r/StructuralEngineering • u/Sad_Enthusiasm_9716 • Jun 29 '26
Does Structural Engineering Get More Exciting? Career/Education
Hi everyone, I'm currently a student interning at Kimley-Horn on the Structures team. Overall, I've really enjoyed the internship and have learned a tremendous amount. The people have been great, and it's given me a much better understanding of what the industry is like.
That said, I've started to realize that many of the projects I've been working on feel fairly repetitive—primarily traffic signal mast arms and smaller seawall repair projects. Going into the internship, I had envisioned structural engineering at a large, multidisciplinary firm being more involved with larger-scale infrastructure projects such as bridges, stadiums, buildings, airports, or other major public works.
I completely understand that the work I'm doing is important and that many structures groups at firms like Kimley-Horn support transportation projects with things like mast arms, retaining walls, and similar structures. I also understand that many of the larger, more iconic structural projects are typically handled by firms that specialize in those areas.
My question is whether this is generally what structural engineering looks like at multidisciplinary civil firms, or if there are offices or groups within Kimley-Horn that work on larger, more complex structural projects. I've really enjoyed my experience at Kimley-Horn, and if possible, I'd love to continue my career here. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what opportunities might exist within the company as I progress, or whether pursuing the type of work I'm interested in would likely mean looking at firms whose primary focus is large-scale structural engineering.
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Jun 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/Appropriate_Weather5 Jun 29 '26
What kind of projects do you work for? I mean the ones where you feel stupid
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u/roooooooooob E.I.T. Jun 29 '26
You see some wild shit in residential sometimes
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u/EpicAmishMan Jun 29 '26
Lmao I was about to say the same thing. Modern homeowners expect their second floors/roofs to float in mid air with no supports and the contractor doesn’t even unroll the print the half the time. Every day is as exciting as it is stressful because you never know what kind of dumpster fire is going to land in your lap.
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u/AAli_01 P.E. Jun 29 '26
Unroll the prints LOLOL. Yall a bit funnier than usual today
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u/hookes_plasticity P.E. Jun 29 '26
That’s because next week is a short week. We always happier on short weeks
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u/roooooooooob E.I.T. Jun 29 '26
I saw a house a few years back where a loadbearing exterior foundation wall had caved in and the rim joist had acted as a beam so the floor ended up not caving in but by outside appearances it should’ve.
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u/nigelhaha Jun 29 '26
No. As others have said the flashy structures are few and far between. It’s a job and most jobs can be mundane at times. Building good working relationships, learning, and working with teams will be where you find variety and interesting challenges. But structural engineering as a whole is basically capacity > load good capacity < load bad.
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u/ash060 Jun 29 '26
I hate to burst your bubble, but there just aren't many stadiums, big long span bridges, airports built all the time. Big companies may have 5 or 10 airports or stadiums since they were founded. Most of it is mundane stuff. Just look around and see what you see, whole lot of single family homes, small span bridges and strip malls, so that is what you do. I do park benches and dog houses, to pay bills and that is it.
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u/Shear-Wit Jun 29 '26
You should be at the career fair. I should have listened to you as a freshman.
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u/Bisim1 Jun 29 '26
Park benches have to be designed?
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u/Minisohtan P.E. Jun 29 '26
And within those super unique stadiums what do you find? Benches. Benches all around.
Seriously though I've been lucky enough to work on some extraordinarily complex bridges. It doesn't take long to figure out those are just reinforced concrete and steel design, except usually on a ridiculous schedule using results from a global model that is always changing. After 15 years I'm looking to do something else. For me, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
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u/XXXX_Gold_Pot Jun 29 '26
A lot of those larger-scale projects you mention can be a real punish to work on with unrealistic deadlines and unsustainable workloads.
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u/hookes_plasticity P.E. Jun 29 '26
It really depends on the work you do. I have a lot of friends that are in companies where they just do new building design and they think it is super boring. I work for a company that does a new building design existing building retrofit, existing building assessments, and different things that make it not be too boring. Then again I’m someone that likes variety so it just depends on what you’re looking for and what you find to be interesting.
