Most of us involved in engineering rarely think about finding jobs full of action and danger for ourselves. However, just in case there are those of you out there who were looking for such things; they do exist!
This month's issue of Wired magazine has a terrific article about Titan Salvage and their rescue of the cargo ship Cougar Ace . The team of Titan Salvage is made up some real-life Indiana Jones type guys. One of whom - on this mission - is computer modeler Marty Johnson. He uses some relatively obscure hydrostatic modeling software [no, not Bentley software - we can't make everything!] to create 3D models of the ship to determine what modifications need to be made to right it.
I'm often amazed at how engineering software gets portrayed in movies and on television. It is usually the case of some archetypal wiz-kid writing their own software from scratch overnight to do something no computer on Earth is capable of. However, people like Johnson are the real McCoy: someone who really does create intricate computer models to answer questions fast.
Most of us never have that much pressure on us. However, in reality, the tools that Bentley produces for engineers allow us to solve incredibly complex problems in fractions of the time that were required even a decade or two ago. Just be glad that we get to do it in a comfortable office instead of on a ship listed 60 degrees off of the Aleutian Islands.