Hello hello hello! Welcome to my very humble blog fellow engineers. My name is Sonia and as you have (hopefully) seen on my profile, I am in my second year of Structural Engineering!
The purpose of me and this blog is to channel my Structural Engineering energy into you, the part one student awaitaning guidance on choosing their specs at the end of this semester. This first blog will serve mainly as a small introduction to Structural Engineering and what itâs all about – itâll also discuss some of the cool things Iâve done at uni in regards to Structural Engineering. And of course, thereâll be a bit about me, the author! So let’s get right into it :))
Meet Sonia: The Structural Engineer in the Making
As I mentioned, my nameâs Sonia, and Iâm in my second year of studying Structural Engineering. I really love my degree (except for the parts where I have to pull all-nighters) and am super excited to yap about it for the entirity of this semester. If you donât find me roaming around campus trying to find somewhere (to pretend) to study, youâll likely find me in Munchy Mart buying myself a sweet treat for coming to campus (I do this almost everyday). Outside of studying, I am a WEN outreach ambassador, Engineering Revue props team member and I also work in retail but that’s boring. I also used to do Muay Thai last semester but have switched to gymming ocassionaly. When Iâm not busy adulting, I play a few video games with my friends, draw loads of cool stuff on my tablet (sorry traditional artists) or just listen to music and vibe real hard.
Speaking of drawing, I often like to draw this cool cat on any paper or surface I can find. Her name is Mishki and she will be a mascot for this blog, so get used to seeing her around đ
My Journey to Choosing Structural as my Top Pick
âWhy Structural?â âWhat is Structural?â âWhat is the difference between structural and civil?â âThat sounds lame asfâ âWait, I thought this was the Civil blogâ “Sonia your captilisations are inconsistent”
– Probably half of yall
These thoughts might have run through your mind when you saw Structural as one of the specialisations on this blog. And if they didnât, I extend my humble gratitude.
To be entirely honest, Engineering wasnât something I vibed with until year 13. I was more of an Architecture girlie (for a very long time), and I was quite adamant on going into Architecture for most of my time in high school. However, after attending one of WENâs events for high school students (Women in Engineering Network – not a plug btw), I found myself more drawn to Civil Engineering than Architecture.
I did, of course, enjoy the design aspect of Architecture but the thought of analysing and determining how a Structure was meant to withstand all the things it needs to withstand just held a certain appeal to it – the thought of incorporating elements of logical, critical, and practical thinking into the whole designy parts of architecture sounded pretty fun. In a sense too, maybe, a good challenge? So ultimately, I chose Engineering!
Throughout all of part one, I was further convinced that Iâd be going into Civil since I vibed real hard with ENGGEN 121 (the statics part mainly) and CHEMMAT 121. I did figure out later into sem two that Structural Engineering is a thing, but to be honest, I wasnât even sure what the distinction between the two was. However, much later in semester two after a very lovely conversation with Dr. Jason Ingham (who used to be our statics lecturer), I figured Structural was more my thing and thatâs how it ended up being my number one choice for my specialisation! So if you are already considering Civil or Structural and you don’t know which, my number one tip is : Go to the Civil specilisation night.
Now, to clarify the difference between Structural and Civil, think of it in this way. Civil Engineers focus on the big picture (which is like designing a city), while Structural Engineers mainly focus that the structure stands tall and strong.
The photo you see on the right, is B405 of the Engineering faculty in its construction phase. Structural Engineers play a crucial role in the design and implementation of multi-storey buildings as such!
The Part II Civil/Structural Experience
Similar to Mechanical and Mechatronics, Structural and Civil students take the same papers throughout part two. So if youâre not too sure what sub-discipline of Civil you want to pursue, donât worry. Youâre given the opportunity to change your specialisation towards the end of the year, so you have plenty of time to deliberate.
Now, on the papers you will take and how theyâre managed (this will also be a blog of its own, so you better stay tuned) – to summarise it simply, you will be covering papers of most sub-disciplines of Civil, which gives you a very good idea of what you would like to pursue as a Civil engineer.
The class experience for Civil is very lively, as it’s a big cohort (around 200 structural and civil students). As such, thereâs plenty of time to exchange LinkedIns and make those networking connections⊠and friends too, of course. Seeing familiar faces around lectures feels great, and for me personally, it encourages me to attend lectures. So if youâre one of those people who feels like they skip out a bit more than theyâd like, maybe the environment in these lecture halls could motivate you to become the 9.0 GPA student of your dreams~
Final Notes
ALRIGHT! Iâve yapped enough. If you have made it to the bottom of this blog, Whether you are a part one student thinking of choosing their specilisation, a bored student that just wants to read something, or just one of my friends, I hope you have gotten an introductory idea of me and my very cool specialisation!
Don’t forget to give the other blogs a read as well to get an even better idea of the cool specs that are out there not as cool as structural tho.
Now enjoy the rest of your week (if I post this on Monday), and Iâll see you in two weeks with a new blog đ
– Sonia <3
yeah i woulda did that
Business.
What an inspiring post! Keep on slaying bus girl. âšđ«¶đ