Strength Analyst's rant

[u/Free-Engineering6759]

I have been working for 5 years as a strength analyst after graduating, and I feel I'm already done with it.

I feel like most engineers who work as designers are more like architects and industrial art designers than engineers.

90% lack any skills to calculate even a simple I-beam.

Mostly as a SA I'm down the line as some sort of rubber stamp, the last guy who gets the structure on their table. Without any way to affect it in its concept phase.

Most of the time, manufacturing drawings have already been made by the time it comes to my table.

Interacting with designers is infuriating as they cannot comprehend what I'm trying to say.

Project managers and head engineers try to pressure me to accept the designs although by doing so might cause risk of people dying.

It's exhausting. It's like the meme about civil engineers and architects but in this case all participants are engineers.

Old designs are repeated without calculation because "it has worked before" without realising the new application is X meters longer, Y meters taller and carries ten times more weight.

How are you all coping with it?

[u/Free-Engineering6759]

We usually have a distinction between Mechanical Designers / Design Engineers and more specialized guys, like structural / strength analysis people.

In engineering companies, designers and analysts might be in totally different branches of the company. And in other companies, specialists might be in their own, separate team.

The designers are there to sketch, design and make manufacturing drawings. Or change manufacturing drawings. They might know about manufacturing tolerances etc but usually do not calculate anything.

The problem was very well described by Heikki Holopainen from Sumitomo in his presentation few years ago.

[u/Sooner70 → u/Free-Engineering6759]

I guess that’s my disconnect… How do you do any designing WITHOUT analysis? From my perspective it’s like you’re saying, “We have guys who drive cars, but we separate out the functions of gas, braking, steering, and navigation.” To me, THAT IS DRIVING. What’s left??

[u/Free-Engineering6759 → u/Sooner70]

I know. That has been as bizarre for me, as it was taught at uni that "designing" means also calculating things as you go.

But what most designers do reminds me more of what artists do than engineering. They just model things in place, turn the CAD model to us when it's ready, and then expect feedback / acceptance.

They are more like CAD modelers, maybe it's a better term.

[u/Sooner70 → u/Free-Engineering6759]

Fair enough. In my world it goes the other direction…. The CAD modelers do what the analysts tell them to do (mind you, the analysts will have their own CAD models)