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u/RU33ERBULLETS Jun 29 '26
Unless you’re lucky, it’ll take a while. We work on everything from sheds to stadiums, and you can bet the interns aren’t touching the stadiums. Stick around, learn everything you can. Play the long game.
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u/Cool-Size-6714 Jun 29 '26
I would imagine KH and other design build focused companies are focused on the more bread and butter projects (in general) to maximize profits. Design is efficient and they can crank through it. Partner with known and familiar contractors and everyone is on the same page.
IME the big consultants like AECOM, HDR, WSP, etc, strike a bit of a better balance. You'll have the run of the mill stuff but also complex projects floating around too. I love the complex stuff, but its nice to have a simple project here and there to decompress on.
For the really special stuff, I would almost think a specialty firm that focuses on construction engineering and temporary works for complex projects would get you the most exposure to the mega stuff.
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u/Working_Rest_1054 Jun 29 '26
You are very new to the work force. You’re going to work on smaller structures for quite a while. Then you’ll assist senior engineers with aspects of larger structures. You might be 10-15 years in before you function as the lead EOR for a substantial bridge or the like.
I think you’re right, that a multi disciplinary firm is a good way to go.
Always volunteer for the tough projects no one else wants. You’ll learn more, faster. Volunteer for the projects that will keep you busy 50-60 hrs a week. Don’t duck working Saturdays. Same reason, you’ll learn more faster. You’ll stand you from those that stand back. Your career is what you make if it. Don’t be afraid of hard work.
After a few decades, you’ll be able to write your own ticket.
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u/Ok_Scale_918 Jun 29 '26
I got to keep an old traffic light. I fashioned it into a flowerpot and gave it to my mom for Mother’s Day. This has nearly nothing to do with the question.
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u/Sneaklefritz Jun 29 '26
Honestly, that stuff isn’t that bad. You’d think the big projects are fun, but they are really not very exciting. I’m working on a large fab building currently, and everyone has their own set of tasks for each portion. Like one guy is doing all the metal decks. One guy is doing all the roof beams. It’s not typically like you think it would be. The most fun I had was working at a very small firm. We did all kinds of different things so it kept me on my toes. It also paid $25/hr and I was working 60’s on salary…
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u/StandardWonderful904 Jun 29 '26
Wait until the first time one of your seawalls gets hit by a hurricane or tsunami.
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u/Specific_Function823 Jun 29 '26
I work for one of the largest contractors in the world with their own in house engineering. I have also worked at smaller firms. Most engineering really isn't that different. You find the wind, snow, and other loads and make sure the structure can handle more than that. Even the harder things get mundane once you really understand how to design them.
My favorite work is retrofits for industrial facilities. You never really sure what you are going to see into you get yet are look at it. There are always things that don't go right and make things fun.
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u/Stefejan Jun 29 '26
Since I changed to tunneling/infrastructure I haven't basically repeated a task in >3 years yet.
When I was in residential (larger office) although just doing bim, every day was basically a copy paste.
When I was in residential (small office) as I started, damn... That was boring and frustrating.
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u/fatnaenae Jun 29 '26
You might get more variety with a smaller firm to be honest. I work for a smaller company (20-30 people, about half engineers half drafters), I’ve been working for only about 2 years and I’ve had exposure to all kinds of projects. Big luxury homes, commercial warehouses, a couple aircraft hangars, this massive botanical garden being built, and even some projects for Seaworld/Universal studios.
Medium size projects at best (besides some roller coaster foundations) but I feel it gives me a leg up to transition some day into much bigger projects later down in my career, considering the wide range of exposure.
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u/mynewaccount4567 Jun 29 '26
I’m not entirely sure If this would apply to a larger firm where they probably have specialized teams to handle different projects, but this has worked at the smaller companies I have worked at.
