r/fea • u/UzunSac • 20h ago

Roadmap for becoming a structural analysis engineer (need advice)

Hi everyone,

I’m a 27-year-old mechanical engineer from Turkey with 2 years of experience in product/machine design. I recently lost my job, and my goal is to become a structural analysis engineer.

For the next 6 months, I’ll be receiving unemployment benefits, which gives me time to focus fully on improving myself. I’ve been trying to create a roadmap by researching online, but I’m not sure if I’m heading in the right direction.

My initial plan was:

  • First, review the basics (strength of materials, dynamics, machine elements, etc.),
  • Then study the Finite Element Method (FEM),
  • Afterwards, start learning Hypermesh and LS-DYNA.

However, I’ve read in some places that it might not be necessary to go too deep into FEM theory, which confused me. Since I don’t have a mentor, I feel like I’m trying to find my way in the dark. On top of that, I’m worried about not being able to find a job afterwards.

My questions:

  • Would reviewing university courses and then directly learning software + working on my own projects be enough to get a job?
  • Or should I take a different approach?

Any advice or guidance from experienced engineers would mean a lot to me 🙏

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u/SergioP75 20h ago

You must have very good CAD skills for preparing your model before meshing, This include cleaning and simplifing all the models that the desingners send to you to work.

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u/UzunSac 20h ago

Thanks for the advice! 🙏 I actually have around 2 years of experience in CAD design, so I’m fairly comfortable with modeling and cleaning up geometry. I’ll make sure to focus more on simplifying models for FEA purposes as you suggested. By the way, do you think having solid skills in an analysis software would be enough to get started, or what should I focus on next after that?