Top Alternative Careers for Civil and Structural Engineers
You might love your consulting job or your job at a contractor company and the many challenges that comes with it. OR you might want to explore other career paths. Whoever you might be, you might have thought about alternative careers for civil and structural engineering.
But you do not want to steer far away from civil and structural engineering, since it has become your passion. You accumulated a wealth of experience when you worked with structural designs, drawings, tender documentation, analysis and reporting, etc. You would not want to give that up just yet!
We have compiled a list of top alternative careers for civil and structural engineers who want to keep on applying their civil and structural engineering skills. These careers can help you develop additional skills that are different than what you get in a traditional consulting firm or contractor company. Ultimately, our goal in this post and in the Sturdy Structural blog is to help you maintain that drive and passion for civil and structural engineering... but with a twist!
But you do not want to steer far away from civil and structural engineering, since it has become your passion. You accumulated a wealth of experience when you worked with structural designs, drawings, tender documentation, analysis and reporting, etc. You would not want to give that up just yet!
We have compiled a list of top alternative careers for civil and structural engineers who want to keep on applying their civil and structural engineering skills. These careers can help you develop additional skills that are different than what you get in a traditional consulting firm or contractor company. Ultimately, our goal in this post and in the Sturdy Structural blog is to help you maintain that drive and passion for civil and structural engineering... but with a twist!
Forensic Engineering/Expert Witness
Source: http://www.walzermelcher.com/
Expert witnesses have a wealth of experience, knowledge, and certification, so that they can provide their own technical perspective about certain areas of a case. You can use your structural engineering skills and serve as an expert witness in a legal proceeding, appraisal hearing, deposition, or trial by providing your input in a construction case. You will not be doing the traditional design work, but you will be inspecting site conditions, backtracking documents, and implementing structural forensic assessments on what has led to the structural failure of your case. Causes of these failures can include design errors, miscommunication with the project team, poor project management, issues in construction methods, construction defects and deterioration, etc. From these case studies, you will then learn from construction mistakes and failures, remedial methods, and construction prevention techniques that can prevent costly claims and construction accidents.
For this job, you will have the opportunity to improve communication skills by providing testimonies, cross examining, and presenting findings in court proceedings. You will also be required to know about construction law and legal implications to provide quality advice for your attorney clients. You also will need to know about dispute resolution methods.
For this job, you will have the opportunity to improve communication skills by providing testimonies, cross examining, and presenting findings in court proceedings. You will also be required to know about construction law and legal implications to provide quality advice for your attorney clients. You also will need to know about dispute resolution methods.
Real Estate and Property Development
Real estate and property development is another great alternative career for civil and structural engineers. You can use your structural engineering skills to determine what types of construction projects are feasible, what sort of structural elements can be altered, why construction claims arise from structural designs, and what types of usage can be used in certain portions of the property. You can then use your structural engineering skills to manage the structural engineering consultants in the design teams.
Other than structural engineering skills, you will need to know about general real estate development techniques, such as land acquisition, real estate financing, liabilities, insurance, risk assessment, project management, project scheduling, budgeting, real estate valuation, contractual implications, sales or leases of property, etc.
Other than structural engineering skills, you will need to know about general real estate development techniques, such as land acquisition, real estate financing, liabilities, insurance, risk assessment, project management, project scheduling, budgeting, real estate valuation, contractual implications, sales or leases of property, etc.
Software
Source: tekraglobalconcepts.com/
There is currently a lot of demand for structural engineering software applications. Nowadays, many design and analysis procedures are automated and are in a fully integrated software package, such as software for finite element analysis, dynamic analysis etc. Users can effectively communicate their designs, produce accurate results, and improve workflow using computerized models. Other software, such as software for inspection and monitoring and software for construction management are also in great demand. Moreover, some structural engineering software can be used in the cloud. Having an alternative career in developing structural engineering software applications might be a smart move.
It is common to have software developers develop these software, so you do not need to know advanced I.T. skills. However, you should know some basics, such as basic programming language (i.e. C, C++, Java, Python), process in software development, testing and debugging codes, operation and maintenance, process improvement, etc.
