Hang with me for a few minutes as I go over what I do to earn money to pay my bills. Everyone has a job... this one is mine, and I'm a light gauge steel truss designer.
I’m about to move to Michigan from Texas to learn how to do this. I’ve been at the my truss plant for 6 years, started as a forklift driver unloading the lumber. Then went to the tables to build the trusses then learned how to build the beams. After that got asked to move to the office for computer tasks and inventory management. That turned into project releasing. And now I’m going to design. God has been good to me and mine and He deserves all the glory! I’m so excited to move and have a new chapter in life! I just started now looking more into this but man I’m stoked!
I found this video when I was first potentially offered a job doing this. I was very unsure of whether or not it would be worth it, as I was very reluctant to work another job that I didnt't enjoy. As of now it's been almost a year and I wanted to share my experience. Something I learned from this job, is that I really love design work. That is the basis of your role in this position and can feel like you're playing a game sometimes. You get to work comfortably inside, you can listen to music and are relatively independant. However, much responsibility is also linked to project managament, scheduling, pricing, missing information, calling contractors and engineers, etc are the parts that are not so fun. Mistakes made can sometimes cost the company thousands of dollars and can be very stressful. Im very thankful to work for a good company and a forgiving boss. The job can be mentally exhasuting, but each mistake is an opportunity to gain experience and improve. I barely had any experience behind me when I took this job, and I would encourage anyone to pursue it if they are willing to push themselves to learn.
Glad to hear you're liking the work and that these random ass videos I made years ago are helping some folks 😁 Yea this was old stuff when I was still designing mostly steel trusses. I don't work for that company anymore, I moved on to bigger and better things and now work for one of the largest building component manufacturers in the country as a remote designer. I design solely in Mitek SE now and do custom homes in Florida. I've been doing this work for over 8 years now and like you said, it has it's ups and downs but relatively it's a good job and a LOT of people can find entry-level jobs and build a career off of this type of work without any prior experience or college education. All you need is that desire to learn something new a little creativity.
@ItsJustRyansChannel that's awesome to hear man 💪🏻does your salary continue to grow with your experience? I'm not making a lot right now, but have only been doing it a little under a year. That's my biggest concern with the job
@@JosephBanks20 Oh yea, for sure. You SHOULD be getting yearly pay raises no matter what. Some smaller companies try to hold out like mine did, but if your work is improving end over end then you have a right to ask for more money. Ask for something higher that you know you probably won't get, but keep in your mind the lowest minimum per hour increase you'll take. If your company values you they'll pay up. When I first started doing this back in 2015 for a small privately owned truss company, I really did a lot for them and went from $15 to $17 an hour within 2 years. No OTHER benefits though, so realistically that bummed me out. I went another 2 years almost without a raise and finally after I had to threaten to leave I finally got $20/hr. But again, no other benefits and by this time I was sick of my boss using me for other shit, like designing the company website and shit, and not paying me for it. He literally tried to tell me, "screw your job title, you do whatever the hell I need you to do." So I already had one foot out the door by year 4. I started looking on TheJobLine for new remote jobs hoping my 4+ years experience could get me somewhere. By the time I hit 5+ years experience I finally found a company that would hire me remotely to do floor and roof truss design in SE. I went through all the interview process stuff, liked what I heard and put my 2 weeks notice in right away. When I started with this bigger company they immediately gave me $25 an hour, plus full benefits, 401k, paid vaca and sick time, quarterly performance bonuses, AND they paid for all my computer equipment. 👍 I've been with them for over 2 years now. January 2024 will be 3 years for me, and I'm currently at like $27/hr. Pay raises are automatic and don't even require review. Every employee gets at least the same cost of living pay increase yearly. It might be like $0.60/hr or something, but still. I've already been considered for management positions too, which are salaried. Basically a design manager, so I wouldn't design anymore I would train and manage OTHER designers on my team. I got passed up for the first opportunity, but it's fine. Someone with more experience rightfully got it. But with a company like mine I can apply for any in-house position I want. So more opportunities will come along and I'll jump on them if I want them. So yea, point is.. this isn't just a "job" it's a career path. And if you stay on it long enough you can definitely climb the ladder to the top, make more money, move to bigger and better companies, etc. If you're working for a small mom and pop truss shop right now you may have to consider leaving eventually if you want to further your career. It depends. But at least stick with them for 3 years and learn the ropes. You want the experience and you want to be able to demonstrate good design work, critical thinking, all that stuff.
