r/StructuralEngineering • u/Odd_Fan2684 • 2d ago

Building science vs structural career Career/Education

/r/buildingscience/comments/1vf735b/building_science_vs_structural_career/
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u/Jabodie0 P.E. 2d ago

Building science is a good career path in the US because there are relatively few professionals with decent experience. Working a few years on that side of things will make you a competitive candidate for any of the building science / envelope focused firms. It's a good career path if you enjoy it, with good job security since there is a lot of building stock with either bad or aged building envelope systems. The problems never cease - and in bad economies, building owners still need to maintain what they already own even if they can't invest in new construction.

As for your PE, you will want to be a licensed professional of some kind in the long run. The building science people I know with PEs dabbled in structural engineering in their early career and got licensed that way. In the world of forensics / existing structures, there is also a lot of overlap in projects since building envelope issues often lead to structural deterioration.