The Structural Engineering Engagement and Equity (SE3) Project began in 2015 as a grassroots effort in the San Francisco structural engineering community. Inspired by similar work from Bay Area architects, we set out to understand the underlying reasons why people, especially female structural engineers, choose to leave our profession.

 

Established as a special project by the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC), we conducted our first survey in 2016, and collected 2,100 responses from currently practicing and former structural engineers. The study revealed interesting insights on the state of our profession, and allowed us to dig deeper into the root causes of satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with our everyday practice as structural engineers, including specific areas such as career development, pay, and work flexibility.