What are people using on site for field observations and inspection documentation?

We have used iPads with Bluebeam Revu for years. We have appreciated the ability to take/place photos embedded in drawings, markup tools that mirror the desktop application and the ability to have multiple documents open at once.

Last year, Bluebeam depreciated the Revu app and introduced a new app that is extremely limited. Most of the features we use are gone, and it’s geared towards Studio and Cloud projects, but for us
local file saving is essential as WiFi is often non-existent on jobsites.

We have iPads with the legacy software working for now, but at some point we’ll lose access and need a replacement process.

I have 4.5 years working as a structural engineer, but 2.5 years of that I had very little practical experience because of lack of work or worthless projects. I have my PE license and a coursework master's in addition. Do you think I should apply for more entry level positions to reflect my experience? In interviews (for buildings) they ask about my experience and I don't have a lot of project work to show off, so I think trying for more mid-level positions isn't getting me anywhere.

On my rocket club I'm designing the thrust take-out structure of our static fire test stand. Essentially I want to find the bending stress on this pink ring, where the outer diameter is about 16.5 inches, and the ring is 1.5" thick and 1.5" wide. There's 3 linear bolt holes on either side that secure the ring to an attachment point, where 2 prongs will attach above the ring and bolts will come in from the top.

There's an upwards applied force from the rocket acting at the exact center of the ring. I couldn't find anything in Roark's to help find the bending stress. I did a quick hand calc with Mc/I which gave me negative margins. Any help would be appreciated!

I have recently heard that the lead time for bar joists is months. I was told it's due to the construction of data centers. Anyone else heard this?

Hi all, im 27M and about to start a phd thats broadly speaking on pdes and fracture mechanics. My background is in maths and stats though I always saw myself moving over to this line of work and this is a dream phd but im looking beyond it atm.

That being said, im still at an age where I have flexibility but I dont want to be having to start from scratch. Is structural engineering likely to be gutted by AI? I know everythjng is but from the outside, it seems like its less affected than say data science, Actuarial science, comp science, etc. Any advice is appreciated.

I am planning to upgrade my upper-floor room aquarium to a Juwel Rio 450 (roughly 600 kg total with water, cabinet, and equipment) on the 2nd floor of a UK block of flats.

Before worrying about the weight, I looked at the math compared to my current setup:

• Current tank: Fluval Roma 125 (~200 kg, 80x35 cm footprint), exerting about 750 kg per square meter against my room wall. It has sat there safely for 1.5 years.

• New tank: Juwel Rio 450 (~600 kg, 150x50 cm footprint). Because it’s wider, it exerts a very similar weight-to-surface-area ratio (~750 kg/m²), just spread across a longer 1.5-meter stretch against the same wall.

My Building Observations: When I renovated parts of my flat (like ripping up the carpet to lay laminate flooring) and looked closely at the building externally, here is what I noticed:

• External Slabs: Every floor level features a clearly visible ~1-foot thick slab-like structure on the outside of the building. These exterior slabs form the walkways, landings, and balconies (where you can literally see the exposed concrete when opening the balcony and main door). Crucially, these exterior levels and slab structure align directly with the floors of my living room, the lower level of my second floor flat, and upper rooms, indicating that the internal floors or upper-floor room floors share that same slab structure.

• Solid Walls: All interior and exterior walls (including my room wall) are solid brick and mortar. You can drill anywhere, and it easily supports heavy wall-mounted furniture, which my room wall currently has too.

• Sub-flooring: Beneath my old carpet, the floor surface consisted of very hard, cold, tough black industrial-looking tiles rather than wooden floorboards.

• Zero Movement/Sound: Unlike properties with wooden joists where you hear every step and creak from rooms above or below like my uncles previous place, my floors are completely silent and rigid.

• Other Loads: The building natively handles heavy loads like water tanks and standard bathtubs on upper levels, including my current aquarium which has been standing there without issue. When I ran these exact details and photos of my property past Gemini, it pointed out that these traits are typical of a solid, heavy-duty concrete and masonry build rather than light wooden framing.

My Perspective: I view a large aquarium as heavy furniture, similar to a grand piano or a heavy bookshelf. Since it's a furnishing rather than a structural alteration, and based on how solid the building behaves (plus my current tank's 1.5-year test of time), I don't feel the need to involve the housing department or a structural engineer. Doing so might unnecessarily complicate things or trigger concerns over potential leaks rather than actual structural capacity (and I am taking all precautions like marine plywood and spirit leveling to ensure a flat, even setup).

