6 Reasons Why Structural Engineers Burnout 

all of these plus low payment. thatswhy i quit working as a Structural Engineer. Now i am a kind of projectmanager/-controller and i have to say... structural engineers should not be afraid of doing something else...or then to go back? i personally will not go back to SE. i was a kind of introvert, wasnt good at writing e-mails and doing calls. but now i can lead bigger discussions, have a better and broader understanding on projects, which is really fun. i am not that projectmanager who has no clue about what he is doing, no, i can actually bring things to goals by solving problems. i like the diversity of the work. Structural Engineers have shown what they are capable of by finishing university we can do much more than "only" statics 😊👍

The main reason we are underappreciated is because your calculations are a big part of your work product, but they are not "deliverables". The client sees the drawings and specs, but your calcs rarely leave the office. They may be filed with the building commissioner who probably doesn't even look at them and if he did, he wouldn't understand them. Your calculations become your potential defense if there is trouble on project. Other than a means to the end, calculations are invisible, and therefore of no value to the client. The last several years before retiring, I worked on existing structures evaluations and restoration projects. These jobs rarely required extensive calculations. Most of the office work involved cost estimates and condition reports all of which are deliverables along with the drawings. We could get decent fees because we worked direct for owners, not architects. (Fees from architects are low because they don't charge enough, but that's a sad tale of woe for another day). The work got a little repetitive, but that made solving issues on similar projects very efficient, hence profitable. We all got great salaries and excellent bonuses and rarely worked more than 45 or 50 hours per week. We almost always had our weekends completely free. Narrow specialization may not be ideal for newbies, but for the mature engineer with 25 years broad based experience, it could be a great career capstone and a cure for burnout.

I think this is because design and colors are more "fun" than calculations.

Also, you could go to the jail if the things are going wrong... On the other hand, like physicians, we need to get update of the codes every year and learn new codes, especially if you are working internationally (I'm from Chile and I worked for projects in Australia, Canadá and the US for the mining industry)...

@@luisahumada6081 are you a physician?

@@BV-sh7nu nooooooo ... Well physician for the structures...

This is exactly why im leaving this industry. I even got my SE but still feel undervalued.

Moustafa El-sawy What are you switching to? Just curious

Yes! Design videos have been requested and I’ve wanted to do some of those, they take a while though but looking on doing those now that I’m done with exams.

Yeah!! Kudos to you!

Yup, that one was At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof

let me guess you work for a small company?