Your structural engineering skills can be used in this lucrative industry, since you will be providing your knowledge of structural engineering principles into the software. Some examples of structural engineering software that we recommend include VCMaster, Pensolve, and CHECKPOLE.
It is common to have software developers develop these software, so you do not need to know advanced I.T. skills. However, you should know some basics, such as basic programming language (i.e. C, C++, Java, Python), process in software development, testing and debugging codes, operation and maintenance, process improvement, etc.
Your structural engineering skills can be used in this lucrative industry, since you will be providing your knowledge of structural engineering principles into the software. Some examples of structural engineering software that we recommend include VCMaster, Pensolve, and CHECKPOLE.
Technical sales and marketing
Source: www.sreesaiagencies.com
You can also choose technical sales and marketing as your alternative career for structural engineering. Sales engineers are marketers who have a deep understanding about their technical products and their client’s needs. Sales engineers in the field of structural engineering can market construction materials, structural engineering software, green products, fireproofing, etc. You will need to apply your structural engineering knowledge in this profession as you will need to understand the technical features of your structural engineering product.
In addition to structural engineering skills, communication and presentation techniques will also needed as you will be pitching your products to customers in your sales visits, trade exhibitions, demonstrations, and product training sessions. Sales and interpersonal techniques will help you in the long run as you need to interpret your client’s requirements, answer product questions, develop customer satisfaction, develop new businesses, and maintaining long term relationships with existing clients. In order to optimize your sales, you will also need to know order management, terms negotiation, sales proposals, sales performance report preparations, etc.
In addition to structural engineering skills, communication and presentation techniques will also needed as you will be pitching your products to customers in your sales visits, trade exhibitions, demonstrations, and product training sessions. Sales and interpersonal techniques will help you in the long run as you need to interpret your client’s requirements, answer product questions, develop customer satisfaction, develop new businesses, and maintaining long term relationships with existing clients. In order to optimize your sales, you will also need to know order management, terms negotiation, sales proposals, sales performance report preparations, etc.
Sustainability
More and more developers strive to use construction resources more effectively for increasing lifecycle value and for cost saving concerns. Since this is such an in demand industry, this is another great alternative career for structural engineering.
There are many positions for this industry. You can be an environmental advisor, assessor for environmental certification (LEED, BEAM PRO, BREEAM, etc), environmental specialist, etc. Inspecting and monitoring for sustainable construction practices, conducting lifecycle assessments, and practicing sustainability are often part of the job description. You will also need to have knowledge in identifying key environmental issues, determining renewable energy opportunities, managing demolition waste, managing noise and pollution, implementing waste water treatment, etc. Green materials are especially essential in this industry. You can read more about sustainable materials here.
If you want to get started in this industry, you can actually practice sustainability in a consulting and contractor firm by assessing designs for structural optimization, improving lifecycle by using performance-based design, designing for future modifications and retrofitting, etc. OR you can steer away from consulting firms and contractor companies by going to a firm that specializes in sustainable practices.
Are there are other alternative careers for structural engineers that we missed? What are some innovative ways that structural engineers can contribute their skills?
There are many positions for this industry. You can be an environmental advisor, assessor for environmental certification (LEED, BEAM PRO, BREEAM, etc), environmental specialist, etc. Inspecting and monitoring for sustainable construction practices, conducting lifecycle assessments, and practicing sustainability are often part of the job description. You will also need to have knowledge in identifying key environmental issues, determining renewable energy opportunities, managing demolition waste, managing noise and pollution, implementing waste water treatment, etc. Green materials are especially essential in this industry. You can read more about sustainable materials here.
If you want to get started in this industry, you can actually practice sustainability in a consulting and contractor firm by assessing designs for structural optimization, improving lifecycle by using performance-based design, designing for future modifications and retrofitting, etc. OR you can steer away from consulting firms and contractor companies by going to a firm that specializes in sustainable practices.
Are there are other alternative careers for structural engineers that we missed? What are some innovative ways that structural engineers can contribute their skills?
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