Truss Designer

Trusses are a basic structural component in architectural designs. Triangular shaped, they support crossbeams, roofs, or other weighty loads. If you’ve spent time near a construction site, you may have seen a stack of preformed trusses being delivered via flatbed truck, or lifted into place by a crane.

A Truss Designer works with a team to design trusses for bridges and buildings. There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a design.

Consider, for example, a bridge. How much weight will the trusses carry? Is it a foot, railroad, or automobile bridge? What about a drawbridge, or one that spans 10 miles across a river?

With buildings, Truss Designers consider the best type of roof and which truss design will offer the required support. And it’s not just roofs. As a Truss Designer, you design the wall and floor supports too.

Your start the design process by interpreting blueprints provided by Architects and Engineers. You use computer-aided design (CAD) software that help you create workable designs for Builders to use. In order to implement safe designs, you keep up to date on building codes in your area. And once the project commences, you are often on site, ensuring that the Builders properly execute your meticulously created design.

In this job, you spend a lot of time in front of the computer, in meetings with teams of professionals, and on the job site, donning your hard hat. Because of your creativity and attention to detail, you are rewarded in the form of a structure that many will admire for years to come.