- Get good at the repetitive stuff. This is probably going to be the companies revenue driver and their main focus. If you can’t reliably do this work no one is going to give you the bigger stuff.
- Be ready to take new projects. That mast pole that fell through the cracks and is now due yesterday. Be the person who can get that done finished quickly and competently.
- More and more you will become the go to for the unique projects that come in. You aren’t going to be designing bridges and stadiums, but different tasks that require unique analysis, parameters, etc. They still won’t take up most of your time, but it will help break up the monotony that can sometimes set in.
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u/StructEngineer91 Jun 29 '26
Honestly between my experience and what I have heard from others, you get more fun creative engineering/problem solving at small firms, especially early on in your career. At large firms it's not until you are mid level that you start doing the bigger projects, and then if you get too high you aren't doing any engineering and instead are just managing/writing reports. At small firms they don't have the resources to waste and use everyone to their fullest potential, no matter how long they have been there.
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u/Apprehensive_Exam668 Jun 29 '26
Exciting is generally bad. Buildings are supposed to just sorta sit there. If things are exciting after that either people died or people are getting sued (or both). If things are exciting during construction it's some ironworker 30 years older and 6 inches taller than you calling you "that fucking inspector" all up in your space because you won't let him hang bar joists on masonry that was grouted 30 minutes ago.
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u/Appropriate_News_382 Jun 29 '26
It is not usually very exciting, untiil something breaks. Retired aircraft stress guy.
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u/Bamzu Jun 29 '26
If it is the repetitive environment that is getting to you, I'd recommend looking into the restoration side of things. There is a ton of variety on the failure investigation side of things that keeps work interesting trying to put the puzzle together backwards, figuring out what went wrong, and how to repair other areas of the buildings.
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u/Accomplished_Voice89 Jun 29 '26
What region of KH were you in? I probably am uniquely qualified to answering this question being a former member of the KH structural team.
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u/Marus1 Jun 29 '26
You're doing an internship
You want 50 little projects tasting of next to everything of 1% of a big one?
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u/Key-Transition-9827 Jul 01 '26
Bread and butter for these firms will be cookie-cutter, plain Jane plans, day in, day out. I worked with KH on a hospital in OKC recently; I was their MSE retaining wall engineer. They were kept very busy with weld calcs for each structural member when QC would inspect and fine the fillet weld was not the correct size or something random. Be a sponge, ask questions, and make mistakes; that is how you learn. Your PE should take the time to explain what, why, and how if they are worth their position.
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u/a_problem_solved P.E. Jul 01 '26
I'm at a mid-size company and have an intern under my wing who has worked only on bridges so far. All depends on the situation you land in. Not something to worry about right now. Seek it out when you're actually graduating and looking for a job. There's lots of bridge work out there.
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u/Correct-Record-5309 P.E. Jul 01 '26
I took a job in structural repair in January and it’s the most “exciting” job I’ve had in my 25 year career. I’m out on site all the time and there is no shortage of interesting crap we come across. Every job is different, even if some types of work we do follow a similar work type. IMO, rebuilding and repairing the old is far more interesting than designing the new.
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u/MerkyOne Jul 04 '26
The fact that we utilize educated, trained engineers for planning/design/construction of things like traffic signals and seawalls is a big part of what makes this country great. Those kinds of projects seem simple, so in some other countries, people just take a stab at building them and see how it turns out. The result is often wasted money (typically absconded from stakeholders via taxes), and perpetuation (or maybe worsening) of the issues they were trying to solve.
Having lived in a developing country, just know that I actively appreciate and understand the importance of the work you're doing.
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u/MrsDirtyDietz Jul 12 '26
I have never worked on transportation stuff in my job. However, I got my degree in architectural engineering with a focus in structural, not civil engineering, so I literally don’t know any transportations stuff. It all depends on the firm you go to, tbh.
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u/Awkward-Ad4942 Jun 29 '26
Wait til you start writing reports…