After 8 years of dealing with my boss' condescending tone, manipulation games, and belittling, I quit a small firm of 4 people (including myself) for a mid-sized firm of 40 people for more opportunities but mostly to get out from under my boss' thumb.

I told my boss one week ago that I'm leaving and the next day he told me not to tell anyone until he makes the announcement. It's been a whole week and radio silence. My coworkers are treating me like any other day and this secret is really bothering me. I'm worried he's not going to say anything until the day I stop showing up where he can ultimately destroy my entire character.​

I'm not sure what his goal is for doing this (other than controlling the situation again), so I'm not sure how to handle it. Thia week and the next are cut short due to Labor Day weekend so I don't know when he'll let them know.

Has anyone gone through this? Should I remain silent or just tell people and get it off my chest?

Edit: forgot to mention that I gave a 3 week notice 1 week ago.

I’m just barely out of college with no internship experience and a low ish gpa of 3.1, living in an HCOL city and was offered 27/hr at a small local consulting firm. Seems barely enough to break even on living expenses, but like an idiot, this is what I asked for in the interview. I feel like I can learn a lot and mostly I am more concerned about being able to work and getting experience. However, I’m being talked out of it by my parents who want me to move back to another slightly higher COL area but make more money and also not waste money on rent. Additionally, they say starting from this pay as my first job will really hurt my growth. They’re convinced finding another job will not be hard once I take the FE, which I’m scheduling for a month from now, but I’m less convinced my resume will land something again. Any second opinions?

Has anyone gotten good feedback from contractors? I want to minimize field welding on my projects and am thinking about transitioning to these exclusively

Have you ever had a site issue or redesign occur because someone answered an RFI or approved a variation without realising it broke a design assumption made earlier in the job?

Maybe this is a dumb question, but does anyone have any guidance on width to thickness ratio limits for a flat bar in bending? Think a canopy that isn’t a WT but just a web essentially.

I’m trying to understand the bending capacity but am having trouble understanding the limit to determine section class.

Thanks.

I am working on a modification to an existing steel building and need to design the connections shown in the attached image.

I am looking for an Excel spreadsheet or other software that can design these types of custom HSS/tube connections using AISC provisions.

RAM Connection does not allow me to assign the HSS-to-column web connection (moment).

Does anyone have a spreadsheet, software recommendation, or design tool that can handle this type of connection?

Thanks.

I’m looking to see if my salary is in line with my experience and duties at the engineering firm I work it. It’s hard to gauge with so many factors at play so I’m looking to get some insight. For reference I live near Buffalo, NY.

Firm is relatively small with about 25 employees. There’s about 5 Drafters/Designers of various disciplines, 15 Engineers (very process heavy), with the remaining 5 being administrative. All the designers are local but about half the engineers work remotely from different states.

I have an associates degree in CAD. I personally have 12 years experience as a Drafter/Designer.

I joined this firm 7 years ago as a Structural Designer. Of the Designers, I’m about the middle of the road for experience. There are 2 designers above me (Senior Designers) and 2 below me (Drafters). 3/5 of the designers have joined the firm after me, so I’m 2nd in line for “tenure”.

In the time I’ve worked at this firm I’ve quickly risen the ladder and have become the de facto CAD standards guy. Our firm uses Revit and AutoCAD to create drawings. I basically manage the templates and standards for the firm. I have created many standard sheets and details for the structural department, but also manage the other discipline standards. It’s mostly been self taught as the firm made the switch to Revit right when I joined, but they have paid for software training for all of the designers including myself.

Edit: Forgot to mention our firm uses RISA for structural analysis, so I have some light experience using that, and using the link utility to export/import models from Revit to RISA and vice versa. This makes it so the designer takes ownership of the model that the structural engineer then analyzes.

I’m also lucky enough to mostly work remotely. Our firm made the switch to remote work during COVID and never looked back. A few years ago I used to only come into the office once a week, but after I had my first child it’s been reduced to once every 2 weeks. They know I get my work done so I’m lucky enough that I don’t have to go into the office as often. The firm also hires people out of state so there’s sort of this understanding that they don’t make us come in as often because the fully remote employees never have to come in (for obvious reasons). I may start coming in more once my child starts kindergarten but there’s no pressure from my supervisor.

My salary is approximately $75k, or $36 an hour. There’s no bonuses offered, but I occasionally get overtime 1 or 2 weeks out of the year, which I always take when it’s offered. Average annual raise has been 6%. Some years it’s been 3%.