@@JosephBanks20 If you have any other questions let me know and I can try to help. I always people to try and get in to this line of work. It really is a good job for the right type of person. There is a high turnover rate for new designers. A lot of them quit within the first year once the work starts getting hard or stressful, or maybe they just never really figure it out. They aren't "computer people", or can't do basic math, or can't figure out how to read building plans because there's just sooooo much information on there lol 🙄 you know, it's always something. But for those who don't mind the desk jockey way of life then yea, there's a lot of opportunity in this industry. Not to mention it's a job you can be proud of at the end of the day. You're doing something with a purpose. Something that requires a level of creativity and intelligence to master. And for a lot of people out there who have those abilities but not a lot of other opportunity, like the ability or money to go to college or something, then it's a technical job for skilled workers. And trust me, saying "I'm a truss designer" feels a lot better than saying "I flip burgers at McDonald's." 🤣 No offense to those people or anything. Someone has to do it, right? But at the end of the day I consider that more of a temp job. A stepping stone to something better maybe? But this, what we do, this is already a career. A potentially life-long career. Your only stepping stone is maybe going to a bigger company one day and maybe becoming a regional manager one day. You don't really need to worry about "what am I going to do next." Just keep doing what you're doing and go UP in the industry you're already in.
@ItsJustRyansChannel Wow thanks for sharing! It's encouraging to hear that this career path is a worthy one. I'll keep moving forward and see what doors God opens and closes for me, and I wish you well on your journey ahead!
Ryan I got out of truss design when you started posting these videos. I am making a return and would love a video showing how things have changed if at all. Waiting on structure to be installed and I’m getting back to work this week hopefully it’s like riding a bike.
Hey Ryan, Grabbing a knife 😂 It seems like you were pissing up about the work. I've recently got a job offer as a truss designer, using MiTek software most of the time. But I'm sure about career of being a truss designer. By the time you read this comment, I believe it's 3 years since you made this video. Grab another knife and let me know where you are now please. Looking forward to seeing your reply 👍
Haha. I stuck with it. I no longer work for this same company. I used my experience and got hired with a large national company. Now I work from home. I also specialize in wood trusses now, so I use Mitek as well. But I was using Mitek for years prior. In the video I'm using Aegis software for steel trusses, but Mitek owns Aegis, so it's all kind of related. But yea, I've been doing this for like 6 years now and it's still frustrating at times, but like I said I get to work from home, I make good money, I get full benefits and quarterly bonuses, and I work for a good company with good people. So it definitely could be worse lol. It's a good job for people who want call themselves "designers" but don't want to go to school for anything design related lol. Stick with it and you can make decent money after a couple years. If you get REALLY good at it, you can pretty much write your own ticket in this industry. You can learn wall panel design as well with Mitek software. Good luck.
Did you have any back ground in this kind of work before you started the job? Ive been a lead truss builder for 5 years and im looking to do something different inside my company. We promote in house and Ive been told that going into design is an option for me. Is it pretty straight forward or more technical?
