Structural Intern

IBI Group

Tell us a bit about yourself ?

I am part of the structural team that is currently working on Mount Dennis station in the multi-billion ECLRT project in Toronto.

Describe a typical day at work

The company has been shorthanded in a lot of drafting work, so most of my time has come to drafting for the team. Lately it’s gotten pretty repetitive and I have to say that I’m hoping for more variety and core structural engineering.

What courses best prepared you for your job?

Steel & Timber, Reinforced Concrete. Honestly, without those two courses I wouldn’t know what the hell I was doing and why I was doing it.

Describe the coolest project you got to work on

ECLRT has been pretty cool. The stations are so complicated and involve so many disciplines that it’s quite mind boggling to see how coordination comes into play. Through a structural engineering perspective, the complexity of everything from beams to columns (what we actually learned in school!) that builds up to the final structure is amazing.

Is there anything you wish you knew about the job / industry before starting?

Honestly no. Having never worked in the industry it was hard to predict what it would be like. I just thought it would be hard!

Any tips / advice / anything you would like to share with current students?

I feel like smarts definitely come into play in this field. Many of my coworkers are certain geniuses and everyone has the codes recited in their minds. That’s not to say you need to be a high 90 average student to do well. I certainly am not. But it is hard work and you need to be excited. Everyone in the office is very focused on their work, because they enjoy it. It saddens me that the general consensus in recon (reinforced concrete) was hate for the course! However there will be a few who actually enjoyed it (me)! If you found it interesting, chances are you’ll like a job in it. Structural engineering is not for everyone, but if you found the interest before, I hope it sticks! #concrete