I’m basically trying to gauge if the extra work I’m doing managing the CAD standards is worth more than I’m currently receiving. It’s also not really reflected in my job title. But I’m also lucky with the remote work, I know of some other local firms that make you come in 3 days a week, or have even gone back to the office full time (probably a deal breaker unless it was at least 1.5x my current salary). I’m not against the idea of going to a 3 day hybrid work week at another firm, but I’d probably want at least a 20% salary jump to compensate.

I think that the IBC2018 prohibits the use of wood framing to permanently support a concrete slab. Does anyone know where to find that?

I’m designing a roof over some containers. There’s 4 containers that are joined together. For the monoslope free-roof, One end of the rafter will be connected to the corner post of the container and the other end SHS. The wind action on the roof introduces an uplift of around 24kN at the rafter support reactions.

Basically I’ve done some preliminary footing calcs and landed on 1.2mx1.2mx0.45m. The container will bear directly on the pad, no pedestal. Does this seem okay? Or are the footings too shallow for a 24kN uplift force..

Possibly I am behind the curve on this but today I received a submittal with F1825 bolts called out when our drawings specify A325. I understand they are equal strength wise, but that they are twist off bolts? I've just never had a contractor want to use that type of bolt before. Made the post to make sure I'm not missing something here.

Curious to know how you landed there and if you had to make any career switches to get into the tech companies.

This is the best photo I could get but this is in Amsterdam where a new building is due to be constructed. There was concrete foundations below I believe but they have no filled the entire thing with water and seem to be putting piles in?

Does anyone know why they do this?

Hi all, I am about to start my first ever structural job as EIT next week. How much of an issue is it to be rusty in my software skills? I have not touched ETABS and STAAD in 1-2 years from university projects. I have 1 week so maybe I can search some video tutorials up to familiarize myself again. Is this necessary or do you recommend just chilling/resting before I start? Would appreciate any insights, thank you.

Hey guys, looking for a Structural Engineer in Mauldin, SC.

Experience required: Minimum 5+ years of structural engineering experience.

Salary Range: $100,000 - $140,000

In addition, we are looking for a candidate with P.E. certification in South Carolina.

Thank you. If interested, please apply.

What software are is used in Australia? I'?m going to join as a graduate engineer next year. What software should I polish my knowledge on?

I am 10+ years in structural engineering and close to 40. I need to seal and sign drawings and have to seal and sign work of others, I feel it is quite stressful and consider to change a path. I have heard being a forensic engineer could also be stressful, with litigation pressure, but I feel at least will not be pressed to use minimal material and worried about building collapse. What is your opinion about the stress level of these two compared. Thank you.

Can you please suggest a thesis title?

Tips for discussing salary during the annual review?

Hi all,
I was a design engineer for a big firm for 3 years after my masters. i passed my PE and am just waiting for the board approval for my license. I started a new role a couple months ago at a company that does smaller, local projects. I liked the work of my original company but I never got to see anything built (all overseas). I want to be on site and actually see more of the CD/CA process which was kept up in the hierarchy at the big firms.

I communicated that to my current boss during my interview, stating that Im excited to learn how to manage projects. Im used to seeing timelines for projects that go on for years and have SD/DD phases that take 8+ months each. I wasnt involved in the client facing stuff or the detailing then because of this massive scale, it was mostly the associates doing that. Now, im serving as the project engineer so my responsibilites have heightened, as i now am detailing the buildings, delegating work to designers, issuing QC documents, watching the budget, etc. All of this i wanted to do/learn. Eventually, i think i want to work in construction so this seemed like a good place to branch in between.

here lies the issue. my new boss (principal) is supposed to be the PM on my projects but they are hardly ever available for questions as i try to navigate my new tasks. i try to ask for help from other seniors, but its a huge jump to just have to “guess” what comes next. i dont think im incapable of doing the work, just need more guidance. instead, the principal is honestly quite rude to me and has expressed that i seem to be “in over my head.” i overhead them speaking badly about me on the phone with other people on the team (so ofc the whole office heard) and it really does not make me feel like im in a safe space to ask questions. They only really respond if j do something/say something wrong to the designers or architect.

I feel discouraged and very anxious about my position. its only been 2 months but i feel like im super behind. is this what the designer->project engineer transition is always like? i want to be somewhere that i feel encouraged to be wrong and learn from mistakes rather than feel crippling anxiety that im not doing it right. im treated like i have 8 years of experience being a pe, when i thought it was clear that im here to learn how to do this. im gonna give it more time and hope it gets better but im not sure if this is a good environment for me.