grab my knife Thanks for the comment. I got the job based on my previous IT/computer experience. But no, when I went in to it I knew nothing about the software I'd be using and nothing about trusses. I didn't even know how to read blueprints, I had to learn it all on the job. So the fact that you know how trusses are built and how they work is a good thing. That will help you with the engineering aspect of things, I.e., knowing where to add a splice or web brace, and how girder connections work, etc. I didn't know any of that at first and tried to let the software do everything, but the design of complicated trusses really does require some experience and knowledge to make them as efficient and strong as possible, and a lot of manual changes will be done sometimes. But anyway, you have a good chance of being promoted to designer. Our lead designer started out as just a builder, now he's lead designer and has been with the company for 15 years. It'll be a new and exciting opportunity that has growth potential. Maybe you start out building steel trusses, then you move on to wood using software from MiTek, then you move on to wall panel design, then maybe you start learning AutoCAD. Hell, if you pursue it the next step after this is to become an engineer. So I'd say go for it if your company has an opening for a designer. It can get stressful as you transition to life on a computer, dealing with phone calls and customer demands to have a project built a certain your way. It'd be your job to interpret their blueprints and layout the design of the trusses and get approval on it. And if they want changes or something moved or the specs on the project change you gotta stay on top of that. I've done everything from small residential wood jobs to state funded jobs to military projects. And they range from you having full control over the design of the roof, to you having no control over the design and having to following the blueprints and specs to the letter. And if you miss something, guarantee that an inspecting engineer will find it and make you change it. And too many changes on a project can cost your company lots of money. Too many screw ups on a single job could easily ruin your companies reputation as contractors slander your name all over for taking too long or requiring too many changes. So the point is, it can be stressful, but it IS fun, and it IS a very unique job to have, and it DOES have growth potential and being good designer always commands more money. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Thanks for the reply! If my company has another opening I think im going to go for it. Is there any sort of study material around that you know of or any freeware that I could play around with and get a feel for truss design? Is there anything you wish you would have known before you took the job?
grab my knife Not really any software because it's all proprietary from the supplying company. So if you do wood trusses you probably use MiTek or Alpine for design. If it's steel trusses then probably Aegis or an alternative. The software you see in my video is by Aegis and we build our trusses out of their material. As for what I wish I knew going in... Reading blueprints definitely. I can't tell you how important it is to know what to look for on architectural and structural blueprints. You only want stuff pertaining to the roof and any load bearing walls and supports. It's important to know how to spot those, it's important to read the specs and understand what loads need to be applied. On your structural drawings, there are often other loads called out from RTU's or hanging deadloads. All kinds of stuff. You need to know how to spot those and apply them. Best case scenario if you miss an important load, an engineer of record will catch it in submittal and tell you to fix it. Worst case scenario, they miss it to and you end up killing people when the roof collapses because it had too much snow on it or too much hanging from it. So yea, download real blueprints online and study them. Learn the symbols and meaning of things. If you ever want me to quiz you, let me know. Always willing to help out a fellow design enthusiast.
@@boredomblows best thing to do is talk with the plant manager and design manager, express your interest. Many companies in the slower months will train those that have potential....but many are hiring with degrees now, so hurry up! Lol
U still working on this? what do you do to not stress yourself when completing a custom job for production? I have done this for a while but ..... trust me... I get really stressed when completing a really BIG job for production.... any advise?
Hubert Pavon I’m probably the last person who should be giving advice on stress reduction lol. And yea, I’m still doing this job, although not the same project in the video. That’s completed. We are a very small steel company in the northeast, and there’s only one other designer. He’s the more senior guy so he mainly works on our submittals and gets things ready for production. I mostly do bids and get us the projects. And yes, it can get very stressful. I work on at least 2-3 projects at a time and our company takes on mostly medium to large commercial projects. A lot of nursing homes and shit like that. I get stressed a lot and there’s really no escape from it. I’ll watch a movie or something while I work sometimes, usually comedy, and that helps. Get up and go grab a smoke and coffee to clear my head. Simple shit like that is really all you can do. I’d like to manage my own bids and there’s a lot of stuff I’d do differently if I could, but you know how it is. Gotta do what the boss says even if you disagree with it and it makes no sense lol.
@@ItsJustRyansChannel run while you still can....I have 25 years in...the stress never stops but only increases. mostly due to project designers and architects ,who don't know shit. I'm already 2 heart attacks in... my advice is solid. I have worked over 100 hours a week for the last few years...it never ends
@@cannadan81 I'm right there with you, since 1997... Sometimes I lay awake at night wondering...did I do that...or Ugh I forgot that custom hanger etc...
