How (And Why) I Switched Careers from Structural Engineering to Software Engineering [Vlog #5]

Story time! I originally went to school for civil & structural engineering but I always felt like I wasn't connected to that field in the way that I had hoped to be. Throughout my college and graduate school career, there were so many signs that presented themselves along the path that I was walking. Some of the signs I paid attention to and others I did not.

To everyone who feels stuck in their life (whether it's at school or at work or with life in general), I hope this story gives you another perspective on pursuing the things that are meaningful to you. I hope it gives you the encouragement you need to listen to the things that interest you. And I hope it gives you the courage to pursue those things without guilt or worry.

Changing any part of your life can be a scary thing but I believe it's only scary because we focus so much on the immediate consequences and outcomes rather than looking at our life journey on a grander scale. Don't be shy in spending time pursuing things that interest you or spark some kind of feeling inside of you. They do so because they are important to you.

Be curious about your life. Be a committed student to yourself and your life journey.

And most importantly, listen to your omens. 💙

⏰ Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
2:42 Trying to Pick a Major
4:42 The Dreaded Programming Class
6:40 Doubts About Civil Engineering
8:39 The Course That Changed My Path
10:35 Starting Grad School
14:11 Changing My Grad Program
15:24 Coding Courses!
17:01 My First Mobile Application
18:36 My First Real Job
20:41 A Unique Opportunity
22:39 Listening to My Omens
24:08 A Career-Changing Apprenticeship
25:06 Where Am I Now?
26:05 Reflecting On My Path
28:06 A Word of Advice
29:58 Be A Life-Long Student

🐥 Follow me on Twitter here: @simmysigma
📸 Follow me on Instagram here: @simmysigma

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[shawn.builds]

Hey man, I'm making the switch from Chem E to Software rn. Great to see another YouTuber share their experience!

[ProffessorSeen]

Thank you. As a structural engineer that feels stuck, I identify with this.

[JanSadorra]

Very inspiring. I had similar thoughts on whether Civil Engineering was my passion... A lot of my undergrad coursework was in structures, did a year of structural engineering work, then shifted to land development and site design for 5 years, then changed emphasis again to transportation engineering... Even earned my PE but a part of me wishes I had taken up software engineering instead... I've been learning Python on the side and have been enjoying it...(also actually enjoyed MATLAB back in college and programmed a lot of equations and formulas into my TI-89 for exams lol!) Trying to find ways to fuse the two together (programming and engineering) since a lot of the stuff that I do in engineering are very repetitive and can be automated... We'll see where life takes me but I am actively building skills and learning new things until I really become proficient in coding and making apps in the near future... more than 11+ years deep into civil engineering but definitely exploring other paths and building a career and life I can be content and happy with. Cheers, man. Thank you for sharing your story.

[vascoambrosio]

its very symbolic to hear this from you, was through your videos that I learned about Hydrologic soil groups, a crucial topic for me to finish my civil engineer undergraduate final thesys last year, from 3 years ago that I am searching for a way to switch career to a more information technology oriented.

[kar_]

Yours is an interesting and inspiring story. I am at a stage where I have started to feel demotivated at my current structural engineering job. All my friends from college are in hybrid and earning almost double my pay with the same amount of effort as I put in. Dropped my plan for PE and will make some self-study plans for IT.

[ehinspections]

Great story, thank you for sharing! I have being a cab driver in NY, an auto mechanic, a Yoga instructor, a building inspector, so I understand what it is to go after what you want in life....I got a Civil Engineering degree and did structural design for five years, and now I am in my sixties and going to study for my Engineering license with your videos :). What I found was that I was looking for something to do that I would be great at, and what I found was that I am really good at doing a lot of different things, the main thing is that at some point in life you are going to look back at your life and you are going to know if you had a good journey (I also read a book in my twenties that had a great influence in my adult life "The death of Ivan Ilyich." This book gave me a hint of the importance of living life to the fullest not to an extreme. Have a great journey everyone!

[relaxin]

Omg our stories are almost identical! I'm watching this all the way from Australia. I studied Civil Eng, with a structures focus. I want to transition into software eng, and one thing I wanted to ask you was which courses, that teach you how to code, have you have heard are decent and which are not so decent? There's a bit of conflicting information online. And how many months is enough for a course to be thorough enough, in your opinion? Thank you for sharing your story.

[DiamondFlame]

Honestly, if I were to do things all over again, I would study software engineering over mechanical engineering! The job and wfh opportunities are significantly better and the manufacturing/civil industry know this too because they are losing talent since people these days value work life balance now. Manufacturing and civil industry jobs are so site specific so that discourages people from applying in the first place.

[odera]

What was your research topic for your undergrad and masters thesis? Were they something you could incorporate programming into them?

[Rayquesto]

Haha I chose Structural Engr due to my grandpas path. What’s interesting is I would ask my physics professor about how to explain the mechanics of a failing member loaded in tension. I asked a lot of similar questions in physics. So, by the time I got to Steel Design, I was extremely engaged and eager to learn and did well. I love my job now as an SE.

[ruysznd]

Funny that I stumbled upon your video. I used to watch you when I was taking fluid mechanics about 6 years ago in my undergrad at Cal Poly Pomona. I since then graduated and acquired my PE but have never felt connected to this industry. I’ve been thinking about going to grad school for computer science and was looking to see if others have taken the same route.

[danielmohammedfaris]

Thank you, i recently graduated n got job as a Site engineer but I'm not enjoying the job and I'm thinking switching to software development

[shekharrajput]

I switched back to structural engineering, was in IT 😅😅
IT really doesn’t amaze me at all now, you will just have to do the same work all the day.
Also I understood that the value of any IT engineer would not be holding any good value in future, less stability, atleast a structural engineer would have great value at the end with 10-15 yrs of exp.

[FakeFayaz]

Hey man, really appreciate you for making this I watched the whole video which I usually don’t coz I’m not a fan of really long videos 😅😅… I am a first year student studying civil engineering and I can really relate to you …I really love the maths and mechanics classes but i find the other classes boring. I have decided to learn programming and explore it during my semester break next month . What will be your advice for me, I only know basic programming I learned in high school ( which I’m pretty sure I have forgotten it ) 😅. I want to know any tips on my self teaching journey, Also I will be taking a minor course in data science next year so that i can broaden my career opportunities. Do you think my civil engineering degree minoring in data science will be useful .

[vascoambrosio]

Thanks for sharing, I'm going through a similsr path. What do you think about the career of development of civil engineer software? Have you created another one other than the one you developed for your teacher?

[khmrafsanbiniqbal]

Btw coding doesn’t necessarily mean web development, coding (Python) has many things to do with engineering also. But yes, one should think more about future aspects of the subject they are going to pursue.

[odera]

Did you find the design subjects difficult which resulted in you not liking them? You seem as more of a science student than an engineer back then as what’s of the point of learning all the maths and physics if you’re not going to apply them to design buildings/infrastructure? Applying scientific principles to solve problems is basically engineering. You said you took engineering because designing bridges seemed cool what’s the point of learning physics and mechanics if you won’t use the knowledge to design a cool bridge? Or do you hate having to go through design codes during design? Codes are just best practices made mostly from research.

[cleisonarmandomanriqueagui]

What a journey . similar to my path . i am also structural ...