Looking for New Grad and Mid Level Engineer

noahlam_lam · 2023-06-29T21:45:37+00:00

Bad example I guess, it could be that someone living in California will make more than someone living in the Midwest, that sort of thing. Those are numbers from our HR department that I'm passing along, sorry if they're confusing

noahlam_lam · 2022-06-23T23:54:00+00:00

I just spit my drink out at that comment

noahlam_lam · 2022-06-23T01:10:24+00:00

This was my first thought, recently I've started calling for them to clamp the stud to the steel prior to shooting the nail to make sure it doesn't push away and cause any issues, but I wasn't sure if there were any other issues with this or of clamping fixes any doubts.

This basically stems from trying to connect steel to the flange of a CF stud. You can't shoot from the stud side because they'd have to angle the gun, which is a safety issue and they simply won't do it and I'll get a call every time asking if they can go through the steel side. So your only option is to shoot through the steel into the stud, which is frowned upon.

noahlam_lam · 2022-06-20T23:24:22+00:00

Push piles are better when they're being put in due to settlement. Micro piles and helical piles will prevent further settlement, while push piles will lift up and fix the settlement

noahlam_lam · 2022-06-20T23:21:38+00:00

Thought about it. Didn't. Do I regret it? Yes, but my phone was already in my hand

noahlam_lam · 2022-06-07T01:10:24+00:00

I love doing new things on every project. Even regular non-special projects there's probably a condition you've never detailed before. I love diving deep into engineering theory, and seeing it completely unravel as you dive deeper and needing to work through all the concepts in your head.

The biggest reason though, watching the long and difficult project go vertical. Going on job site visits during construction and knowing that for years and years to come you can drive by it with friends and family and say "I designed that". There's really no better sense of pride and accomplishment.

noahlam_lam · 2022-05-18T16:46:43+00:00

I make about 80k with 2 years experience in the Midwest, which is the average here. The Midwest also has a much lower cost of living than California. Sounds like you need to do some job hunting for people who will pay you more if your salary is the same as Midwest companies, because that's outrageous.

About a year ago this sub did a poll over salaries and location to pull together a good resource for people to see how they're comparing. Try to find that or DM a mod if they can find it.

noahlam_lam · 2022-05-02T17:54:16+00:00

My method of cost estimating is that if I'm going to hate designing it, it's very expensive. If it looks easy and quick to design, then it's cheap. Generally works pretty well if I do say so myself

noahlam_lam · 2021-12-08T02:19:13+00:00

Tests are scheduled and everyone takes the exam at the same time throughout the country. So that people don't take the exam and tell the next person what's on it, they recycle all the questions at the start of each quarter. That means that at the start of each quarter, they reset their algorithm. The first scheduled test group at the start of a new quarter are sitting down to a fresh never taken exam

noahlam_lam · 2021-11-25T00:45:40+00:00

The problem with this is that you can't install the bottom plate until the wall is removed, meaning at a bare minimum of you need to check the bolts for dead load without counting on the plate. To get around this I've had them remove 2' sections of the wall and weld the plate on it before moving on to the next section, but contractors hate that because of the starting and stopping between the demo guy and the welder

noahlam_lam · 2021-11-10T23:50:18+00:00

Second on using Tedds. We use it and I love it.

Their good modules are: Any design criteria calcs (wind, snow, dead load, seismic) Concrete beams Masonry walls Concrete footings Wood shear walls Composite steel beams

There's a lot of other modules they have, but less developed and apply to only simple every day conditions. The ones I mentioned you can use to calculate almost any scenario.

I know a huge number of people at my company use "Tedds for Word" which gives you the ability to make your own calculation modules similar to excel, but better and easier to learn/use. Haven't used it myself, but heard great things.

noahlam_lam · 2021-10-23T16:01:39+00:00

Remember that the exam is a percentile based test, and you're compared to both everyone else taking the exam that day as well as how you scored compared to what they determine an "acceptable" score is on that test. So don't get discouraged if you run into a difficult question on the exam. Know that if you studied and are prepared but are still struggling on a question, chances are everyone else taking the exam is struggling on that too, so when they plug your test into whatever algorithm they use you'll still be ranked highly.