I’m about to move to Michigan from Texas to learn how to do this. I’ve been at the my truss plant for 6 years, started as a forklift driver unloading the lumber. Then went to the tables to build the trusses then learned how to build the beams. After that got asked to move to the office for computer tasks and inventory management. That turned into project releasing. And now I’m going to design. God has been good to me and mine and He deserves all the glory! I’m so excited to move and have a new chapter in life! I just started now looking more into this but man I’m stoked!
I just got hired as a truss designer. Do you like it so far? I still don't know if it's for me as a have to give it a little longer.
I found this video when I was first potentially offered a job doing this. I was very unsure of whether or not it would be worth it, as I was very reluctant to work another job that I didnt't enjoy. As of now it's been almost a year and I wanted to share my experience. Something I learned from this job, is that I really love design work. That is the basis of your role in this position and can feel like you're playing a game sometimes. You get to work comfortably inside, you can listen to music and are relatively independant. However, much responsibility is also linked to project managament, scheduling, pricing, missing information, calling contractors and engineers, etc are the parts that are not so fun. Mistakes made can sometimes cost the company thousands of dollars and can be very stressful. Im very thankful to work for a good company and a forgiving boss. The job can be mentally exhasuting, but each mistake is an opportunity to gain experience and improve. I barely had any experience behind me when I took this job, and I would encourage anyone to pursue it if they are willing to push themselves to learn.
Glad to hear you're liking the work and that these random ass videos I made years ago are helping some folks 😁
Yea this was old stuff when I was still designing mostly steel trusses. I don't work for that company anymore, I moved on to bigger and better things and now work for one of the largest building component manufacturers in the country as a remote designer. I design solely in Mitek SE now and do custom homes in Florida. I've been doing this work for over 8 years now and like you said, it has it's ups and downs but relatively it's a good job and a LOT of people can find entry-level jobs and build a career off of this type of work without any prior experience or college education. All you need is that desire to learn something new a little creativity.
@ItsJustRyansChannel that's awesome to hear man 💪🏻does your salary continue to grow with your experience? I'm not making a lot right now, but have only been doing it a little under a year. That's my biggest concern with the job
@@JosephBanks20 Oh yea, for sure. You SHOULD be getting yearly pay raises no matter what. Some smaller companies try to hold out like mine did, but if your work is improving end over end then you have a right to ask for more money. Ask for something higher that you know you probably won't get, but keep in your mind the lowest minimum per hour increase you'll take. If your company values you they'll pay up.
When I first started doing this back in 2015 for a small privately owned truss company, I really did a lot for them and went from $15 to $17 an hour within 2 years. No OTHER benefits though, so realistically that bummed me out. I went another 2 years almost without a raise and finally after I had to threaten to leave I finally got $20/hr. But again, no other benefits and by this time I was sick of my boss using me for other shit, like designing the company website and shit, and not paying me for it. He literally tried to tell me, "screw your job title, you do whatever the hell I need you to do." So I already had one foot out the door by year 4. I started looking on TheJobLine for new remote jobs hoping my 4+ years experience could get me somewhere. By the time I hit 5+ years experience I finally found a company that would hire me remotely to do floor and roof truss design in SE. I went through all the interview process stuff, liked what I heard and put my 2 weeks notice in right away.
When I started with this bigger company they immediately gave me $25 an hour, plus full benefits, 401k, paid vaca and sick time, quarterly performance bonuses, AND they paid for all my computer equipment. 👍
I've been with them for over 2 years now. January 2024 will be 3 years for me, and I'm currently at like $27/hr. Pay raises are automatic and don't even require review. Every employee gets at least the same cost of living pay increase yearly. It might be like $0.60/hr or something, but still.
I've already been considered for management positions too, which are salaried. Basically a design manager, so I wouldn't design anymore I would train and manage OTHER designers on my team. I got passed up for the first opportunity, but it's fine. Someone with more experience rightfully got it. But with a company like mine I can apply for any in-house position I want. So more opportunities will come along and I'll jump on them if I want them.
So yea, point is.. this isn't just a "job" it's a career path. And if you stay on it long enough you can definitely climb the ladder to the top, make more money, move to bigger and better companies, etc.
