Design Job Or Field Job?

[Tstruct]

Assalam u alaikum,

I am a fresh civil engineering graduate. I am interested in structural engineering but I have heard that career growth in structural engineering is very slow and salaries are very less. But I want to pursue this field. Plz guide me. How is the condition of career growth in this field. What salary should I expect at the initial level, after 5 years and after 10 years?

Thanks.

[WR1]

Taimur, some 2600 years ago Pindar said, become who you are, by knowing who you are! 

 

Structural engineering is a very challenging field and remember something Ashraf HabibUllah and ofcourse other famous people said "Go for your passion, money will come to you ultimately"

 

I would also recommend you to watch a lecture in Princeton University by Leslie Robertson, the one who worked on WTC in 60s/70s

 

To cut it short, you need to first determine, whats your passion? Money? or Structural Engineering? Design or Site?

I dont believe evaluating career growth. If you have desire to grow, you will, in any field you are interested in.

 

Even in USA with a PE license the avg salary of a structural engineer is 120$k/yr. Thats not much but a modest amount when the middle class earning as much as 400-500$k/yr. So you wont be truely RICH if you go in structural engineering. If you really want to be then go for the money (thats not bad though).

 

For middle east you can have an idea by this equation (pretty simple, factual and accurate) you salary = no. of years x 2 in dirhams or riyals (including everything housing, perks, transportation, all).

 

if you want this 2 to be 3, you have to be exceptionally well not just in structural engineering but also with your personality. Get a PE license and might be SE too.

 

And at the end, summary is if you are really passionate about structural engineering then forget about money now...I understand money is important for subsistence needs and structural engineering will offer you enough for that but not enough to be in upper class..so decide..

[Tstruct]

Thank you Mr. Rana Waseem for your answer. It is very helpful. Plz elaborate the salary aspect of site working also. 

[EngrUzair]

Assalam-o-alaikum!

 

Rana has made very realistic analysis of standing of structural engineering profession, from earning point of view.

 

If you have real desire and passion for structural engineering, and you adopt it, you would insha-allah excel in that field. The same will be true even if you have greater desire & interest  to go for site supervision  field.

 

IMHO, however it will be very advantageous for you, if you could have some site supervision experience (either side by side or prior to starting structural designing), related to construction of reinforced concrete and other structures.  This site supervision experience will also help you decide which of the two (structural engineering and site supervision) fields suits you more.

 

 

Regards.

[Tstruct]

Thank you Engr. Uzair for your valuable opinion.

[WR1]

I forgot to mention that you could consider minimum salary here in middle east for 0 experience to be somewhat around 6k.. After 3yrs of experience consider the above equation upto 10-15yrs. After that its politics..

[RASHEED]

I am agree with Rana waseem bhai and Uzair bhai both but i will add one thing as i am facing the same problem as u have mentioned.I joined site job after my graduation and i got one and a half year experience at site.As i am interested in designing so i am trying repeatedly but in every company i am considered to be a fresh.So I will suggest to join design consultancy if u r interested in design.U will earn money after experiece and there is not a huge difference between salaries of a designer and a site engineer.My senior brothers can advise u in a better way as they did.I just share u my experience and opinion.Thanks!

[Tstruct]

Thank you brother Rana waseem and Rasheed. 

[EngrUzair]

Assalam-o-alaikum!

 

RASHEED!

 

Your field experience will help you in two respects:

 

1. BEFORE you are involved in structural designing:

   To understand how actual construction is carried out at site, and to visualize what problems you might face during construction in case proper structural detailing is not done/provided on construction drawings.

 

2. AFTER you have done some structural designing:

    To decide which of the two fields (site supervision and structural engineering), is suitable for you, to adopt as an engineering field in the long run

 

It is true that after one-and-a-half year field experience, you are being considered as a fresh engineer for the structural design field. But, you should not be disappointed by this. Because you are probably forgetting that your understanding of structures (because of your field experience) is much more than a competitor who has just passed out from the university. This field experience will help you learn structural design concepts, requirements and procedures much earlier than others (having no field experience), and developing you in a better structural engineer (provided you decide to carry on as a structural engineer ultimately).

[WR1]

My 2cents...

 

Dont go for site if you are interested in design. Once you are on site, you will get stuck there, and even if you try to come back to design you will be considered as fresh in the field as others pointed out.

 

Stick to the design, yes you need to have actual on site understanding of things, which you can learn at any stage (may be after 5 yrs of design experience)? You can learn it. But after 5 years of experience at site, you cannt come back to design. 

 

And dont worry about that first 5 years period in design office. You can have visits to the site to coorelate your design with actual site execution. 

[RASHEED]

Thanks uzair bhai for encouraging me.

[Tstruct]

Thank you for encouraging me Waseem bhai.