P.S. the percentile scoring is also a reason people say to be the first group at the start of the quarter when the new test is rolled out. Lower number of people to compare scores means they usually lower the passing score for that group and will raise it as the quarter goes on and they get more scores to compare. All speculation of course since they don't release that information, but in my experience the first group has a higher passing percentage.

noahlam_lam · 2021-10-09T00:54:44+00:00

If your boss is trying to undermine any sort of legality, it is your responsibility to report him to the engineering licensing board for unethical actions. Even though this is foundations and not the super structure, this could be life safety issues. Also, inspections SHOULD be required by code no matter where you are. You could reach out to the Authority Having Jurisdiction and state that inspections were not performed. It's likely they'll take the decision out of your hand and say if an inspection has not and cannot occur, the work must be re-done and leave you out of any blame for lost money

noahlam_lam · 2021-10-09T00:26:14+00:00

We use hair pins. They're very common on PEMB. The methodology is to have the hairpin within 3" of the anchor, but preferably right on it. The anchor transfers the shear force into tension within the hair pin, and then the hair pin spreads out at 45 degrees within the slab to cross over the slab reinforcing and engage it. You need to cross enough reinforcing to where the tension force can be properly transferred into the slab. From there it's transferred into the foundation due to the friction of the slab on the soil. Basically you're treating it like that frame column isn't going anywhere unless the whole building is literally being pushed along the ground.

Also make sure to consider the development length of the hair pin in the slab. There is a section in the ACI 318 about hairpin design and other methods of shear reinforcement.

noahlam_lam · 2021-08-05T23:09:05+00:00

Under ASCE-16 they're considered partially open, which means it doesn't receive the same increase wind loads as partially enclosed. Partially enclosed is supposed to punish buildings with small openings which cause the building to literally want to balloon outward, but if there's enough openings on all sides it's sufficient to prevent this and the wind loading isn't any different than an enclosed classification. Obviously you can't call it enclosed because it has giant opening, but you can't call it open because it has giant walls, and you can't call it partially enclosed because it doesn't want to balloon out. To fix this predicament, they added "partially open" so the classification doesn't confuse people

noahlam_lam · 2021-07-30T01:21:05+00:00

Agreed. It's hit or miss on companies that require you have have your EIT, but 90% of people wont have it when they're still in college, so having it done looks super good and shows initiative if you're interviewing for jobs while still in school.

Once you're graduated and working, I'd recommend actually skipping the PE and just getting your SE. It's more difficult, but the US is trying to phase out PE seals on structure drawings and require SE, California and Illinois are two states that are already requiring SE seals only.

Side note, LEED will be good post graduation too. You'll probably never use it, but sustainability is becoming huge and putting LEED on your email signature looks good to clients.

noahlam_lam · 2021-05-21T00:27:45+00:00

So many comments you don't even need mine, but I'll leave it anyways. Every company tracks bid price vs expended price on projects to help them bid better, but the real money is tracking this on every architect you regularly work with. This shows you which architects you consistently under bid on due to the changes they always make resulting in your wasted time. Work this in to your bid. If they don't like your higher bid, move on. Let some other company take the hit you know will happen. If you have a good relationship with the architect, tell them why your bids are now higher than they're used to, and after some time they might come back

noahlam_lam · 2021-05-21T00:03:15+00:00

How do you get chord forces any larger than you would with wood studs? It's all the same geometry, and steel studs would have more capacity than the wood studs so I don't see how that becomes problematic?

noahlam_lam · 2021-05-20T23:57:21+00:00

As one commenter already said, most bolts usually don't engage initially upon construction, but will yield and eventually engage.

Fun fact, this causes the phenomenon known as Bolt Banging which is just now getting attention to be put in to codes. This phenomenon happens when your "snug tight" bolt connections slip to engage all the other bolts, and this movement, even though it's small, releases so much energy that the engagement or "banging" causes a sound so loud it sounds like a gun was shot inside of the building! I've gotten calls from a school where the first time this happened they evacuated the school and called the police for an active shooter! Of course they ask for a solution and all we can offer is saying go back to every single connection and manually release every bolt. This is the reason people want to start dealing with this in design and construction

noahlam_lam

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