If you're working for a small mom and pop truss shop right now you may have to consider leaving eventually if you want to further your career. It depends. But at least stick with them for 3 years and learn the ropes. You want the experience and you want to be able to demonstrate good design work, critical thinking, all that stuff.
@@JosephBanks20 If you have any other questions let me know and I can try to help.
I always people to try and get in to this line of work. It really is a good job for the right type of person. There is a high turnover rate for new designers. A lot of them quit within the first year once the work starts getting hard or stressful, or maybe they just never really figure it out. They aren't "computer people", or can't do basic math, or can't figure out how to read building plans because there's just sooooo much information on there lol 🙄 you know, it's always something.
But for those who don't mind the desk jockey way of life then yea, there's a lot of opportunity in this industry.
Not to mention it's a job you can be proud of at the end of the day. You're doing something with a purpose. Something that requires a level of creativity and intelligence to master. And for a lot of people out there who have those abilities but not a lot of other opportunity, like the ability or money to go to college or something, then it's a technical job for skilled workers. And trust me, saying "I'm a truss designer" feels a lot better than saying "I flip burgers at McDonald's." 🤣
No offense to those people or anything. Someone has to do it, right? But at the end of the day I consider that more of a temp job. A stepping stone to something better maybe? But this, what we do, this is already a career. A potentially life-long career. Your only stepping stone is maybe going to a bigger company one day and maybe becoming a regional manager one day. You don't really need to worry about "what am I going to do next." Just keep doing what you're doing and go UP in the industry you're already in.
@ItsJustRyansChannel Wow thanks for sharing! It's encouraging to hear that this career path is a worthy one. I'll keep moving forward and see what doors God opens and closes for me, and I wish you well on your journey ahead!
Ryan I got out of truss design when you started posting these videos. I am making a return and would love a video showing how things have changed if at all. Waiting on structure to be installed and I’m getting back to work this week hopefully it’s like riding a bike.
Thank you for this video! My dad is a truss designer and he wants to train me so I decided to do a bit of research -- this video helps thanks!
Do you know where else I can do my research?
Awesome......
Hi
I am a truss designer, in my service I provide truss layout and design.
also provide quantity takeoff for construction jobs i/c; MEP.
Thank you
Hey Ryan,
Grabbing a knife 😂
It seems like you were pissing up about the work. I've recently got a job offer as a truss designer, using MiTek software most of the time. But I'm sure about career of being a truss designer. By the time you read this comment, I believe it's 3 years since you made this video. Grab another knife and let me know where you are now please. Looking forward to seeing your reply 👍
Haha. I stuck with it. I no longer work for this same company. I used my experience and got hired with a large national company. Now I work from home. I also specialize in wood trusses now, so I use Mitek as well. But I was using Mitek for years prior. In the video I'm using Aegis software for steel trusses, but Mitek owns Aegis, so it's all kind of related. But yea, I've been doing this for like 6 years now and it's still frustrating at times, but like I said I get to work from home, I make good money, I get full benefits and quarterly bonuses, and I work for a good company with good people. So it definitely could be worse lol. It's a good job for people who want call themselves "designers" but don't want to go to school for anything design related lol. Stick with it and you can make decent money after a couple years. If you get REALLY good at it, you can pretty much write your own ticket in this industry. You can learn wall panel design as well with Mitek software. Good luck.
Did you have any back ground in this kind of work before you started the job? Ive been a lead truss builder for 5 years and im looking to do something different inside my company. We promote in house and Ive been told that going into design is an option for me. Is it pretty straight forward or more technical?
