How To Become A Structural Steel Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a structural steel engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a structural steel engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $35.59 an hour? That's $74,031 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 22,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreStructural Steel EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.8

Avg. Salary $74,031

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 13.62%

Black or African American 3.99%

Hispanic or Latino 11.69%

Unknown 4.69%

White 65.70%

Gender

female 5.41%

male 94.59%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a structural steel engineer

Explore structural steel engineer education requirements

Most common structural steel engineer degrees

Bachelor's

72.9 %

Master's

15.3 %

Associate

8.5 %

Start to develop specific structural steel engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Calculation	37.83%
Subcontractors	23.83%
Steel Structures	18.60%
Shop Drawings	11.87%
Auto CAD	7.88%

Complete relevant structural steel engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New structural steel engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a structural steel engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real structural steel engineer resumes.

Research structural steel engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead a team on a year-long retrofit design effort for the F/A-18 E/F wing.
Perform detailed geotechnical and structural engineering for TLP tendon foundation and tender- assist drilling semi mooring pile foundation systems.
Prepare calculation documents and technical specifications to be used for material procurement, fabrication and installation of the structures and components.
Select to coach and train entry level engineers on SAP2000.

Prepare your structural steel engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your structural steel engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a structural steel engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable structural steel engineer resume templates

Build a professional structural steel engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your structural steel engineer resume.