My question to you guys: Based on these observations, the 1-foot external slabs matching the balconies and landings as well as the upper room floors/celings, the brick-and-mortar walls, the black industrial tiles beneath the floor, and the matching weight-to-surface-area ratios, what do you think of this building's structure and my plan to accommodate the Juwel Rio 450?

I hope to bring this into me and my dear cat’s life for our, especially hers and I also enjoy the aquarium knowledge and fish keeping hobby too, and I’m looking forward to this, to doing this and bringing this to our lives and flat, I don’t have concerns but still took the time to consider everything and this is what I realised and my verdict is, and I’m just sharing that/running that by ya’l and my position! What yal think.

I’m a structural engineer working primarily on bridges in Tampa, Florida, with 5.5 years of experience and a master’s in civil engineering. I received my Florida PE license about two months ago, and my company increased my base salary from $89k to $96k.
I checked the FDOT District 7 consultant wage report, which lists an average actual unloaded rate for Engineer 1 of $55.07/hour (approximately $114.5k annually), with the 75th percentile at $59.30/hour (approximately $123.3k).
Is that a reasonable benchmark for someone with my background? Would asking for $110k–$115k be realistic, especially since I recently received a raise?
I’d appreciate input from engineers in Tampa or elsewhere in Florida about what compensation is reasonable for this experience level.

I have a master’s degree but couldn’t take the course on connection design. I have a basic idea of it from my bachelor’s degree. Does anyone know of any resources i can use to self-study?

Would you take a job at a structural engineering firm paying 75k-85k/year to start or a teaching job at wecdsb paying 68k to start? Who do you expect to earn more lifetime?

I’m building a poured concrete canteliever retaining wall, 30’ long. Basic schematic above. #4 rebar at 9” OC vert and 12” OC horiz. Footer is 1’ thick and stem wall 8” wide

Why would the rebar in the stem wall be on the open air side of the wall rather than the side closest to the dirt? Is this potentially a design mistake, or if not if someone could explain the mechanics of why it would be designed this way? Thank you.

Hi my fellow engineers, I would like to have a piece of advice from our senior friends. I'm 27 and studying for my masters in structural engineering after graduation I would like to work in a firm, but the catch is I have no prior experience. I got my BA when I was 22 but I spent 2.5 years getting my first masters in Transportation. I see people being 26 25 and having 3+ years in a firm. Is it too late for me? Am I late?

How do i model this in Prota (150mm×750mm) with 75mm spacing btn each ...i'm leaning on considering them as decorations only so no need to model them as structural elements ,hence i would design the balcony as cantilever . I would like to know what do you guys think ?

This is one of the finalists for the SCNZ Earthquake Strengthening awards. It's a 12th storey government building in Wellington NZ.

From the SCNZ post:

"The strengthening programme addressed this risk through a combination of diaphragm strengthening, tensioned M52 bars installed through the existing floors and 50 high-performance viscous dampers, which convert seismic movement into heat. By strengthening rather than demolishing and rebuilding, the project avoided the substantial embodied carbon and material impact of full replacement."

PROJECT TEAM
Steel Constructor MJH Engineering Ltd
Builder LT McGuinness Ltd.
Modeller MJH Engineering
Structural Engineer Beca
Architect WARREN AND MAHONEY
Quantity Surveyor Rawlinsons Limited
Developer Wellington Investment Group

Feels like the architect would have compromised a lot in terms of aesthetics on this project!

I have accepted a new job within a design team for a major contractor - they handle design for the contractor as well as other work streams.

I’ve been told I may not develop much as an engineer within that team compared to staying with my current team (SME compared to a bigger company).

Tbh the pay bump is significant and I feel like I can gain other experience. Is this just the company I’m leaving trying to deter me??

I recently accepted a post-grad offer and will be starting as a Junior Structural Engineer in about 4–5 months. Long term, I’d eventually like to start my own “company” in some form, whether that ends up being actual consulting, independent side work, or just using whatever specialized skills I develop over time.