grab my knife Thanks for the comment. I got the job based on my previous IT/computer experience. But no, when I went in to it I knew nothing about the software I'd be using and nothing about trusses. I didn't even know how to read blueprints, I had to learn it all on the job. So the fact that you know how trusses are built and how they work is a good thing. That will help you with the engineering aspect of things, I.e., knowing where to add a splice or web brace, and how girder connections work, etc. I didn't know any of that at first and tried to let the software do everything, but the design of complicated trusses really does require some experience and knowledge to make them as efficient and strong as possible, and a lot of manual changes will be done sometimes. But anyway, you have a good chance of being promoted to designer. Our lead designer started out as just a builder, now he's lead designer and has been with the company for 15 years. It'll be a new and exciting opportunity that has growth potential. Maybe you start out building steel trusses, then you move on to wood using software from MiTek, then you move on to wall panel design, then maybe you start learning AutoCAD. Hell, if you pursue it the next step after this is to become an engineer. So I'd say go for it if your company has an opening for a designer. It can get stressful as you transition to life on a computer, dealing with phone calls and customer demands to have a project built a certain your way. It'd be your job to interpret their blueprints and layout the design of the trusses and get approval on it. And if they want changes or something moved or the specs on the project change you gotta stay on top of that. I've done everything from small residential wood jobs to state funded jobs to military projects. And they range from you having full control over the design of the roof, to you having no control over the design and having to following the blueprints and specs to the letter. And if you miss something, guarantee that an inspecting engineer will find it and make you change it. And too many changes on a project can cost your company lots of money. Too many screw ups on a single job could easily ruin your companies reputation as contractors slander your name all over for taking too long or requiring too many changes. So the point is, it can be stressful, but it IS fun, and it IS a very unique job to have, and it DOES have growth potential and being good designer always commands more money. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Thanks for the reply! If my company has another opening I think im going to go for it. Is there any sort of study material around that you know of or any freeware that I could play around with and get a feel for truss design? Is there anything you wish you would have known before you took the job?
grab my knife Not really any software because it's all proprietary from the supplying company. So if you do wood trusses you probably use MiTek or Alpine for design. If it's steel trusses then probably Aegis or an alternative. The software you see in my video is by Aegis and we build our trusses out of their material. As for what I wish I knew going in... Reading blueprints definitely. I can't tell you how important it is to know what to look for on architectural and structural blueprints. You only want stuff pertaining to the roof and any load bearing walls and supports. It's important to know how to spot those, it's important to read the specs and understand what loads need to be applied. On your structural drawings, there are often other loads called out from RTU's or hanging deadloads. All kinds of stuff. You need to know how to spot those and apply them. Best case scenario if you miss an important load, an engineer of record will catch it in submittal and tell you to fix it. Worst case scenario, they miss it to and you end up killing people when the roof collapses because it had too much snow on it or too much hanging from it. So yea, download real blueprints online and study them. Learn the symbols and meaning of things. If you ever want me to quiz you, let me know. Always willing to help out a fellow design enthusiast.
@@boredomblows best thing to do is talk with the plant manager and design manager, express your interest. Many companies in the slower months will train those that have potential....but many are hiring with degrees now, so hurry up! Lol
U still working on this? what do you do to not stress yourself when completing a custom job for production? I have done this for a while but ..... trust me... I get really stressed when completing a really BIG job for production.... any advise?
Hubert Pavon I’m probably the last person who should be giving advice on stress reduction lol. And yea, I’m still doing this job, although not the same project in the video. That’s completed. We are a very small steel company in the northeast, and there’s only one other designer. He’s the more senior guy so he mainly works on our submittals and gets things ready for production. I mostly do bids and get us the projects. And yes, it can get very stressful. I work on at least 2-3 projects at a time and our company takes on mostly medium to large commercial projects. A lot of nursing homes and shit like that. I get stressed a lot and there’s really no escape from it. I’ll watch a movie or something while I work sometimes, usually comedy, and that helps. Get up and go grab a smoke and coffee to clear my head. Simple shit like that is really all you can do. I’d like to manage my own bids and there’s a lot of stuff I’d do differently if I could, but you know how it is. Gotta do what the boss says even if you disagree with it and it makes no sense lol.
@@ItsJustRyansChannel run while you still can....I have 25 years in...the stress never stops but only increases.
mostly due to project designers and architects ,who don't know shit.
I'm already 2 heart attacks in... my advice is solid.
I have worked over 100 hours a week for the last few years...it never ends
@@cannadan81 I'm right there with you, since 1997... Sometimes I lay awake at night wondering...did I do that...or Ugh I forgot that custom hanger etc...