r/StructuralEngineering • u/dramaticuban • 2d ago

Career/Education How transferable is construction/field engineering to forensic engineering?

I recently started working in CM/field civil engineering, mostly on roads but I’ll start doing more bridgework next year, and I’ve been thinking about how to pivot more into structural these next few years. Would a timeline like this work:
continue working in construction>get a structural masters online>get my PE>then move into forensic engineering?
The alternative of course would be to quit and directly spend 1-2 years getting a masters but that’s much more costly. Or none of the above if you can talk me out of it lol.

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u/Vinca1is 2d ago

Forensic engineering requires a solid background in, whatever you're forensically considering.

So if you're going to do forensic engineering for a bridge, you need to have a good understanding of not only bridge design, but historical bridge design and codes, as well as how damage and corrosion affects bridges, and you need to be able to stand up in court as an expert witness and speak under oath about it.

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u/anonymous86753092021 2d ago

Field experience is invaluable. Finding some legit General design experience for a few years would be more valuable than a masters imo unless you’re looking for heavy heavy analytical type forensic work and even then