Structural engineers make ethical choices every day. Many decisions are engrained in engineering practice and become second nature, such as ensuring the safety of the public through sound design and engaging in honest business practices. In addition, engineers work to ensure equitable and inclusive work environments and uphold professional codes of ethics. We do our best. But is that good enough?

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There seems to be a lot of angst among structural engineers about our profession, a general notion that we do not get the credit that we deserve or the proper amount of respect from the public. It is as if we work in the Rodney Dangerfield of professions, “I don’t get no respect.” However, having recently read Samuel C. Florman’s book, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, first published in 1976, it is clear that our concerns for our profession are not new. Many of the concerns Florman had 44 years ago continue to this day, such as not attracting enough of the best and brightest students, engineering education being too technical, lack of passion for our work, lack of exposure for engineers in popular culture such as novels or movies, and not getting the same respect as other professions. Since then, other concerns have developed, such as not retaining talent, not adopting new technology quickly enough, and being replaced by technology.

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Having graduated from college into my first job as an engineer a mere 45 years ago, I experienced the things I write about here. Although not easy, I am happy to say that I still love to come in to work and perform engineering. I have worked for four Companies over my career, all good Companies. I started with an ENR Top 10 Engineering firm and have moved to smaller and, for me, more intimate Companies each time I took a new position. I felt that by working for smaller companies, my contributions would have more impact on my clients. Here are a few things that served me well as I began my career and have held up as I advise young engineers on traditional structural engineering career paths. This article was initially prepared and delivered to Dr. Joseph M. Plecnik’s Professional Practices Class (CE481) at California State University, Long Beach, in March 2007 and has been updated for publication here. Dr. Plecnik was the author’s favorite Professor at CSULB.

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Structural engineering is a stressful profession, especially for young engineers. The construction industry is highly competitive regardless of your niche in it, and clients are always looking for designs to be maximally efficient and executed as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, projects run even faster today than they did a decade ago, leaving less time for young engineers to learn how to produce quality work quickly and communicate effectively with their clients. …

There are many Lessons not Learned in spite of experience. Thankfully there are also examples of Lessons Learned through experience that have contributed to meeting technical and ethical responsibilities. As engineers, we should pursue the latter. The most tragic and devastating LESSON NOT LEARNED in our lifetime is the undoing of all of the bitter lessons learned through experience in battling pandemics. Today’s coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc, bringing death, economic depression, widespread disease, unemployment, education disruption, and more. …

I am a structural engineer and quite happy with who I am. Call me a simple guy. I grew up in a small town, and I was happy. I went to public schools, played little league baseball, and learned the value of hard work from a dad with a solid work ethic. It was not until much later in life that I learned my family lived well below the government’s established “poverty line.” Nobody told me, so I did not know we were poor. I did not know I was supposed to be miserable. …

“I really like being a structural engineer, but I do not like many of the tasks associated with the design and construction of projects.” This is a comment I have heard many times from structural engineers who express feeling like a “square peg in a round hole” as a design engineer. …

Engineering is a profession based on truth and integrity. Firms and clients rely on an engineer’s expertise, and they trust their engineers to conduct themselves ethically. Unfortunately, we have seen first-hand where lapses in ethical judgment, resulting from project issues, cut short an accomplished career. These lapses usually come from otherwise decent and honest people, and their actions appear inexplicable. In many circumstances, those lapses can be traced to the same cause – conflict avoidance. …

Currently, there is no Structural Engineering (SE) Licensure in New York State.   For those of you that are unfamiliar, SE Licensure provides a unique license to distinguish structural engineers from other professional engineers.  In general, the intent is to prevent less experienced engineers from designing more critical structures.  The arguments for establishing an SE License are readily available on the NCSEA website (https://bit.ly/2AEa3Y2) and the SE Licensure Coalition website (https://bit.ly/2C7Nnjk). …

For the longest time, I avoided following other structural engineering firms on LinkedIn or liking their posts. As the President of the Structural Engineers Association of Colorado, I have seen the positive impact of what engineers can do when they come together. But for some reason, I was still hesitant to celebrate the achievements of my peers publicly. Why? Mostly to avoid a perception by my supervisors and coworkers that I was thinking about leaving my current firm. Sitting at my desk a couple of months ago, on my first day back at work after attending the National Council for Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) Summit, I quietly proclaimed, “This stops today!!” No longer will I refrain from following or liking other firms for fear of how it might look. The week I spent in Anaheim, CA, at the Summit was magical and not just because I met Micky and Minnie. Witnessing the community of structural engineers at a national level was truly transformational. …