If you’re looking for a career in structural engineering or building design, then you must know these software because every structural engineer uses software to design and analysis. In order to be a successful structural designer you must be aware about these most used design software and these design software makes the work more easier. But these software are easy to learn and with some practice you can master it. Now take a look at these software.

Auto CAD

Computer aided drafting and design software developed by Auto desk is used to create blueprints of buildings and other structures. This is the basic software a civil engineering graduate must learn. A few advanced specific CAD for civil engineers are

1. CIVIL 3 D
2. Advance Steel
3. Structural Detailing

These licensed software and free for students. It is easy to learn if learned step by step and here are some interesting tutorials for beginners

STAAD.pro

Staad Pro stands for structural analysis and design program and unlike auto cad this software is mainly used for structural design. So this is a must know software for a structural engineer and widely used to design, analyse buildings, bridges and frames but not easy as other design software to learn. But you can to learn the basics step by step and with some practice or an internship you can get through. Here are some basic tutorial which i found very useful.

ETABS

ETABS stands for Extended 3d Analysis of Building Systems and generally used for multi story building analysis and design. This design software use code based load prescriptions and analysis method. Modelling and load application can be done using codes in ETABS and if you’re looking for a career in structural design this is a must know software because this is important for a structural engineer . Here are some basic tutorials and to get in depth check this https://www.csiamerica.com/products/etabs/releases

Therefore if you want to be a part of the designing team or a lead structural design engineer you must be through with design software and these tutorials will give you some basic idea about designing but you need more practice and experience to master it. For more structural engineering topics