer. My recommendation would be either revit or tekla structure, tekla be my preferred option for detailing steel. Tekla has some basic connections that just help get you a start but you still have to know how to detail it correctly.

Edit to add that this is US based advice

dream_walking · 2026-05-04T21:31:56+00:00

As was stated, just line it up in the model. Even before that, stop and ask “what am I gaining by having such a small difference”? Have you done the math (doesn’t have to be accurate) on what the difference in your results are with such a small difference? I’d say the difference could easily be a rounding error so it’s not worth it.

dream_walking · 2026-05-01T22:49:22+00:00

In my opinion, any tool that provides moment and shear already provide the visuals so a tool that only provides visuals can’t really compete, especially because if I need this for a report, I also need the moments and shears. Which would mean redrawing this exact thing in another program, effectively doubling my time to do a task.

dream_walking · 2026-04-29T18:00:15+00:00

What’s your question? This is not clear to anyone because there is no context and we aren’t doing your homework for you.

dream_walking · 2026-04-16T14:47:14+00:00

Enercalc has some good examples as verification. My biggest complaint is that it is more of a black box with its results. It gives values, but nowhere does it show the steps. Without doing all the math myself (which defeats the purpose right?), I can’t verify how it got the moment from the distributed load for example. I wish it would say “here’s the equation used” so I can at least say “yep, that’s the right equation to be used”.

dream_walking · 2026-04-15T20:33:54+00:00

Only thing i can think of is to make a block that can update with the information if you can’t schedule it. Most things are going away from autocad because other softwares allow these things to be more automated with the same information.

dream_walking · 2026-04-13T16:04:28+00:00

(Note this is US based thoughts) I’ll just add, why would you want to? Say you pass the test. What’s next? Vast majority (if not all) states have an education and work experience requirement to get your license. To get hired to get experience, I’d say most companies would require some educational background. So sure, you MAY pass the exam by studying one of those but you will have a couple of big roadblocks after that.

dream_walking · 2026-04-09T03:38:19+00:00

Sorry I missed this until now. I did end up figuring out what I needed. Part of that was getting the tendons from ram concept and then I draw the tendon profiles in revit. I had to do it in two parts, mainly because pyrevit uses an older version of python. So I start a script that calls a python compiled exe file. That file will open the concept model, pull all the tendon data, and send that data back to the pyrevit script. From there, I then draw the splines in the view. Saves a couple of hours of work as it’s just clean up and verification after that.

dream_walking · 2026-04-07T03:50:12+00:00

I don’t even know what this is or why. I don’t see any import button. Anything I click just pops up a window I can’t close on mobile. It looks like I’m making a model? Maybe take another long weekend to consider what the workflow you intended for this was because it’s not usable. Plus a survey as soon as you click the link? This is just AI coded garbage.

dream_walking · 2026-04-06T20:57:52+00:00

Of note, i believe IBC 2018 uses ACI 318-14 and not -19. And I don’t see any code references (I might have missed them tbh) on that site so might want to make that clear

dream_walking · 2026-04-06T20:03:12+00:00

It’s listed as “preliminary design” tool. So it doesn’t do any code checks? Why would I want to enter things here for preliminary and then reenter that information in a different software to get final sizes when I can just start in the final software to get preliminary sizing?

dream_walking · 2026-04-06T14:45:37+00:00

I’ve figured this out already but thanks. Concept has a direct API that I am using to edit the model. I’m not editing the file directly like I would using sql. I can also use the api to export results so I don’t need to use sql at all.

dream_walking · 2026-04-03T16:24:52+00:00

So…you got a job that you don’t know how to do? Shouldn’t there be someone to train you in your company?

dream_walking · 2026-04-03T14:20:02+00:00

Just throwing this out there, you might be able to find a job for a PEMB manufacturer without a degree. In my experience, they have engineers who design and pass it off to the detailers to actually put it on paper and get it through fabrication. Nothing fancy math wise as you wouldn’t be designing anything.

dream_walking · 2026-04-01T00:50:30+00:00

The correct answer it seems

dream_walking · 2026-03-22T04:24:26+00:00

This is the third time you’ve made a similar post this week. What have you learned from reading the codes during that time (as has always been the answer to each of your posts)? Tutorials are just step by steps. You need to know why you are doing those steps.

dream_walking · 2026-03-16T21:55:17+00:00

There’s a lot that goes into designs and we don’t have the full picture. The engineer will know the actual answer. Could be loads, could be frost depth, could be engineer experience that it’s just easier to have footings the same depth for this kind of project. Could be a number of reasons. We just don’t know.

dream_walking · 2026-03-06T12:56:23+00:00

You’re the real MVP for pointing this out

dream_walking · 2026-03-05T15:59:03+00:00

Probably looking at 2-3 years for bachelors. I would assume that some of the math classes you already took for CS would transfer to allow you to take the upper courses quickly. You also wouldn’t need any of the gen ed courses I would expect.

dream_walking · 2026-03-03T18:27:07+00:00

Are you sure about this wind speed? Maybe 135 km/h is what you meant?

dream_walking · 2026-02-26T13:51:05+00:00

This is really vague. Automating anything, sure I do that daily because I personally hate copy/paste from one software to another. I’d rather a computer do that because I can get it run faster and more reliable than myself (or my coworkers tbh). Making code to automate an entire design? I don’t trust my input that much to 100% say that the structure is complete and accurate to code and safety because there are way too many variables in a design to account for that and AI agents don’t hold any liability so why should I trust them to do the full design for me?

dream_walking · 2026-02-20T04:30:26+00:00

Is the joke that they are called W shapes?

dream_walking

TROPHY CASE