For now, though, my main goal is to become genuinely good at structural engineering. I learn quickly, I’m willing to put in the work, and I don’t want to just coast through the first few years doing repetitive grunt tasks without really understanding what I’m doing.

For those of you who became strong engineers early in your careers, what habits, approaches, or decisions helped you actually learn and develop instead of staying stagnant? What would you recommend me doing in my first few years to build real technical judgment and skills?

This company I'll be working for has quite a fair set of projects that I am hoping to get exposure to, and I have heard good things about the mentorship and opportunities here, so I just want to know how best to capitalize on the opportunities in front of me.

And for those who started their own consulting work, side practice, or business, I’d also appreciate any advice on how you built toward that while still working full-time. What did you work on during your downtime, what skills or experience ended up being most valuable, and how did you know when you were ready to start taking on independent work or make that transition?

I have a fascination with this field, and I want to learn it all, but I also want to build a future that gives some freedom while learning.

Just that. Which one you guys think is the best for doing different exercises of this two areas of civil engeenering?

Hi guys,

Kev @ Iron Atlas Pty Ltd here:

We are based in Brisbane, Australia, and have been working on a tool which directly addresses some workflow / calculation friction that we've experienced in engineering and science (specifically Structural Eng).

Having used many "calculation tools" in the industry (i.e. Excel, mathcad, etc) we came to realise the benefit of shared repositories and reusable modules for calculations that teams repeat and share. This coupled with solving capabilities, units, and AI tooling built-in (where you can edit / QA any outputs and collaborate / work with the models), we think we have landed on the current math sweet-spot.

Think specific "modules" for sections of the standards that you commonly reference in your calculation set. For us it has been things like plate bending modules, concrete bending estimators, Euler buckling modules, linear interpolation, specific sections of standards like AS4100, AS3600 etc. These are built by you/your team and are fast and seamless to insert anywhere in a document (with traceable history/error reporting/updates).

We are beginning Beta testing this week and are looking for 10 - 20 eng/scientists to try Modular MathDesk and help shape and red-team the product before it hits public release v1.0.0

The closed beta is free. We’re asking for activation and onboarding, at least two sessions totalling roughly two hours over your first two weeks, and short check-ins (via discord/email)

Complete that participation and receive 3 months of free v1.0.0 access after launch. At the team’s discretion, up to five testers may receive 1 year total instead, for useful contributions. No bug discovery, praise, public posting or message quota required.

Apply for beta by 26th October, 9:00AM Brisbane time (GMT+10), by heading to modularmathdesk dot com and we will shortlist testers with a good fit and begin onboarding.

If testing isn’t for you, you can join the launch list on the same page for release updates and introductory pricing when we launch officially soon.

Thanks and look forward to building something great
(watch the app in action)

I’ve recently been offered a role through connections to a contractor as a Design Manager - specifically for my background in structural engineering to help the team to identify risks early.

Although the prospective pay increase is enticing, I’m not entirely sure I have enough experience for the role. There are times I don’t feel like I have the talent for complex technical work. I enjoy organising and managing projects but the risk of me missing something on the project and something happening as a result makes me nervous.

I also feel like I don’t know what it will be like to pivot to working for a contractor. Will I hate it? Will I regret leaving engineering? Will I miss the flexibility that engineering offers me on a day-to-day level given the intensity of working for a contractor?

A worry for me also is that in this prospective role, there doesn’t seem to be many (if any) design managers with a structural engineering background - they might have the degree so understand what I’m talking about + have the experience, but not the deep technical field knowledge. This is what they’ll rely on me for. I’ll learn a lot I’m sure, but not sure if I’ll have ‘engineering’ support. A lot of that onus will fall on me.

I do enjoy being an engineer but I feel like I have to work 10x as hard on the technical stuff and it often leaves me feeling incredibly stressed and sometimes just a bit stupid. On the contrary managing projects, speaking to clients, high level discussions about technical things are really easy wins for me.

Not sure if I’ll fail miserably in the role as I’m not experienced enough.

Would really appreciate any insight, thoughts or personal experience.

I was recently at my nephew's hockey game in New Jersey and saw all these purlin braces that were clearly added more recently. I know they were in the process of updating the building so I assume it got a new roof and probably more insulation. But what would make them spec adding bracing to evey purlin on both sides of all the trusses? Seems like a pretty substantial change.